92001E0747

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0747/01

by Nicholas Clegg (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 March 2001)

Subject: Launching a case under the WTO's dispute settlement procedures (Council of Ministers' instruction)

When the Council of Ministers instructs the Commission to launch a case within the WTO's dispute settlement procedures, what procedures are in place to ensure that the reasons for launching the case are immediately made available to the public?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-0746/01 and E-0747/01 given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(11 May 2001)

As the Honourable Member knows, there are two possible ways for the Commission to ensure the enforcement of the rights of the Community through World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement procedures.

The first one is action under the Trade Barriers Regulation, i.e. Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 of 22 December 1994 laying down Community procedures in the field of the common commercial policy in order to ensure the exercise of the Community's rights under international trade rules, in particular those established under the auspices of the WTO(1).

Article 8 paragraph 1(a) of that Regulation provides that when the Commission considers that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of an examination procedure, it publishes a notice in the Official Journal of the European Communities giving a summary of the information received and inviting interested parties to submit comments.

If, at the end of the examination procedure, the Commission decides to initiate a WTO dispute settlement procedure, Article 12 paragraph 4 of the Council Regulation provides that such decision shall state the reasons on which it is based and again be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. A similar publication happens in case no action is undertaken.

As the guardian of the Treaties, including international agreements, the Commission may also enforce the negotiated rights of the Community outside the specific framework of the Trade Barriers Regulation (see Article 15 of the Council Regulation).

In that case, the Commission consults the special committee established under Article 133 paragraph 3 of the EC Treaty.

In both instances, the current Commission has decided, in a spirit of increased transparency, to make available on the website of Directorate General for Trade the texts of the requests for WTO consultations and of the requests for the establishment for a WTO panel submitted by the Commission on behalf of the Community. These documents provide a description of the measure or practice challenged in the WTO, as well as the indication of the legal provisions which allegedly are breached.

(1) OJ L 349, 21.12.1994. A description of that regulation is also available on the website of DG Trade.