WTO DSB News Item, 1 December 2003
The European Communities asked Canada and the US to initiate a compliance procedure to assess the WTO consistency of the EC's new measure in the hormone-treated beef case but Canada and the US said that they would rather hold further discussions.
DS26 & DS48: European Communities - Measures concerning meat and meat products (hormones)
The EC recalled that at the DSB of 7 November 2003 the US and Canada had declared that the EC measures taken to comply with the hormones ruling were still WTO inconsistent. The EC recalled also that the US and Canada had officially stated their intention to maintain their suspension of concessions. The EC said that Canada and the US should initiate multilateral procedures (as described in Article 21.5 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding) to determine whether the EC was now in compliance. The EC added that it was ready to discuss more in detail with them how to address this matter appropriately.
Canada said that it was ready to have bilateral discussions with the EC but that it was up to the EC to be in compliance. Canada added that it saw no reason at the moment to remove its sanctions or to move in any other way.
The US said that it had always been ready to discuss with the EC any matters regarding its compliance and that it would be pleased to discuss with EC officials any outstanding issues.