Turkey — Additional duties on imports of air conditioning machines from Thailand

 

Summary of the dispute to date

 

The summary below was up-to-date at 27 January 2022 

 

Consultations

 

Complaint by Thailand

 

On 5 December 2018, Thailand requested consultations with Turkey concerning the additional duty imposed by Turkey on imports of air conditioning machines from Thailand.

 

Thailand claimed that the measures appear to be inconsistent with:

 

- Articles 8.2 and 12.3 of the Agreement on Safeguards; and

 

- Articles I:1, II:1(a), II:1(b), XIX:2 and XIX:3 of the GATT 1994.

 

Panel and Appellate Body proceedings

 

On 14 February 2019, Thailand requested the establishment of a panel. At its meeting on 25 February 2019, the DSB deferred the establishment of the panel.

 

At its meeting on 11 April 2019, the DSB established a panel. Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Ukraine and the United States reserved their third-party rights.

 

On 18 June 2019, Thailand requested the Director-General to compose the panel. On 28 June 2019, the Director-General composed the panel.

 

On 7 October 2019, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that the beginning of the panel's work had been delayed as a result of a lack of available experienced lawyers in the Secretariat. The Chair's communication indicated that the panel did not expect to issue its final report to the parties before the second half of 2020.

 

On 19 November 2020, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that on 10 November 2020 the panel received a request from Thailand to suspend its work in this dispute, pursuant to Article 12.12 of the DSU, to which Turkey had objected. The Chair also informed the DSB that after considering the views of the parties, the panel decided to suspend its work, pursuant to Article 12.12, effective 19 November 2020, and recalled that the authority of the panel shall lapse after 12 months of the suspension of its work.

 

Withdrawal/termination

 

As the panel had not been requested to resume its work, pursuant to Article 12.12 of the DSU, the authority for establishment of the panel lapsed as of 19 November 2021.