On Wednesday 30 August, the EU filed an appeal against the ruling of a special panel of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO, which was tasked with examining a complaint brought by Pakistan against the EU's countervailing measures on exports of certain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) products from Pakistan.
The DSB's panel of experts, which was set up in March 2015 to rule on Pakistan's complaint (DS 486), returned its verdict on 6 July this year.
In its complaint, Pakistan accused the EU of acting counter to several articles of the WTO agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures, by concluding that in certain cases, Pakistani tax law and other programmes of the country constitute subsidies conditional on the export performance of PET (see EUROPE 11284).
The EU justified its duty on the grounds that Pakistani PET exports had received subsidies that had resulted in damage to its industry.
PET is used in synthetic fibres and packaging for drinks, food and other containers holding liquids.
Parties to disputes brought to the WTO may appeal against decisions of the special DSB panel responsible for ruling on the dispute in question. Appeals must be based on points of law, such as the interpretation of the law, for instance; they may not refer to factual observations established by the panel.
The appeals body generally has three months to return its report. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)