Brussels, 29/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Despite the failure of their talks in Brussels, the Union and the United States will, until 6 July, continue to seek an amicable solution to the dispute over US countervailing duties against former European public steel companies, said the spokesman for the European Commission on Friday (see EUROPE of 13/14 November 2000, p.10).
"The discussions that took place on Wednesday and Thursday between the under Secretary of State for Trade, Grant Aldonas, and Director General for Trade Peter Carl did not allow us to find an agreement to all our problems, but we agreed to pursue them in coming days", said the spokesman. He recalled that the time limit for bilateral consultation begun last November runs until 6 July. This first stage in the dispute settlement procedure of the World Trade Organisation provides a very last opportunity for protagonists to reach an amicable agreement and to thus avoid binding arbitration in Geneva. "That is what we wish", said the spokesman.
The Commission maintains that the WTO verdict in the British Steel case (today Corus plc) established a "clear" precedent for all the other cases involving privatised steel companies, and that the new methods used since then by the United States - mainly in procedures resulting in the imposition of countervailing duties on 16 other European firms for subsidies granted when they were under State control - only marginally changes the "change of ownership" method that the Geneva trade arbiter had disavowed. "Our opinion is that it is compatible with the rules of the WTO", Mr Aldonas told the press, after his meeting with Peter Carl. Washington remains just as firm as ever about the confidential nature of proof collected in the context of such procedures, he said in substance, pointing out that "on this point, we would be willing to return before the WTO if necessary".