According to a request submitted on July 13 for consideration by the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Costa Rica will require Mexico to present a certificate showing that their avocado is free from the sunblotch disease and comes from areas that are free from this pest to allow their avocados to enter the national territory.
Costa Rica's request must pass 60 days of consultations, in which the interested parties can submit their concerns, before the WTO accepts it as a final measure. Meanwhile, the measure to not issue import permits for avocados from Mexico, which was enforced on May 5, continues to remain in effect. The decision was taken by the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE).
The new measure is more flexible, as it would allow the importation of healthy avocados from disease-free areas, rather than completely blocking the issuing of permits.
The ban on imports of avocados from Mexico caused friction with importers of the fruit, with restaurants that are customers of these importers, and with business chambers that denounced the SFE lacked technical support to reach that decision.
A delegation from the SFE is in Geneva, Switzerland, at the headquarters of the WTO, where, tomorrow, they will present technical arguments to request Mexico be required to have certification for sunblotch free areas.
The presentation will be held before the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO, which has its regular monthly meeting tomorrow. Representatives of all member countries of the WTO attend said committee.
Some say, Mexico and Guatemala have already expressed their concern about the issue regarding avocado trade and the measures taken by Costa Rica to the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
Mexico's embassy in Costa Rica was consulted about said rumours, but they still haven't confirmed them.
During a visit from Francisco Javier Trujillo, the plant director of Mexico, on June 25, Mexico warned that Costa Rica had not provided technical justification for the measure and threatened to raise the issue to the WTO.
