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News Releases
No. 98/06
November 14, 2006
WTO RULES AGAINST US COMPLAINTS ON EUROPEAN CUSTOMS
The European Commission welcomed today's report by the WTO's Appellate Body
confirming the legality of the European Community's (EC) customs system. The WTO
sided with the EC on 18 out of 19
complaints brought by the United States.
"I welcome the confirmation by the WTO Appellate Body that WTO Members,
including the EC, have the right to decide on the best way to organize their
administration, provided they comply with WTO standards. The EC meets these
requirements both in terms of uniformity and prompt review standards," EU
Trade
Commissioner
Peter Mandelson said.
 "I am very happy that the WTO has rejected the far-reaching and unsubstantiated
claims made by the US. This report confirms that the EC customs regime meets high
standards and is in compliance with our WTO obligations," said EU
Taxation and
Customs Commissioner
László Kovács.
"This being said, the EC will pursue its
agenda and continue to adapt its customs environment to the challenges of
globalization."
The Appellate Body's report confirms that the US has failed to bring any
evidence that the EU's customs administration system is inconsistent with the
EU's WTO obligations to ensure uniform administration and prompt review of
administrative decisions. Furthermore, the report reverses two out of three
specific findings of violation of WTO rules in the application of EC customs
law. As a result, the EC is only found in violation of GATT rules in one very
specific and complex case of tariff classification (out of the 19 cases put
forward by the US).
The European Commission will take these findings into account and take any
appropriate measures.
Background
The case was launched by the US in 2004. The US complaint claimed that the EC
system of customs administration does not ensure uniform administration by the
customs authorities of the 25 EU Member States. In addition, the US claimed that
the review of administrative decisions on customs matters by the courts of the 25
Member States failed to comply with the EC’s obligation of “prompt review and
correction of administrative action.” As a result, this WTO challenge had
potentially very far-reaching and systematic implications for the EC. In
practice, the US allegations pointed in the direction of the establishment of a
central EC Customs agency and an EC Customs Court.
The US claims were not backed by any substantial evidence. Furthermore, the
request for public comments on this case resulted in only three replies from US
companies, two of which were completely irrelevant. The WTO issued a first
report on June 16, 2006. This report was broadly a victory for the EC. As
anticipated, the report rejected the far-reaching and unsubstantiated claims
made by the US and merely found a violation of GATT rules in three very specific
instances of application of classification and valuation rules. The second WTO
report on this dispute, issued pursuant to an appeal introduced by the US,
confirms the conclusions of this first report with respect to the consistency of
the EC customs regime with WTO rules and, moreover, reverses two out of three
specific violation findings made by the panel.
For more information on customs policy see:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/index_en.htm
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Further Contact Information
Press and Public Diplomacy
Delegation of the European Commission
2300 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.eurunion.org/PressRoom
Tel: 202-862-9552
Fax: 202-429-1766
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