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WTO NEWS: 2004 NEWS ITEMS

Dispute Settlement Body 26 January 2004

Requests for sanctions sent to arbitration in Byrd Amendment case

At the Dispute Settlement Body meeting of 26 January 2004, requests for suspension of concessions to the United States from eight countries in the case “United States — Continued dumping and subsidy offset act of 2000” (DS217 & DS234) — also known as the “Byrd Amendment” case — were referred to arbitration following the US' objection on the level of these sanctions.

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NOTE:
This summary has been prepared by the WTO Secretariat’s Information and Media Relations Division to help public understanding about developments in WTO disputes. It is not a legal interpretation of the issues, and it is not intended as a complete account of the issues. These can be found in the reports themselves and in the minutes of the Dispute Settlement Body’s meetings.

Recourse to suspension of concessions back to top

DS217 & DS234: United States — Continue dumping and subsidy offset act of 2000

Eight member countries, Brazil, Chile, the European Communities, India, Japan, Korea, Canada and Mexico, requested authorization to suspend the application of concessions to the United States. The eight complainants commented that the United States still had not implemented the DSB recommendations after the expiry of the implementation time on 27 December 2003, and that sanctions were the only tool left to them to get the US to comply.

The suspension of concessions would be equivalent to the annual offset payments made by the US government to domestic producers under the Byrd Amendment, the complainants said.

The United States objected to the eight requests of suspension of concessions, arguing inter alia that they failed to specify a level of suspension and were inadequate for the arbitrator to perform his functions.
The requests were referred to arbitration.

Next meeting back to top

The next meeting of the DSB will take place on 17 February 2004.