The Mission of Denmark to Geneva has filed a request to establish a WTO panel in the dispute between the Faroe Islands and the EU over Atlanto-Scandian herring.
The request will be dealt with at the forthcoming meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body on 20 January 2014.
Faroese Prime Minister, Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen, said, “Faroe Islands is heavily dependent on trade facilities, especially in relation to its exports of fish products which constitute more than 95% of its total exports. This step is therefore of major importance for the Faroe Islands, and a crucial step in order to ensure that the EU coercive economic measure, whose purpose is exclusively to safeguard the interests of its domestic industry, will be withdrawn and revoked.”
Trade sanctions were put in force by the EU in August 2013 and mean that European countries can not import herring landed by the Faroese.
