Brussels, 30/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - As no agreement has been reached with the Seoul authorities and given the timetable fixed in June, the "Competitiveness" Council decided, on Monday, to implement the two-section strategy intended to counter South Korea's unfair trade practices in the shipbuilding sector (see EUROPE of 28 September, p.8). The EU will therefore take the matter before the WTO while implementing the temporary defence mechanism allowing it to defend its shipyards. Reviewing before the Council the different stages of negotiations with the Koreans, Pascal Lamy pointed out - but did not specify the content - that a solution on a scheme that would allow objective prices to be fixed in the sector seemed to be close to hand on Thursday last but that the Korean authorities had back-pedalled under pressure from the industry that is said to have completely rejected this solution. The political situation in South Korea - the President is at the end of his political life - like the situation of the shipbuilding market that has suffered price losses, is not very propitious for an agreement, he said. Mr Lamy told the Council that the procedures required were launched within the Commission in order to activate the temporary defence mechanisms around 20 October, when the complaint before the WTO is published in the Official Journal. He also confirmed that the results of the inquiry aimed at determining whether tankers must be included in the scope of the mechanism will be available in March. Faithful to their position, the Dutch, Swedish and Finnish welcomed the opening of this procedure at the WTO, while deploring that of the mechanism they consider could weaken the European stance before the WTO. On this point, Pascal Lamy reaffirmed that the mechanism was sound, and stressed that there is no legal problem and that Koreans would find it difficult to prove there is injury. Spain and Portugal, on the other hand, took the floor in favour of the temporary defence mechanism.