Brussels, 27/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 25 March, the WTO's dispute settlement body agreed to set up a panel to examine Pakistan's complaint about the EU's compensatory measures targeting Pakistani exports of certain types of polyethylene terephthalate (DS 486).
Pakistan accuses the EU of acting incompatibly with several articles of the WTO agreement on subsidies and compensatory measures by considering that the Pakistani tax legislation and others of its programmes are in some cases a subsidy conditional upon the export performance of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
The EU, which under WTO rules was not able to block Pakistan's second request for a panel to be set up, stated on Wednesday that it had imposed compensatory duties based on the grounds that PET imports from Pakistan had benefited from subsidies that had generated an injury to the European PET industry.
PET is used in synthetic fibres and in drinks, food and recipients containing liquids. (Emmanuel Hagry)