The European Union has yet to take a decision on the World Trade Organisation's ruling in a dispute pertaining to India challenging the former granting tariff concessions to garment exports from Pakistan, saying the evaluation process is still on.
"We are still evaluating the decision," Arancha Gonzalez, spokesperson for EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, told PTI here.
The appellate body of WTO had in April upheld the overall finding of the Dispute Settlement Panel, which said EU had violated the GATT/WTO obligations in granting tariff preferences to 12 countries under the Drug Arrangements window of its Generalised System of Preferences.
The body held that EU "had failed to demonstrate that the Drug Arrangements were justified under Paragraph 2(A) of the Enabling Clause".
The EU had in 2001 announced duty benefits to Pakistan under its special scheme for countries combating illegal trade in drugs. Under that scheme Pakistan was allowed duty-free access to EU garments market for a four-year period in return of which it was to reduce import duties on all textile products by 5 per cent.
However, the inclusion of Pakistan as a beneficiary meant Indian exports were directly affected as the two neighbours were direct competitors in the EU market in a number of sectors.
The sudden and significant advantage granted to Pakistani products has disadvantaged a significant level of trade flowing from India to EU.
