Brussels, 16/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 13 January, the WTO announced that a panel has been set up in the complaint brought by the United States against support granted by the EU to Airbus. On the same day, the transatlantic partners agreed in Geneva on the next procedural stages of their talks in the framework of cross complaints, including the complaint brought by the EU against aid to the American aeroplane builder Boeing.
“The US and EU agreed last week in Geneva on the next procedural steps in the WTO Airbus-Boeing dispute (through so-called sequencing agreements), both in relation to the Airbus case (DS 316) and to the Boeing case (DS 353), for which the report from the Appellate Body is expected soon”, said the spokesperson to Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, John Clancy, in a press release published on Monday 16 January. “We are confident that these next steps will confirm that the EU has fully complied with its WTO obligations, thanks to the comprehensive set of actions presented in December 2011”, he continued, adding: “now, according to the agreed legal procedure between the EU and the US, the US has suspended its request for sanctions made in December 2011 and any future demand can only come should a WTO panel find that the EU has not fully complied with its obligations.”
On 1 December last year, the EU presented its plans to come into line with the WTO verdict by putting an end to its support to Airbus, to which the US objected as part of their 2004 complaint. Now waiting for the WTO's response to its compliance report, the EU is also awaiting a raft of conformity measures from the US when the WTO is called upon, at the end of next month, to take position on the subsidies received by the American aeroplane builder Boeing, about which the EU complained in 2005. (EH/transl.fl)