GD/142

United States - Imports of Sugar from Nicaragua

View all disputes

Other titles

US Sugar Quota (Source: GATT Analytical Index)

Parties

Complainant
Nicaragua
Respondent
United States
Third Parties

Products at Issue

Products at issue
Sugar
Type of product
Agricultural
Product sub-type
Sugar and confectionary

Related disputes

GATT
WTO

Key legal aspects

Legal basis
  • GATT Article XXIII:1
Claims raised
  • GATT Article II
  • GATT Article XI:1
  • GATT Article XIII:2(d)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(a)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(b)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(d)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(e)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:2
  • GATT Article XXXVI:3
  • GATT Article XXXVI:4
  • GATT Article XXXVI:9
  • GATT Article XXXVII:1(b)
  • GATT Article XXXVII:2(a)
  • GATT Part IV
  • Ministerial Declaration of November 1982 para. 7(iii) (BISD 29S/15)
Defences raised
  • n.a.

Adjudicators

Type Panel
Chairperson R. E. B. Peren (New Zealand)
Other members Huberto Villar Sarraillet (Spain), Christer Manhusen (Sweden)

Report

Type Panel
Legal basis at issue
  • GATT Article XXIII:1
Claims at issue
  • GATT Article II
  • GATT Article XI:1
  • GATT Article XIII:2(d)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(a)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(b)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(d)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:1(e)
  • GATT Article XXXVI:2
  • GATT Article XXXVI:3
  • GATT Article XXXVI:4
  • GATT Article XXXVI:9
  • GATT Article XXXVII:1(b)
  • GATT Article XXXVII:2(a)
  • GATT Part IV
  • Ministerial Declaration of November 1982 para. 7(iii) (BISD 29S/15)
Defences at issue
  • n.a.
No of Pages (total / legal reasoning) 7
  • -
  • Judicial economy exercised
  • Found to fall outside of terms of reference
  • Inconsistency found
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Not in report conclusions
  • Judicial economy exercised
  • Not in report conclusions
  • -

Timeline

Request for consultations
Request for establishment
Establishment
Composition
Report
Adoption of report

Outcome

Outcome of the proceedings
Report adopted
Additional Info L/5607 (02/03/1984) United States – Imports of Sugar from Nicaragua – Report of the Panel: Nicaragua claimed that the United States sugar quota system was contrary to Article XI of the General Agreement and not covered by the 1955 decision which waived, inter alia, the obligations of the United States under this Article to permit actions under Section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. The Panel concluded that the task assigned to it by the Council was to examine not the United States sugar quota system as such but the reduction in the quota allocated to Nicaragua within that system, and that any consideration of the sugar quota system in the light of Article XI fell outside its terms of reference. Nicaragua argued that the United States measures were inconsistent with the provisions of Article XIII of the General Agreement and in particular with paragraph 2 of that Article. The Panel concluded that the sugar quota allocated to Nicaragua for the fiscal year 1983/84 was inconsistent with the United States' obligations under Article XIII:2. The Panel noted that the United States had not invoked any of the exceptions provided for in the General Agreement permitting discriminatory quantitative restrictions contrary to Article XIII. Having found the reduction of the quota to be inconsistent with the obligations of the United States under Article XIII, the Panel did not deem it necessary to examine whether the action was also inconsistent with any other obligations on quota allocations which the United States might have assumed under Article II in its schedule of concessions. The Panel concluded that the United States, in its allocation to Nicaragua for the fiscal year 1983/84, failed to carry out its obligations under the General Agreement. The Panel suggested that the contracting parties recommend that the United States promptly allocate to Nicaragua a sugar import quota consistent with the criteria set out in Article XIII:2.