Brussels, 08/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU has accused the United States of breaking the confidentiality imposed upon them in a WTO framework over sensitive documents related to the funding of the Airbus A350.
The Commission has reproached the services of the American representative for having publicly confirmed this weekend, via the press agency Reuters, that in the framework of the complaint brought by the United States against aid to the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus (DS 316), the European party had submitted documents on the funding of the A350 to the WTO. “The EU regrets the fact that the American administration has broken the confidentiality of WTO procedures by referring to documents supplied last week by the EU”, said the spokesperson to Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht, John Clancy.
Whilst the US believes that the reimbursable aid to the launch of the A350 should be taken into account in the May 2011 verdict of the WTO on the American complaint, the EU is of the opinion that the Airbus newcomer, a response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, is not relevant in a dispute opened before the European manufacturer launched its latest model. The American source called into question by the Commission told Reuters this weekend that documents regarding the funding of the A350 had been submitted following the conformity procedure at the WTO in the framework of the DS 316. The services of Commissioner De Gucht for their part stressed that the WTO is only to verify the relevance of the submitted document. (EH/transl.fl)