Brussels, 26/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Commission would like to verify the compliance of US subsidies with the WTO ruling on the European complaint lodged in 2005 (DS 353).
Similarly to what the US government did last April in response to the European compliance plan relating to be WTO verdict on the US complaint against subsidies to Airbus (DS 316), the European Commission decided to go on the offensive on Tuesday 25 September. It considers that the US compliance plan with the WTO European complaint against subsidies to Boeing is insufficient. The Commission has therefore decided to take the US compliance plan to the WTO. A special group will now have to decide whether the US has taken all the measures it was ordered to take in compliance with the WTO appeal in March 2012.
"We had expected that the US would have finally complied in good faith with its international commitments and would have abided by the WTO rulings that clearly condemned US subsidies to Boeing" said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. He added that, "We are disappointed that this does not seem to be the case. So, the US leaves us with no other choice but to insist on proper compliance before the World Trade Organisation. We are confident that this process will finally lead to a level playing field in the aircraft sector."
The Commission's services explained that, “the lack of information in the US notification unfortunately facilitated a quick review which suggests that the US has neither withdrawn the illegal subsidies granted to Boeing, nor removed their adverse effects. The EU even has indications that the US could have actually granted more illegal subsidies to Boeing in the meantime”.
On Monday, the US trade Department released its compliance plan on the WTO verdict on the DS 353 case. This guarantees an end to all public subsidies to Boeing, judged illegal by the WTO, including aid through R&D programmes, NASA and the Defence Department, including tax breaks covered by Washington State. In its first instance verdict in April 2011, the WTO's Appellate Body evaluated at at least US$5.3 billion the illegal subsidies to Boeing between 1989 and 2006. (EH/trans/fl)