The Shrimp Products [Turtle] case

The Shrimp Products [Turtle] case

•US banned shrimp from countries like India, Malaysia, Thailand etc.

•Justified the nonuse of TED in catching shrimp. Turtles were endangered species under CITES and Art XX of GATT

•Justified under Endangered Species Act 1973

•Appellate Body held the ban to be arbitrary and discriminatory

Outcome of the turtle case

–There is a nexus between  protection of ‘global common’ and trade restriction under WTO. Thus USA may claim extra territoriality in cases of such ban for the protection of shrimp outside USA.

–Extra territorial trade measures must relate to domestic measures to conserve exhaustible natural resources

–Unilateral trade sanctions are permissible instruments to coerce members of the WTO to change their domestic policies

–Trade restriction can be imposed on a product, if the way it is processed has deleterious environmental consequences as determined by the importer

–International environmental conventions support the exceptions within Art XX.