Source: EU Commission
The EU appealed the findings of the WTO panel assessing the EU compliance with an earlier ruling in the EU-US dispute over support to the European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus.
In its report of 22 September 2016, the panel sided with the EU as regards some points of the dispute. It confirmed among others that there have been no prohibited subsidies granted to Airbus A350 XWB or A380 models, and that most of the other subsidies challenged by the US had come to an end.
However, significant aspects of the compliance panel report cannot be regarded as satisfactory.
The EU in particular disagrees with the legal conclusion that, even though most of the subsidies challenged by the US have ended, the EU has not yet fully complied with the previous ruling.
The EU finds that the compliance panel did not correctly define the elements that would determine whether the loans to Airbus for the A350 XWB model were subsidised. This determination would be based on comparison of the interest rate charged to Airbus under the public loan scheme with a market benchmark rates. The EU disagrees with some of the elements proposed by the panel to determine such a market benchmark.
Also, the EU considers that the panel made several errors in its assessment of the alleged harm that these subsidies caused to Boeing. More information can be found here.
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