Malaysia filed the second request for consultations of 2021 on January 15, 2021. The request for consultations addresses the European Union, France and Lithuania and certain enumerated measures pertaining to palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels. See WT/DS600/1 (15 January 2021). France and Lithuania have already adopted laws and regulations implementing and EU provision which Malaysia views as violating a wide range of WTO obligations. As other EU members are working on possible implementing laws and regulations, Malaysia is keeping open the possibility of raising issues with additional EU members.
Because the dispute involves the interface of EU efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and trade restricting effects on certain biofuels that the EU views as not sufficiently promoting the reduction greenhouse gases, it will likely draw a lot of attention. The background part of the request for consultations lays out the Malaysian concerns.
“A. Background
“1. Malaysia is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil. In 2019, Malaysia produced around 19.86 million metric tonnes of crude palm oil, accounting for 28% of world palm oil production and 33% of world palm oil exports.1 In 2019, Malaysia exported around 1.9 million metric tonnes of palm oil to the EU. The palm oil industry directly employs more than one million Malaysians and 40% of all palm oil plantations in Malaysia are owned or farmed by smallholder farmers, who have benefited from oil palm cultivation.2 Palm oil production and export has been a major factor in Malaysia reducing poverty from 50% in the 1960s, down to less than 5% today.
“2. As one of the biggest producers and exporters of palm oil and palm oil products, Malaysia recognises that it has an important role to play in fulfilling the growing global need for oils and fats in a sustainable manner. Malaysia is a responsible producer of palm oil and has long taken the lead in the continuous process of making palm oil production more sustainable and environmentally friendly. As of December 2020, nearly 90% of Malaysia’s total oil palm cultivation has obtained Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification. Additionally, as at that date, 428 of Malaysia’s 452 oil palm mills, corresponding to around 95% of total milling capacity, received the MSPO certification. Most recently, on 1 January 2020, Malaysia made the MSPO certification mandatory.
“3. It is important to recall Malaysia’s commitment at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where it pledged to maintain at least 50% of the country’s landmass under forest cover. On the basis of data from 2018, about 55.3% of Malaysia’s 33 million hectares (ha) land areas are under forest cover, exceeding the country’s pledge made at the Rio Earth Summit.
“4. In the context of addressing the environmental risks posed by the extensive use of fossil fuels, the EU and its Member States have, since 2009, adopted a policy of promoting the use of biofuels by setting national targets for the use of renewable energy in various sectors, including the transport sector. This policy led to a rapid increase in the EU consumption of biofuels, produced mainly from food crops.
“5. While the measures taken by the EU and EU Member States under this policy pursue the reduction of greenhouse gas (‘GHG’) emissions and the achievement of commitments under international climate agreements, some of these measures contravene their WTO obligations. In 2018 and 2019, the EU adopted legislative measures that, in simple terms, define palm oil as an unsustainable feedstock for the production of biofuel. The EU further argues that only palm oil production entails a high risk of indirect land-use change (‘ILUC’). On that basis, oil palm crop-based biofuels cannot be counted towards EU renewable energy targets.3
“6. Generally speaking, the measures adopted by the EU, as well as the related measures adopted by EU Member States, confer unfair benefits to EU domestic producers of certain biofuel feedstocks, such as rapeseed oil and soy, and the biofuels produced therefrom, at the expense of palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels from Malaysia. These measures may also discriminate against Malaysian palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels in favour of ‘like products’ from third countries.
“7. Malaysia submits that the measures adopted by the EU and its Member States currently already limit and will increasingly limit the volume of Malaysian palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels that can be counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets and, consequently, that will be sold in the EU market.
“fn1 Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), Malaysian Palm Oil Industry. Available at:
http://mpoc.org.my/malaysian-palm-oil-industry/. Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Production 2019. Available at
http://bepi.mpob.gov.my/index.php/en/production/production-2019/production-of-oil-palm-products-
2019.html.
“fn 2 Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC). Available at http://theoilpalm.org/about/http://theoilpalm.org/about/.
“fn 3 See European Commission, Factsheet, Indirect Land Use Change, 17 October 2012, available at https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/MEMO_12_787 (accessed 13 January 2021). See also Recitals 80 and 81 of the RED II.”
