309 Rosa M. Fernández Egea Climate change and the sustainability... The aim of the June 2014 agreement was to put an end to the fishing dispute between the EU and the Faroe Islands.14 As a result, the EU lifted the trade restrictions through Implementing Regulation (EU) No 896/2014 of 18 August 2014, repealing Implementing Regulation (EU) No 793/2013.15 This, in application of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1026/2012, provided that the measures shall cease to apply when the country allowing non-sustainable fishing adopts appropriate corrective measures necessary for the conservation and management of the stock of common interest and those corrective measures. The suits filed by the Faroe Islands with the WTO dispute settlement body and the Permanent Court of Arbitration were also withdrawn, as we will see later on. It can therefore be concluded that the trade war between the EU and the Faroe Islands has ended, although this does not mean that the issue is not without contention or that new disputes will not arise in the future with the Faroe Islands or Iceland or indeed other coastal countries. It is for this reason that we will examine in the following sections the arguments put forward by the parties and the possible outcome of the proceedings had the dispute continued. 5. THE WTO CASE: TRADE RESTRICTIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL GROUNDS On 4 November 2013, the Kingdom of Denmark, in respect of the Faroe Islands,16 requested consultations within the framework of the World Trade Organization with the EU.17 In the opinion of the Faroe Islands, Regulation (EU) No 1026/2012 14 Vide Press release of the European Commission: “Herring dispute between European Union and Faroe Islands nears end”, 11.6.2014 (IP/14/668); available at: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP- 14-668_en.htm (last visited: 13.7.2014). 15 DOUE L 244, 19.8.2014, p. 10. In this case, the Faroe Islands set itself a much lower catch limit for herring than the previous year, going from 105,230 tonnes in 2013 to 40,000 tonnes in 2014. 16 The Faroe Islands is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark to which the WTO agreement applies but which does not fall within the territorial scope of the European Union, which is why it is represented abroad and also before the WTO by Denmark. Paradoxically, Denmark finds itself filing a suit against measures it was involved in adopting as a Member State of the EU. 17 Vide the Communication of Demark (Doc. WT/DS469/1, G/L/1058), available at: https://docs. wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Search/FE_S_S006.aspx?Query=(@Symbol=%20wt/ds469/1%20or%20 wt/ds469/1/*)&Language=SPANISH&Context=FomerScriptedSearch&languageUIChanged=true#. The consultation was requested pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), which is the first step in the submission of a trade
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