Brussels, 22/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and eight other members of the World Trade Organisation - Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, India, Australia, Brazil and Chile - have announced they are calling for formal WTO consultation with the United States over the "Byrd amendment", the amendment presented by Senator Byrd which become law on 28 October and which provides for the proceeds of anti-dumping cases to be paid back into the US companies responsible for bringing the cases in the first case. The amendment, presented in the context of the US agriculture budget, was signed into law despite the protest raised by the EU and by other WTO members, and the European Union calls for its immediate repeal. The amendment "is not an US-EU problem but a US-Rest of the World problem", said Commissioner Pascal Lamy, adding: "Our unprecedented joint action will send a very clear signal to the US of the need to repeal legislation that so clearly flies in the face of the letter and the spirit of WTO law".
The "Byrd amendment" provides for the US Administration to deposit into specific bank accounts the proceeds of anti-dumping and countervailing measures in order to distribute them the following fiscal year to the companies that brought the cases in the first place, thereby creating a "perverse incentive system" for opening up more and more cases, notes the Commission's press release. The press release also notes that the reimbursement of expenses incurred by these companies is an unlawful reaction to dumping and to subsidies. It is not authorised by the WTO and gives "double protection" to industries, which are already partially protected by the application of duties at borders.