Poultry case in WTO: Commerce, Agriculture Ministry in talks to implement order

NEW DELHI: The government is looking at ways to implement the WTO order that has ruled that the ban imposed by India on imports of America's poultry products was inconsistent, a senior official said today.

"We are in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture so that we can abide by our WTO obligations (in the poultry case)," Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher told reporters here.

On June 4, India had lost a case at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as the body ruled that the Indian ban on import of poultry meat, eggs and live pigs from the US was "inconsistent" with the international norms.

India has 12-18 months to implement this ruling, after which the US can begin exports of these products to India.

India is a big market for the US, which is one of the world's largest exporters of chicken meat.

India's broiler meat consumption has been consistently increasing and is estimated to have touched 3.72 million tonnes in 2014, from 3.45 million tonnes in 2013.

The WTO panel had said that New Delhi's measures were more trade restrictive than necessary.

India and the US are also contesting a dispute in the WTO on solar issue. The US had filed a complaint against India's domestic content requirements under its solar power programme.

Talking about bilateral trade issues between India and the US, Kher said the next meeting of Trade Policy Forum (TPF) is due and this time it will happen in America.

The US-India TPF is an inter-agency collaboration led by the USTR. It is the principal trade dialogue between the countries.

It has five focus groups: Agriculture, Investment, Innovation and Creativity (intellectual property rights), Services, and Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers.

He said that both the sides have done three rounds of talks on intellectual property rights (IPRs) issue through video conferencing.

Time and again the US has raised concerns over India's IPR regime, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector. India has consistently maintained its laws are compliant with global and WTO norms.

Kher also said that India wants to sort out issues related to visa with the US.

In 2014-15, bilateral trade between the two countries stood at USD 64.26 billion. The US-India Business Council (USIBC) had said bilateral trade could touch USD 500-billion mark over the next one decade.