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Panel establishment 

DS344: United States — Final Anti-dumping Measures on Stainless Steel from Mexico

The DSB established a review panel under Article 21.5 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) at the request of Mexico (WT/DS344/20) to determine whether the US had fully complied with the rulings in this case. Mexico's first time request was not blocked by the US following a procedural agreement (WT/DS344/17) between the two parties on how to proceed under DSU Articles 21 and 22.

In this dispute, the Panel and Appellate Body reports were adopted on 20 May 2008. The reasonable period of time for the US to implement the DSB recommendations expired in 30 April 2009 and on 19 August 2009, Mexico requested consultations under Article 21.5 of the DSU.

Mexico said that it was extremely patient expecting full compliance from the US and noted that nothing close to full compliance had occurred. Mexico added that the DSB had issued multiple binding rulings saying that the use of zeroing was flatly contrary to the US WTO obligations.

The US was disappointed that Mexico requested the establishment of a compliance panel. The US remained open to discussion and disagreed with Mexico that there was no other available option.

The EU, Japan, Korea and China reserved their third-party rights.

  

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Adoption of reports 

DS375, DS376 and DS377: European Communities and its Member States — Tariff Treatment of Certain Information Technology Products

In this dispute, United States, Japan and Chinese Taipei challenged the EU’s duties applied on three types of information technology (IT) products (DS375, DS376, DS377).

At today's meeting, the DSB adopted the Panel reports (WT/DS375/R — WT/DS376/R — WT/DS377/R) which were issued on 16 August 2010.

The US welcomed the panel reports’ adoption and said that the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) was widely regarded as creating important new opportunities for trade and economic growth for both developed and developing members. The US hoped that the EU would move promptly towards compliance.

Japan declared that the information technology industry was one of the key sectors that increased the productivity in the world economy and facilitated rapid expansion of communication network on a global scale. Japan congratulated the EU for not appealing these reports and added that this decision would contribute to a prompt resolution of the dispute. Japan took this decision as a clear commitment from the EU to rapidly comply with the ruling.

Chinese Taipei welcomed the panel findings and said that trade in IT products was of vital importance. Chinese Taipei added that such products made up a very significant portion of its international trade. Chinese Taipei urged the EU to promptly bring its measure into conformity with its obligations.

Costa Rica said that as a developing country, it had benefited much from the ITA and added that 25% of its exports were IT products.

Hong Kong China said that the panel reports would certainly provide guidance to ITA participants in the faithful implementation of the Agreement and looked forward to a smooth and expeditious implementation of the DSB rulings.

The EU said that the scope of the ITA needed to be extended by negotiation, not by litigation and renewed its call for an update of the ITA. The EU said that it would focus on implementing the rulings in the hope that other WTO members would engage in negotiations to update the ITA to fit it to the 21st century.

 

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Next meeting 

The next meeting of the DSB will be held on 25 October 2010.