The Retreaded Tyres Case in WTO: An Important Multilateral Achievement by Brazil

Abstract

The case “Brazil – Measures Affecting the Imports of Retreaded Tyres (DS-332)” was an important achievement by a developing country at the WTO. The European Union put forward the central argument that Brazil’s ban on the import of retreaded tyres constituted a barrier to trade and was a protection of the national tyre industry and therefore did not have any legal basis under the multilateral trading rules. Brazil on its turn acknowledged that the ban on imports of retreaded tyres was in fact a barrier to trade but invoked the exception provided for in Article XX (b) of the GATT 1994, which allows WTO Members to restrict trade with the adoption of measures “necessary to protect human, animal or plant life and health.” In order to obtain this environmental and public health victory in the retreaded tyres case, Brazil had to undergo rigorous tests established by the case law of the Appellate Body when invoking the exception to Article XX of the GATT 1994 (General Exceptions). The relationship between trade and protection of the environment and public health—a central issue in the retreaded tyre case—has always raised great interest from WTO Members and their societies because it raises the constant challenge of seeking to adequately balance environmental and public health interests with the multilateral trading system.