EC To Impose Sanctions Over US Failure To Repeal Byrd Amendment

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

05 April 2005

The European Commission announced on Thursday that it had adopted a proposal to impose sanctions on certain products from the United States.

The move represents the latest step in the dispute over the Byrd Amendment, in light of what the EC described as "the continuing failure of the United States to bring its legislation in conformity with its international obligations".

The Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (also known as the Byrd Amendment) provides that anti-dumping and countervailing duties collected following a complaint from US companies are distributed to those companies that brought or supported the complaints.

The Commission proposed that from May 1, an additional duty of 15% be imposed on a range of products including paper, agricultural, textile and machinery products.

The EC and six other complainants (Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea) were granted authorization in November 2004 by the WTO to impose retaliatory measures against the United States, over its failure to respect its international obligations. The Amendment, first ruled illegal by the WTO in January 2003, should have been repealed by December 27 of that year.

The level of retaliation to be applied from May 1 is based on the latest distribution of duties made under the Byrd Amendment, and is slightly below US$28 million.

Speaking last week, spokesman for the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), Richard Mills announced that:

"We're disappointed that this step is being taken. The United States is working to comply with the WTO decision regarding the Byrd Amendment."

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