Legal but costly : An analysis of the EU GM regulation in the light of the WTO trade dispute between the EU and the US

In this paper we investigate the new EU regulations in the light of the ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel on the trade in genetically modified crops. To this end we describe: the basic differences in approaches between the EU and the complaining parties with regard to genetically modified crops, what the main arguments were of the complaining parties as well as the defence of the EU, and what the final judgement of the panel was, and finally we describe the current EU regulations. We then analyse to what extent the arguments and conclusions of the panel still hold regarding the new EU legislation. We find that parts of the current EU legislation, i.e. the safety bans as they are currently in place, are in breach of the WTO commitments. Moreover, the new approval procedures have the potential to also break these rules, although whether or not they will, depends on how the European Commission acts. Whether or not the EU will be challenged at the WTO remains an open question, as the decision to fight before the WTO may be more costly than working out new bilateral trade agreements.