In the 1990s, a trade dispute over fresh

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

arose between the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

nations of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In 1995, Canada made a complaint to the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

, of which both countries are members, about Australia's restriction on imports of fresh salmon, which were part of a

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

measure for health purposes. WTO dispute resolution favored Canada, both in a 1997 panel decision and in a subsequent decision by the WTO

Appellate Body The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTOAB) is a standing body of seven persons that hears appeals from reports issued by Judicial panel, panels in disputes brought on by WTO members. The WTOAB can uphold, modify or reverse the le ...

. The WTO determined that the

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, also known as the SPS Agreement or just SPS, is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agree ...

(SPS Agreement) did not allow Australia's import ban. The WTO ordered Australia to lift its ban and increased quarantine requirements not only for salmon, but for imports of other species of fish as well. The parties settled their dispute in 2000.

Salmon industry and origins of the dispute

In the 1990s, major world salmon exporters include Canada, Norway, Chile, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, and Australia.Michael Richardson
Ottawa Sees Protectionism by Canberra; Canada's Beef: Salmon
''New York Times'', 10 November 1995. In 1995, Australia had a 100 million

AUD The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official currency and legal tender of Au ...

(75.1 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

) salmon industry, with a total value of Australian salmon exports (mostly to east Asia, particularly Japan) of about 40 million dollars. In 1975, Australia imposed a ban on imports of fresh salmon under a quarantine regulation intended to prevent entry of imported diseases into fish stock in Australia. Australia did allow imports of non-fresh salmon, including salmon that had been heat-treated by

canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

(see

salmon cannery A salmon cannery is a factory that commercially cans salmon. It is a fish-processing industry that became established on the Pacific coast of North America during the 19th century, and subsequently expanded to other parts of the world that had ...

) or

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted, and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, whi ...

, which reduces the risk of disease. In 1995, the annual value of such imports to Australia was about 52 million dollars, with almost half of these imports coming from Canada. Australian salmon had an advantage in Japanese and other markets, selling for premiums up to 20 percent over other imported fresh salmon, because of Australian environmental regulations. In the 1990s, however, tensions arose between Canada and Australia over Australia's regulation, negatively affecting the two countries' relations. The Australians argued that the ban was justified on health grounds; the Canadians argued that there was no scientific evidence that Canadian fresh-salmon imports would be unsafe and that the ban was simply

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...

WTO case and settlement

In the 1990s, Canada brought a dispute to the

(WTO) against Australia regarding the importation of salmon. The official title of the case was Australia — Measures Affecting Importation of Salmon, Dispute DS18.Dispute Settlement: Dispute DS18: Australia — Measures Affecting Importation of Salmon
World Trade Organization. The dispute was the first challenged under the 1994 Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) reached following the 1994

Uruguay Round The Uruguay Round was the 8th round of multilateral trade negotiations (MTN) conducted within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), spanning from 1986 to 1993 and embracing 123 countries as "contracting parties". The ...

. The case formally began with Canada's request for consultations in October 1995. Canada alleged that Australia's prohibition on Canadian salmon imports under the Australian quarantine regulation was inconsistent with the SPS Agreement and articles XI and XIII of the 1994

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its p ...

(GATT). Following requests from Canada to establish a panel, the DSB did so in April 1997. The

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of Institutions of the European Union, institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Co ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

reserved their third-party rights. The panel was composed in May 1997, and the panel report circulated in June 1998. The panel determined that Australia's important ban was "inconsistent with Articles 2.2, 2.3, 5.1, 5.5, and 5.6 of the SPS Agreement, and also nullified or impaired benefits accruing to Canada under the SPS Agreement." In June 1998, Australia filed a notice of its intention to appeal the panel's decision to the WTO

