Costa Rican banana growers believe that the new EU banana regime would endanger their industry should it be implemented in its proposed format.

Representatives of Corporación Bananera Nacional (Corbana) said that the regulations due to come into force on January 1, 2006 could lead to a reduction of their market share and a decrease in turnover.

The EU already applies tariffs of €75 a tonne to dollar bananas, but plans are being floated to triple that by 2006, principally to protect producers in ACP countries.

Corbana, the association of Costa Rican banana growers, represents 25 per cent of the Costa Rican bananas that reach the UK market. There is widespread concern that decisions being taken in Brussels will have a serious effect on the ability of producers to uphold their recognised high social and environmental standards while remaining competitive.

Corbana is therefore calling on the European Commission to take their national economic and social conditions into account when setting the new regime.

"A significant increase in the dollar banana tariff would be devastating for the Costa Rican banana growers, especially those who export their bananas directly to Europe," said president Roman Orlich. "Promises were made in Doha that no changes would be made that would harm any country and what we are seeing now is unfair. We are fighting an uphill battle and we should be recognised for the outstanding attributes we can offer that many other producing centres cannot."

Chief executive officer Jorge A Sauma Aguilar said: "All we are asking for is the same opportunity for all. There is space for everyone. We want a regime that does not discriminate against Latin American countries, a truly free market."

But the European Commission must respect the Lomé Convention for preferential access for bananas from ACP sources such as the Windward Islands as well as its own production in the French Caribbean and the Canary Islands. At the same time in its negotiations it must honour obligations set down by the WTO, and the 2001 agreement made with Ecuador and the US.

Ecuador's ambassador to the EU, Mentor Villa Gómez, will be negotiating the position of his country, the largest banana exporter, with the EU once the European Council grants the mandate to the Commission. This is likely in the next couple of weeks, according to Villa Gómez. "We are very pleased that this step has been taken now as it gives plenty of time to negotiate before the new tariff-only regime must come into force in 2006," said the ambassador. "It may only take a couple of days, but it may take the full year-and-a-half."

The level of the tariffs is something that concerns the Ecuadorians and will need careful negotiation. "The commitment the European Commission has with Ecuador under the 2001 WTO agreement is that it must guarantee us the same total level of income that we had before the new system," explained Villa Gómez. "This is what we will have to negotiate, whether that is the average of the previous three years, or the best of the last three, for example."

The banana trade accounts for the employment of 10 per cent of Ecuadorians. It is the second most important export earner.

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