The latest WTO complaint, on various EU measures related to the biodiesel industry, is now available here: http://www.worldtradelaw.net/cr/ds459-1(cr).pdf There are some complicated measures involved, and I don't claim to fully understand it all yet. Here are some excerpts:
The measures referred to in this Part establish sustainability criteria with which biofuels13 and bioliquids must comply in order to be taken into account when measuring compliance with the targets of the EU Member States in the field of renewable energy and in order that these biofuels and bioliquids may benefit from the incentives for their use.
In order to be considered sustainable, biofuels and bioliquids must, among other criteria, result in the saving of at least 35% of greenhouse gas emissions with respect to fossil fuels.14
Argentina does not object either to the use of sustainability criteria or to a methodology by which greenhouse gas emissions savings are calculated. In fact, the biodiesel sector of Argentina stands out due to its environmental and social sustainability. The efficiency of its integrated production facilities, their proximity to areas where the feedstock is grown and to deepwater ports results in significant greenhouse gas savings. However, Argentina considers that the above-mentioned threshold of 35% is arbitrary, and appears neither to be scientifically justified nor to be based on a recognized international norm or standard.
The default value assigned by these measures to soybean biodiesel is 31%. This implies that soybean biodiesel produced in Argentina cannot comply with the criteria for the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions to be considered sustainable on the basis of the default value.
And:
According to these measures, any petroleum company that releases fuels and/or diesel products for consumption also has to release for consumption certain amounts of sustainable biofuels. These measures establish that only biofuels produced in the EU can be considered as "sustainable biofuels". However, since biodiesel produced in Argentina is not considered as "sustainable biofuel", it can neither be considered for the purposes of the incorporation obligation laid down in these measures, nor can it benefit from the excise duty reduction provided for therein.
These measures also provide that a reduced excise duty rate is applied to diesel which contains a certain percentage of fatty acid methyl ester falling within CN code 3824 90 99 (FAME) produced in production units which have been approved by the customs and excise duty administration. According to these measures, only production units that are located in the territory of an EU Member State can receive such approval.