The full request for consultations is embedded below.
600-1The Malaysian request for consultations raises similar allegations of WTO violations by the EU and member states as a case filed by Indonesia in late 2019 where a panel was finally composed on November 12, 2020. See European Union — Certain measures concerning palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels, WT/DS593/10 (composition of panel). Malaysia and many other countries are third parties in that dispute.
The WTO alleged violations in Malaysia’s request for consultations are the following for the EU, France, Lithuania and other EU members.
“C. Legal basis for the complaint in respect of the EU measures
“31. With regard to the EU measures, as embodied and developed in the respective legal instruments as specified in para. 22 herein and as applied by the relevant authorities, Malaysia considers that these measures are inconsistent with the EU’s obligations under the GATT 1994 and the TBT Agreement. In particular, the measures are inconsistent with:
“GATT 1994
“i. Article I:1 of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets and which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, discriminate among ‘like’ feedstocks and derived biofuels originating in third countries;
“ii. Article III:4 of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets and which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, accord less favourable treatment to imported palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels than they do to ‘like’ domestic feedstocks and derived biofuels, thereby modifying the conditions of competition to the detriment of the imported palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels, in particular from Malaysia;
“iii. Article X:3(a) of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets and which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, are administered in a manner that is not uniform, impartial and/or reasonable; and
“iv. Article XI:1 of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets, and which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, restrict the importation of palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels.
“TBT Agreement
“v. Article 2.1 of the TBT Agreement, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets, being technical regulations within the meaning of Annex 1.1 of the TBT Agreement, have a detrimental impact on the competitive conditions in the EU market of Malaysia’s imports of oil palm crop-based biofuels compared with ‘like products’ imported into the EU from other countries and compared with ‘like’ domestic products;
vi. Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets, being technical regulations within the meaning of Annex 1.1 of the TBT Agreement, are more trade-restrictive than necessary to achieve the objectives pursued by the measures;
“vii. Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets, being technical regulations within the meaning of Annex 1.1 of the TBT Agreement, are not based on the relevant international standards;
“viii. Article 2.5 of the TBT Agreement, because the EU, in preparing, adopting or applying the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets, being technical regulations within the meaning of Annex 1.1 of the TBT Agreement, has failed, upon the request of Malaysia, to explain the justification for those measures in terms of Articles 2.2 to 2.4 of the TBT Agreement;
“ix. Article 2.8 of the TBT Agreement, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets, being technical regulations within the meaning of Annex 1.1 of the TBT Agreement, are based on an abstract and unsubstantiated high-ILUC risk concept instead of the performance of such biofuels;
“x. Article 2.9 of the TBT Agreement, because the measures at issue, which limit and will progressively phase out oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching EU renewable energy targets, being technical regulations within the meaning of Annex 1.1 of the TBT Agreement, were adopted without the required timely publication and notification of these measures and organising an adequate process for commenting;
“xi. Article 5.1.1 of the TBT Agreement, because the EU, by preparing, adopting or applying the measures at issue, which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, being conformity assessment procedures within the meaning of Annex 1.3 of the TBT Agreement, treats suppliers of oil palm crop-based biofuels from Malaysia less favourably than domestic suppliers of ‘like’ biofuels or suppliers from other WTO Members in a comparable situation;
“xii. Article 5.1.2 of the TBT Agreement, because the EU, by preparing, adopting or applying the measures at issue, which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, being conformity assessment procedures within the meaning of Annex 1.3 of the TBT Agreement, creates unnecessary obstacles to international trade;
xiii. Article 5.2 of the TBT Agreement, because the EU failed to make available the conformity assessment procedures to certify low ILUC-risk;
“xiv. Article 5.6 of the TBT Agreement, because the EU, with regards to the measures at issue, which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk, being conformity assessment procedures within the meaning of Annex 1.3 of the TBT Agreement, neither notified nor enter into meaningful consultations, or allowed for comments on such conformity assessment procedures;
“xv. Article 5.8 of the TBT Agreement, because the EU neither promptly published nor otherwise made available the measures at issue, which provide criteria for certifying low ILUC-risk biofuels, being conformity assessment procedures within the meaning of Annex 1.3 of the TBT Agreement; and
“xvi. Articles 12.1 and 12.3 of the TBT Agreement, because the EU, in the preparation and application of the measures at issue referred to above, failed to take into account the circumstances specific to developing countries, in particular Malaysia, where palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels are produced.
