Vietnam Asks for WTO Consultations on Swai Inspection
Vietnam has asked the World Trade Organizations for consultations with the U.S. because of U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections of catfish and swai, a practice that came about after the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill (see 14020417). Vietnam said…
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these inspections are purportedly for sanitary reasons, but said the U.S. inspections are not based on a risk assessment of swai imports. Non-tariff trade barriers of this kind are allowed under WTO rules only to the extent necessary to protect human health, and they have to be "based on scientific principles," the request said. Vietnam says it appears that the USDA inspections do not have scientific evidence backing their necessity. Vietnam is also in a consultations period on antidumping duties on certain frozen fish fillets.