The EC-Sardines Case: How North-South NGO-Government Links Benefited Peru

Abstract

This essay examines the EC-Sardines case before the WTO dispute settlement system, in which a developing country, Peru, won a significant victory in WTO dispute settlement against the much more formidable legal services of the EC, in a case challenging an EC regulation that maintained that only a species caught in European territorial waters could be marketed in the EC under the name "sardines." The case was important for three reasons. To start, it is the first time that a WTO panel has found a WTO member to be in violation of its obligations under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. Second, the ruling shows the importance of Codex Alimentarius harmonized standards in WTO disputes. Third, the case demonstrates how even a small developing country such as Peru, with the help of the new Advisory Centre on WTO Law, can prevail against a great power in WTO litigation. Fourth, the case exhibits how, in certain circumstances, and despite some developing countries' fears, a more transparent WTO dispute settlement system can work to developing countries' advantage when they are able to work in coordination with consumer-based northern NGOs.