“D. Legal basis for the complaint in respect of the EU Member States’ measures
“a. France
“32. The set of advantages granted by France for oil crop-based biofuels, as embodied and developed in the respective legal instruments, as specified in paragraphs 24 to 27 herein, and as applied by the relevant authorities, are inconsistent with the obligations of France under the GATT 1994 and the SCM Agreement. In particular, the set of advantages described above, as contained in the mentioned legal instruments, are inconsistent with:
“GATT 1994
“i. Article I:1 of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue, under which the tax on petrol and diesel is only reduced when they contain biofuels other than oil palm crop-based biofuels, discriminates against ‘like’ biofuels by granting an advantage, in the form of a tax reduction, to biofuels of some countries, that is not granted to all WTO Members, and in particular not to Malaysia, and
“ii. Article III:2 of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue, under which the tax on petrol and diesel is only reduced when they contain biofuels other than oil palm crop-based biofuels, indirectly applies a tax on imported oil palm crop-based biofuels: (1) in excess to ‘like’ domestic biofuels; or (2) which is not similar to the tax on ‘directly competitive and substitutable’ domestic biofuels, and affords protection to the production of these domestic biofuels.
“SCM Agreement
“iii. Articles 3 and 5 of the SCM Agreement, because the measures at issue, under which the French Government reduces the tax on petrol and diesel containing crop-based biofuel other than oil palm crop-based biofuels and excludes petrol and diesel containing oil palm crop-based biofuels from this tax reduction, amount to a subsidy within the meaning of Article 1 of the SCM Agreement which is: (1) a prohibited import substitution subsidy within the meaning of Article 3.1(b); and/or (2) an actionable subsidy causing an adverse effect on the interests of Malaysia within the meaning of Article 5(c) of the SCM Agreement.
“b. Lithuania
“33. Concerning Lithuania’s measures (including any annexes thereto, amendments, supplements, replacements, renewals, extensions, implementing measures or any other related measures, and any exemptions applied), as implemented and/or applied by the latter in line with its obligations as a EU Member State regarding the transposition of the RED II, Malaysia claims that those measures are inconsistent with the same WTO obligations as provided for in paragraph 31 and/or 32 herein.
“c. Other EU Member States
“34. Malaysia contends that to the extent that any other EU Member State transposes the RED II and further implement and/or apply any measure(s) according to its obligations as regards the limitation and/or phasing out of oil palm crop-based biofuels from being counted towards reaching renewable energy targets, regardless of whether the said measures are explicit or implicit in their treatment of oil palm crop-based biofuels, such measure(s) shall be inconsistent with the same WTO obligations as provided for in paragraph 31 and/or 32 herein.”
With the Indonesian case now in the briefing stage, a panel report could be available in late 2021 or in the front half of 2022 depending on delays flowing from the continued limitations imposed by the pandemic. The Malaysian case will likely trail the Indonesian case by six months or more.
Neither Indonesia nor Malaysia are signatories to the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement Pursuant To Article 25 Of The DSU. The EU has in at least one case where the party challenging EU actions was not a signatory opted to file an appeal into the void when it was dissatisfied with the panel report. See 28 August 2020: Notification of Appeal by the European Union in DS494: European Union — Cost Adjustment Methodologies and Certain Anti-Dumping Measures on Imports from Russia (Second Complaint) (WT/DS494/7). Thus, whether reform of the Appellate Body moves forward in the next year to address U.S. concerns may be important to a final resolution of the two cases. The WTO is a long distance from resolving the current impasse on the Appellate Body, but perhaps there will be reengagement during the second half of 2021.
Comments
It is surprising that with the pressing importance of working to address climate change and the EU efforts at leadership that the EU appears not to have found a way to work with trading partners like Malaysia or achieve a common science-based understanding as to which biofuels help reduce greenhouse gases. For trade and environment issues to gain a greater role within the WTO (as Members need them to do), all Members working to achieve sustainable development objectives have to feel that the rules of trade will support their effort, provide guidance as to what more is needed and not close those Members out of the market of a trading partner.