Urgent steps to clear 900 containers of SA citrus in EU ports

Urgent steps are being taken to clear about 900 containers of South African citrus in European Union ports after South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition decided to lodge a dispute with the European Union at the World Trade Organisation over the new import rules for citrus from South Africa.

The containers are held back due to new entry regulations, but South Africa already complies with the regulations that requires cold treatment for citrus to guard against the False Codling Moth.

According to the Citrus Growers’ Association of South Africa (CGA), government and the citrus industry have maintained that the implementation of the new regulations, within three days of their announcement on 21 June, and the expectation that South Africa should immediately comply, was totally unreasonable.

“This crisis is entirely of European (EU) making and is at best a malicious action by an EU official or officials who want to do as much damage as possible to the South African industry,” a senior citrus leader says.

“You cannot announce changes in accepted rules and expect any country to change their own export laws and implement the new regulations within the space of three days.”

ALSO READ: Good news: Some 120 000 jobs might be created due to citrus exports from SA

Nobody can comply with EU regulations within 3 days

The implementation required South Africa to comment within three days and supplying the numbers of all growers participating in exports to the European Union (EU) to the authorities in Brussels.

The CGA says the source pointed out that the regulations were implemented even before these steps the EU requested could be completed. Around 900 of the affected containers were compliant on arrival and the documentation to prove that was supplied.

Apparently the EU’s action also contravened the World Trade Organisation (WTO) requirements that changes in regulations must carry a six month notice period.

According to sources officials are now investigating the cooling history of each of the remaining containers detained in European ports and they will likely comply with the new regulations and documents to prove this will be provided.

“We simply cannot allow Spain’s clearly politically motivated move to decimate the businesses of thousands of local growers and the livelihoods they support, while threatening that EU authorities will destroy millions of cartons of top-quality fruit,” Justin Chadwick, CGA chief executive, says.

ALSO READ: SA now world’s second-largest citrus exporter

Immediate crisis with SA citrus in EU

Observers have noted that action at the WTO would take time and would not help to resolve the immediate crisis.

“We now have to minimise our losses and every day the matter drags on, the worse it becomes.”

The department approached the WTO when it became evident that all other avenues to resolve the dispute had failed.

“Despite numerous objections from several other countries, including European markets that currently import South African oranges, these new regulations were published in the Official Journal of the European Union with an implementation date of 14 July 2022,” Chadwick says.

“The fact that EU authorities attempted to enforce these new regulations a mere 3 days after publication made it impossible for South African growers to ensure their compliance and highlights how unjustified and discriminatory this legislation is, with devastating consequences to our local citrus industry.

In terms of WTO agreements, members have agreed not to discriminate among imports from different origins and not to impose sanitary and technical barriers to trade not based on international standards or sound scientific evidence that are discriminatory.

ALSO READ: Worst ports in the world just got even worse due to KZN storm

EU violates conditions of WTO regarding SA citrus

“It is clear that the EU’s protectionist False Codling Moth import measures against South Africa violate these conditions,” Chadwick says.

The CGA says South Africa identified 21 inconsistencies in the new proposed phytosanitary measures that go against the guidelines of the WTO Agreement.

The organisation also noted that the new rules had already impacted an estimated 3.2m cartons of citrus valued at R605m (€38.4m), with reports of hundreds of containers of South African citrus detained by authorities in the EU on arrival.

The CGA claims that the cold treatment prescribed by the new regulations is contrary to scientific evidence, making it an arbitrary and unnecessarily trade restrictive measure in contravention of international requirements for such phytosanitary trade regulations.

“This crisis not only threatens the sustainability and profitability of local growers and the 140 000 jobs the industry sustains locally, but will also result in less and more expensive citrus in European supermarkets.”

The CGA said it would continue to work with all government and industry stakeholders to address this issue with the degree of urgency it requires.