The Banana Framework Agreement (BFA) outlines regulations on the treatment, sharing, and production of

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...

s and other various banana related activities. It was concluded in 1993 between the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

and Costa Rica, Colombia,

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

, following a dispute in the framework of the

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its ...

(GATT) on the EU's banana import regime. Five Latin American countries (Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Venezuela) had forwarded a complaint against the EU's banana import regime in 1993, stating that it violated fundamental GATT principles. The panel established in the GATT framework confirmed this view, but its report was not adopted, as the required unanimity was prevented by the EU and countries belonging to the group of ACP states, who were receiving preferential treatment under the EU's importation regime. In the following year negotiations were held, after which four of the five complaining parties concluded the BFA with the EU, which granted them specific shares of the bound tariff quota they were subject to when exporting bananas to the EU. On 9 June 2010, the EU and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Colombia, Costa Rica,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

, Guatemala, Honduras,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, Nicaragua,

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and Venezuela entered into the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas,Official Journal of the European Union, ''Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas'', 9 June 2010 which agreed a scale of diminishing tariffs on EU fresh banana imports applicable from 2009 until 1 January 2017 and extinguished all continuing disputes between the EU and these nations, referred to as the "Latin American MFN (' most favoured nation') banana suppliers".

References

{{Banana General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Import Bananas Agreements 1993 in international relations Treaties entered into by the European Union