Ruling Opposes U.S. Ban on Mexico Tuna

A GATT disputes panel has ruled that a U.S. ban on tuna imports from Mexico violates international rules of commerce, a spokesman for the world trade body said Thursday.

The United States imposed the ban in October, 1990, under environmental legislation, saying Mexican tuna-fishing methods killed dolphins that were caught in tuna nets.

Mexico argued that the ban broke several General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade provisions, favoring U.S. tuna fishing fleets under the guise of protecting dolphins and had seriously affected the Mexican fishing industry.

Environmental organizations in the United States and Europe backed the U.S. action. They called for a GATT ruling that would save dolphins from slaughter by commercial fishermen, saying this would have enormous implications for environmental protection issues.

The GATT spokesman said the three-person disputes panel’s report had been sent to Mexico and the Unites States and would be circulated to the rest of the trade body’s 102 members next month before being submitted to a regular session of the GATT council Oct. 8.

He said the panel rejected a related complaint by Mexico that U.S. labeling of canned tuna products as “dolphin safe” breached a GATT provision on markings defining the origin of a product.

The spokesman gave no further details of the panel’s findings, saying these remained confidential until the report was presented to the GATT council.

A report in the official information bulletin of the U.S. mission in Geneva quoted a House of Representatives official as saying the panel decided that the U.S. ban violated GATT rules because it interfered with fisheries outside the 200 mile U.S. exclusive offshore economic zone.

The office of the U.S. trade representative in Geneva declined to comment on the panel decision.