Brussels, 28/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and American Administration began a final series of talks on Thursday, at senior official level, to try to reach a compromise, before the 1 October deadline, on changing the American FCS tax system (Foreign Sales Corporation) in favour of exporter companies. The WTO has condemned this system and the United States has a deadline which expires on Monday to conform with the verdict; the two parties are prepared to work throughout the weekend with the aim of reaching an acceptable compromise for both parties and thus avoiding a further large-scale trade dispute.
EUROPE recalls that the United States has already drawn up two revisions to the FSC system (the first by the Administration, the second by Congress) but that in both cases, the European Commission considered the illegal provisions condemned by the WTO had not been eradicated.