. The Appellate Body report circulated in October 1998. The Appellate Body reversed the panel with respect to its reasoning on Articles 5.1 and 2.2 of the SPS Agreement, but found that Australia "had acted inconsistently" with those sections. The Appellate Body also broadened the panel's determination that Australia had acted inconsistently with Articles 5.5 and 2.3 of the SPS Agreement. Finally the Appellate Body "reversed the panel's finding that Australia had acted inconsistently with Article 5.6 of the SPS Agreement but was unable to come to a conclusion whether or not Australia's measure was consistent with Article 5.6 due to insufficient factual findings by the panel." The decision directed Australia not only to lift the ban on Canadian salmon, but also the quarantine requirements for several other species of fish. The DSB adopted the Appellate Body report and the panel report, as modified by the Appellate Body report in November 1998. Australia expressed its intention to abide by the DSB's decision. In December 1998, Canada requested arbitration under to Article 21.3(c) of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) "to determine the reasonable period of time for implementation of the recommendations of the DSB." The Article 21.3(c) Arbitration Report was circulated in February 1999; it determined that the reasonable period of time for implementation was eight months (i.e., the period ending on 6 July 1999). After Canada brought this dispute to the WTO, Australia published the "1999 Import Risk Analysis" arguing that the import of frozen, fresh or chilled salmon is a health risk. In 1999, Canada made requests under the DSU for a determination by the original panel of whether the implementation measures taken by Australia were consistent with WTO rules as determined in the dispute-resolution proceedings. At its meeting of 28 July 1999, the DSB agreed to take up Canada's request and referred the matter back to the original panel. The EC, Norway and the U.S. again reserved their third-party rights. The compliance panel was composed in September 1999 and circulated its report in February 2000, finding: The DSB adopted the report of the compliance panel in March 2000. In July 1999, before compliance proceedings began, Canada requested authorization from the DSB, pursuant to Article 22.2 of the DSU, to suspend concessions to Australia because of its non-compliance. Australia objected to Canada's proposed level of suspension of concessions and requested that the matter be referred to arbitration, pursuant to Article 22.6. The DSB agreed to this request, but the arbitration proceedings were suspended until after the compliance proceedings concluded. At the DSB meeting of 18 May 2000, following the compliance panel's decision, and following discussion between the WTO and the governments of the two countries, sectors of each government and the panel, Canada announced that it had come to an agreement with Australia to bring the dispute to a close. The parties exchanged letters detailing the agreement. Under the agreement, "Canada would monitor closely Australia's commitment to implement the agreement" by 1 June 2000. The agreement became effective on schedule on 1 June 2000.

Countries

Canada

The

Canadian Food Inspection Agency The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; ) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The age ...

(CFIA) verified that exported foods and food products meet Canadian standards just as an importing country would. Countries have their own requirements for foods and food products and the Canadian government understands this and respects those requirements. Canada has implemented the fish inspection act to help regulate the export of fish and fish products. The efforts Canada has put towards achieving a substantial export in their fish (salmon) shows speculation towards Australia.

Australia

Aquaculture in Australia Aquaculture in Australia is the country's fastest-growing primary industry, accounting for 34% of the total gross value of production of Seafood in Australia, seafood. 10 species of fish are farmed in Australia, and production is dominated by so ...

is the country's fastest growing

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in d ...

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

accounting for 34% of the countries seafood production. Salmon is a part of this movement across the country with Atlantic salmon becoming a mainstream fish produced through the aquaculture systems. Salmon farms are found in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and while they are making an effort to improve

salmon farming The aquaculture of salmonids is the farming and harvesting of salmonid fish under controlled conditions for both commercial and recreational purposes. Salmonids (particularly salmon and rainbow trout), along with carp and tilapia, are the three ...

offshore and inshore it is still producing a small amount of salmon for Australia. Although the countries were developing a negative trade relationship, Australia values its long-standing close and productive relationship with Canada. Their trade relationship dates back over 100 years and the two countries continuously work together. Australian and Canadian military forces fought side by side in both World Wars, The Korean War and the 1990-91 Gulf War. Both countries have forces in Afghanistan making movements to stabilize that country as close military allies.

References

External links

Relevant articles of the SPS Agreement
Sections 5.1, 5.5, 5.6

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canada-Australia salmon trade dispute Australia–Canada relations World Trade Organization dispute settlement cases Fisheries law Salmon Fishing conflicts Foreign trade of Australia Foreign trade of Canada