Brussels, 14/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the United States criticised the intention of the European Union to reintroduce trade sanctions which had been suspended since 1 January 2005 in the Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) affair. The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) definitively ruled on 13 February that the new American legislation (the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004) is still not in line with the WTO judgement of 2000 on FSC, thus allowing the EU to relaunch its trade sanctions against Washington (see EUROPE 9130). European legislation in force stipulates that sanctions will be brought back in automatically 60 days after publication of the final WTO condemnation on 13 February 2006. Given that the publication can take up to 30 days, entry into force of sanctions is programmed between 24 April 2006 at the earliest and 14 May at the latest. If the EU decides to bring sanctions in again, “prolonging this dispute will not serve to foster harmonious transatlantic relations”, a spokesperson for US Trade Representative Rob Portman commented on Monday. On the substance of the matter, the spokeswoman minimised the impact of the two main provisions considered illegal by WTO. She said the general transition provision will in any case expire at the end of this year and the so-called “grandfather clause” only brings “extremely small” benefit to American companies. It is known that the aircraft manufacturer Boeing is the main beneficiary of the “grandfather clause”. If the EU reimposes sanctions this would “reinforce the perception that the EU is primarily acting in response to the US filing of a WTO complaint against Airbus subsidies”, Mr Portman's spokesperson remarked.