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NOTE:
This summary has been prepared by the WTO Secretariat’s Information and
Media Relations Division to help public understanding about developments
in WTO disputes. It is not a legal interpretation of the issues, and it is
not intended as a complete account of the issues. These can be found in
the reports themselves and in the minutes of the Dispute Settlement
Body’s meetings.
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Request for panel establishment back to top
These are cases that have completed the
consultation phase, the first stage of a dispute. When consultations have
failed, member governments are entitled to ask for a panel to be set up to
examine the dispute. According to the rules, the respondent can reject the
first request. At the second request, a panel is automatically
established.
DS317:
US — measures affecting trade in large civil aircraft
The EC announced that it requested this meeting
to prepare the ground for resolving a number of procedural matters that
have risen in this dispute. The EC explained in its statement that during
the information-gathering process under Annex V of the Subsidy and
Countervailing Measures (SCM) Agreement initiated by the DSB on 23
September 2005, the US refused to provide information on 13 subsidy
programmes, stating that they were not initially listed during the
preliminary consultation on 6 October 2004. As a result, the EC considered
that it has been deprived of its rights to access the documents essential,
in particular regarding NASA and Departments of Defence subsidies, to
prepare its case against the US.
To resolve this situation, the EC requested at this meeting that the DSB
establish a panel and initiate further the procedures for developing
information-gathering under Annex V of the SCM Agreement.
The US said that it appreciated the EC's steps to address those concerns
at this DSB meeting. Notwithstanding, the US made the remarks that it had
already pointed out numerous procedural deficiencies at the first DSB
meeting that considered the original EC panel request (WT/DS317/2) on 13
June 2005. In addition, the US informed the DSB that it had discussions
recently with the EC on some procedural questions that were raised because
of some overlap between this new panel request and the EC's earlier panel
request. Since the discussions have not yet reached a conclusion, the US
objected to the establishment of a panel at this meeting.
The EC's panel request was therefore blocked by the US.
Next
meeting back to top
The next regular meeting of the DSB
will be on 17 February 2006.
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