There is a first time for everything, as the adage goes. On July 27, the South African government initiated its first-ever World Trade Organisation (WTO) request for dispute consultations by challenging the 27-member European Union (EU) on phytosanitary requirements for the importation of South African oranges and other citrus products.

The WTO circulated the request to its members on July 29. Here’s a thought: Why not export the citrus products to the UK?

The EU member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The UK ceased to be a member when it withdrew on January 31, 2020.

South Africa is challenging the enacted changes to the EU phytosanitary requirements for the importation of oranges and other citrus products related to the pest Thaumatotibia leucotreta, commonly known as the false codling moth, orange moth, or citrus or orange codling moth.

South Africa claims that the EU measures are inconsistent with various provisions of the WTO's Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. The dispute will be handled in accordance with the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes.

The request for consultations formally initiates a dispute in the WTO. Consultations give members an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation. Should consultations have failed to resolve the dispute by September 27, South Africa may request adjudication by a panel.

Until recently, South African citrus fruit products were freely imported into the EU, provided they were subject to an effective systems approach or another effective postharvest treatment to ensure they were not infected with false codling moth. Accordingly, South Africa developed an effective systems approach, the Citrus Systems Approach. Oranges and other citrus products have been exported from South Africa to the EU without significant problems under this approach.

Recently, the EU made abrupt, radical changes to the applicable SPS requirements for the importation of citrus products from South Africa. As of July 14, the EU requires that imports of citrus fruit undergo specified mandatory cold treatment processes and precooling for specific periods (up to 25 days) before importation. In some cases, these processes must be conducted in the exporting country before the consignments are shipped. These phytosanitary requirements apply to all imports, irrespective of whether the importing member has an effective systems approach like South Africa’s or has another effective postharvest treatment to ensure freedom from false codling moth.

The EU’s new requirements impose significant changes on the importation of citrus fruit. The EU, however, only provided a 23-day period for implementation of these new requirements. Moreover, the changes are being introduced in the middle of the export season, making implementation all the more difficult.

Further, there are numerous shipments of citrus fruit en route to the EU with SPS certificates issued between the entry into force of the measure and its date of application – from June 24 to July 14. These certificates are based on the EU’s then prevailing requirements and South Africa’s existing systems approach. When the shipments reached the EU, the EU’s new SPS requirements applied. The extremely short implementation period did not allow sufficient time for South African producers to adapt to the EU’s new requirements and for South Africa’s National Plant Protection Organisation to have a certification procedure in place.

This adds to the sorry saga of the infafmous Citrus Black Spot, a fungal disease that affects the rind of a citrus fruit. For more on this, you could read Mariette Truter’s PhD, ‘Epidemiology of citrus black spot disease in South Africa and its impact on phytosanitary trade restrictions’