News Release
Pascal Lamy
No. 13/03
February 26, 2003
Foreign
Sales Corporations:
European Commission submits to Member States draft list of products that could
be subject to countermeasures
The
Commission has today communicated to EU Member States a revised draft list of
products that could be subject to countermeasures in the
FSC case. The list has been prepared on the basis of comments received from
economic operators following the
public consultation launched in September and it covers products in the amount
of US $4 billion, as awarded by the WTO last August.
EU
Trade Commissioner
Pascal Lamy said:
“The EU’s objective remains to ensure the repeal of this WTO-incompatible legislation.
We are encouraged by President Bush’s proposal for such a repeal in his budget
for fiscal year 2004. In the meantime the EU is following the necessary procedural
steps to launch countermeasures if the compliance process does not deliver swift
results.”
A
final list will be drawn after consultation with EU Member States in the coming
weeks. When final, the Commission intends to notify the definitive list to the
WTO and request authorisation for the imposition of sanctions.
The
list of US products which could be the object of countermeasures has been prepared
after an unprecedented public consultation with economic operators. The several
hundred submissions received from economic operators have allowed the Commission
to assess and minimise the negative consequences that any eventual countermeasures
could create for European industry.
Background
On
30 August 2002
the European Union was granted by the WTO the right to impose countermeasures
in the form of tariffs on imports of certain goods from the US. The tariffs can
be up to 100 percent ad valorem, to a maximum of US $4 billion per year.
On 13 September 2002 the Commission published a list of products proposed to be
covered by any retaliatory measures. In line with WTO practice, the list was set
at a higher level than the amount set by the arbitrator (US $4 billion) in order
to allow for exclusion of products following the consultation procedure. The aim
of the consultation, which lasted 60 days, was to minimise the negative consequences
that any eventual sanctions could create to EU industry; in that respect, the
Commission had included in the list products on which the US import share was
low (below 20% import share). The products included cover a wide range of goods
selected from the 46 chapters of the
Common Customs Tariff already notified to the WTO in November 2000. The exact
definition of the CN codes can be obtained via internet (http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/customs/information_no
tes/tariff/combined_en.htm, OJ
L279 of 23 October 2001).
The
actual implementation of the trade sanctions will require action by the Council
under Article 133 of the EC
Treaty. A
Council Regulation needs, therefore, to be adopted following a proposal from
the Commission. Under WTO rules, there are no deadlines to implement sanctions.
The EU only needs to request authorisation from the WTO Dispute Settlement Body
(DSB). The DSB decision is only a formal step as authorisation is granted unless
the DSB decides by consensus to reject the request. There are no legal deadlines
within which the request must be made to the DSB.
For further information, please visit: http://mkaccdb.eu.int/miti/dsu?FICHE=GO&CASE=WT/DS108.
Press Contacts: |
Willy Hélin
202-862-9530
|
Maeve O'Beirne
202-862-9549
|
