Topics in brief

• Author: International Law Group, PLLC
• Pages: 178-179

Page 178

U S. and EU resolve long-standing banana dispute

On December 16, 2009, the U.S. Trade Representative announced that the U.S. and the European Union have resolved the longstanding banana dispute. The Agreement to settle the issues has been initialed. In the Agreement, the EU commits not to re-introduce measures that discriminate among banana distributors, and to have a non-discriminatory, tariff-only system for the importation of bananas. Once fully ratified, the Agreement will resolve the parties' WTO dispute, "EC -Regime for the Importation, Sale and Distribution of Bananas" (WT/DS27). The Agreement complements the EU agreement with several banana-supplying Latin American countries, the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas, which was initialed the same day. The Agreements are still subject to the various parties' domestic ratification procedures.

citation: U.S. Trade Representative press release of 16 December 2009, available at www.ustr.gov; the U.S.-EU Agreement on bananas is available at www. ustr.gov/webfm_send/1566.

Egyptian Supreme Court supports appointment of women judges to administrative courts

Over conservative opposition, Egypt's Constitutional Court recently gave substantial support to the right of women judges to sit on the bench in the state's administrative courts. According to the Egyptian state media, the ruling at least partially settles a dispute within the State Council, the top administrative court, as to the extent to which the government should continue appointing female judges. When the Council voted overwhelmingly against female judges, this stirred the debate within the country over women holding senior government posts, especially in the judiciary. Women's groups picketed the State Council following the decision. A political moderate on the issue, however, reportedly heads the court's supervisory body. It overruled the Assembly, thus supporting the consideration of women candidates for the job. The Prime Minister then asked the Constitutional Court to resolve the standoff. The high court's ruling said that all citizens are equal before the law, and upheld the power of the State Council's supervisory body to resolve...