India claims victory in trade dispute with EU on tariff front

India today said it had scored a significant gain at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a dispute with European Community (EC) over tariff preferences extended by the latter.

Appellate body of WTO has upheld the overall finding of dispute settlement panel which said EC had violated GATT/WTO obligations in granting tariff preferences to 12 countries under the drug arrangements window of its generalised system of preferences. The body held that EC ‘‘had failed to demonstrate that the drug arrangements are justified under paragraph 2(a) of the enabling clause’’.