Overview
On November 9, 2022, Politico featured an article titled, "Cambodia wins EU court case against the bloc's rice duties." The piece discusses the ruling by The Court of Justice in the EU which found that the Commission’s duties on Cambodian rice imports were illegal. The court found that not only were the Commission’s safeguards investigation flawed, that Cambodia's right to defend itself was not properly upheld. The article said, "The court found the Commission’s safeguards investigation to be flawed on multiple accounts, including "a manifest error of assessment" in the scope of the investigation."
The Steptoe team represented Cambodia and the Cambodia Rice Federation, where they challenged the EU's withdrawal of Cambodia's tariff preferences on imports of rice into the EU, to which Cambodia was entitled as a least-developed country.
This case presents an important precedent for numerous reasons, including that this case was the first time a third country (other than Switzerland which has a special status) was found to have standing to bring an action for annulment against an EU act before the Court of Justice of the EU; and this concerned the first time the EU withdrew tariff preferences under the General System of Preferences and there was thus no case law yet on this kind of action, nor any guidance on the applicable legal standard.
The rice industry is a crucial industry to Cambodia and its economy, and the impact of the EU's measure on the Cambodian population was severe. Rice production, processing, and marketing are estimated to employ 3 million people within Cambodia, or more than 20 percent of the country's working-age population. Cambodian exports of Indica Rice to the European Union represent between 50% and 70% out of the total exports of Indica rice from Cambodia.
The Steptoe team was led by partners Eva Monard and Renato Antonini, and included senior associate Byron Maniatis and legal consultant Elli Zachari.
Read the full article at Politico [subscription required].
