A favourable ruling has been given to the appeal by Escalas Mercantiles Innovadoras, with the temporary suspension of the collection of a 13.8% tariff on imports of chicken out of the quota.
Elperiodico.com.gt reports that "...Among the arguments presented by Escalas Mercantiles is the fact that in January they still paid zero percent tariff. Furthermore, the change, according to the arguments put forward, violates rights such as freedom of industry, trade and labor by publishing a new list which amended tariffs without prior publication of a ministerial agreement where these changes are agreed. "
Next Thursday, Central America and Europe will resume their unfinished negotiations for an Association Agreement between them.
Talks will last for two days, with negotiators trying to solve the differences both blocks have regarding how much tariffs to remove and how to do it on several sensible products.
Rubén Morales, Guatemalan Economy Minister, explained that pending topics include “dairy products, alcoholic beverages, sugar, banana, and tuna, as well as rules of origin and intellectual property”.
The fifth waiver of tariffs, which affects citrus products, meats, beans, liquors and paper, came into effect on January.
Guatemalan Economy Minister Rubén Morales detailed the four previous tariff removals of the free trade agreement known as DR-Cafta: the first one happened of July 2006, followed by another on January 2007, January 2008 and January 2009.