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The Council of Ministers of Chamber of Foreign Trade (CAMEX), chaired by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), announced that at its December 18, 2013, meeting, it decided to restart in January, the process of public consultations on intellectual property in retaliation against the United States, for failure to comply with the WTO cotton decision. Public consultations with stakeholders will be held from January 2, 2014 until January 31, 2014. The technical group established to identify, evaluate and formulate proposals for the implementation of authorized countermeasures will have until February 28, 2014, to make the decision about the adoption of retaliatory measures of goods.
In 2010, on the eve of beginning the original retaliation by Brazil, the United States proposed an interim agreement through a Memorandum of Understanding and US-Brazil Framework Agreement. The agreement suspended operation of retaliation and has made the U.S. government carry out annual payments of $ 147.3 million, in monthly installments to the Brazilian Cotton Institute (IBA). Resources were directed to financing of technical cooperation and assistance to Brazilian cotton farmers activities until a new Farm Bill was passed in the United States, in keeping with the WTO decision. The farm bill expired September 30, 2013. Since that time, the US has not made payments to IBA. The cotton litigation was the result of nearly eight years of litigation and over four years of failure by the US against decisions of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. The value of retaliation authorized by the WTO arbitrators was the second largest in history and resulted from US noncompliance. |
