5 Obligations of International Organizations, 5.1 Case 21-24/72, International Fruit Company v Produktschap voor Siergewassen, Court of Justice of the EC, [1972] ECR 1219

Subject(s):

Arbitral tribunals — International organizations, practice and procedure — Responsibility of international organizations

The International Fruit Company case is rightly famous for two reasons: (1) the succession of the European Community to its member states in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and (2) the lack of direct effect of art. XI (the prohibition of quantitative restrictions) and of the GATT in general. On point (2) the case has largely lost its initial relevance, since the Court of Justice (ECJ), though still of the same view with respect to the GATT’s successor, the WTO, has considerably developed and refined its initial reasoning. It is on point (1) that the case has continued importance, because it sheds light on the comparable, but different situation in which the EU effectively follows the rules of international organizations or of treaty bodies, to which all member states are parties, but without the possibility for the EU to accede to these organizations and treaty bodies.