Brussels, 12/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner Pascal Lamy welcomed the verdict of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) appellate body on compensatory measures to sanction, on the other side of the Atlantic, subsidies granted before privatisation to European steel companies such as Arcelor, Ilva and Corus plc. The last word pronounced this week in Geneva is in fact mitigated. It states the United States is right about the fact that the US legislation is compatible with the Multilateral Agreement on subsidies and compensatory measures - thus overturning the conclusion of the arbitration panel on this point - but at the same time it denounces the method, known as the "same person" method, which led the US to impose and maintain such measures without determining whether subsidies were to last. Consequently, the United States is authorised to maintain its punitive duties the times it takes to successfully carry out a new investigation in order to determine whether the privatisation processes took place correctly. The press release published in Brussels on Wednesday places emphasis on the second aspect of the conclusions of the appellate body, while the reactions of Washington focus on the first. The method used by the United States for imposing compensatory measures in a certain number of cases affecting European producers assumes that, even if the acquisition was done at an equitable market price, this does not efface the earlier benefit in so far as the exporter firm keeps the same production sites and clients after privatisation, it is explained at the Commission. It went on to welcome the clarification given by the WTO on the incompatibility of this method with the Agreement on Subsidies. The Appellate Body also felt that 12 compensatory measures aimed at European companies are incompatible with WTO rules, it specifies, saying it expects the United States will change its method and tackle the compensatory measures without delay.