U.S. Claims Compliance In Boeing WTO Case, But Provides Few Details

摘要

The United States this week claimed it has fully complied with an adverse World Trade Organization ruling on U.S. subsidies to aircraft maker Boeing. It said it has done so in part by modifying research and development (R&D) contracts that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) awarded the company and by terminating a range of other R&D programs. But the European Union on Sept. 25 rejected the U.S. claim of compliance and requested consultations under Article 21.5 of the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (see related story). The four-page compliance notice that the United States provided to the WTO on Sept. 23, and released publicly the same day, provides little detail on how the U.S. has actually modified the R&D contracts or terminated the NASA and DOD R&D programs faulted in the March Appellate Body ruling. For example, the notification states that the U.S. has modified the rights accorded to the parties under 126 NASA contracts and 67 DOD contracts "so as to make them consistent with commercial practice," without providing further explanation. It states that NASA has terminated seven R&D programs, reduced funding for aeronautics research contracts under other R&D programs, and that DOD has ceased funding for seven R&D programs.