United States — Anti-dumping and countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain

 

Short title:	US — Ripe Olives from Spain
Complainant:	European Union
Respondent:	United States
Third Parties (original proceedings):	Australia; Brazil; Canada; China; India; Japan; Mexico; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of; Switzerland; Turkey
Agreements cited: (as cited in request for consultations)	Art. 1.1(a), 1.1(b), 1.2, 2.1, 2.1(a), 2.1(b), 2.1(c), 2.2, 2.4, 10, 14, 15.1, 15.2, 15.5, 19.1, 19.3, 19.4, 32.1  Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) Art. VI:1, VI:2, VI:3  GATT 1994 Art. 3.1, 3.2, 3.5  Anti-dumping
Agreements cited: (as cited in panel request)	Art. 1.1(a), 1.1(b), 1.2, 2.1(a), 2.1(b), 2.1(c), 2.4, 10, 14, 15.1, 15.2, 15.5, 19.1, 19.3, 19.4, 22.5, 32.1  Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM)
Consultations requested:	29 January 2019
Panel requested:	16 May 2019
Panel established:	24 June 2019
Panel composed:	18 October 2019
Panel report circulated:	19 November 2021
	(adopted on 20 December 2021 )

 

Summary of the dispute to date

 

The summary below was up-to-date at 17 February 2023 

 

Consultations

 

Complaint by the European Union

 

On 29 January 2019, the European Union requested consultations with the United States concerning the imposition of countervailing and anti-dumping duties on ripe olives from Spain, as well as the legislation that was the basis for the imposition of those duties.

 

The European Union claimed that the challenged measures appear to be inconsistent with:

 

- Articles 1.1(a), 1.1(b), 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 10, 12.1, 12.5, 12.8, 14, 15.1, 15.2, 15.5, 19.1, 19.3, 19.4 and 32.1 of the SCM Agreement;

  

- Articles 3.1, 3.2 and 3.5 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement; and

  

- Articles VI:1, VI:2 and VI:3 of the GATT 1994.

 

On 11 February 2019, Australia requested to join the consultations.

 

Panel and Appellate Body proceedings

 

On 16 May 2019, the European Union requested the establishment of a panel. At its meeting on 28 May 2019, the DSB deferred the establishment of a panel.

 

At its meeting on 24 June 2019, the DSB established a panel. Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Turkey reserved their third-party rights.

 

On 8 October 2019, the European Union requested the Director-General to compose the panel. On 18 October 2019, the Director-General composed the panel.

 

On 15 April 2020, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that, due to a delay in the beginning of the panel’s work resulting from the lack of available experienced lawyers in the Secretariat and delays caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the panel did not expect to issue its final report to the parties before the end of 2020. The Chair apprised the DSB that the report would be available to the public once it was circulated to the Members in all three official languages, and that the date of circulation depends on completion of translation. On 21 December 2020, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that in light of further delays in the proceedings caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the panel expected to issue its final report to the parties by the end of June 2021. On 9 June 2021, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that in light of further delays in the proceedings caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the panel expected to issue its final report to the parties by the end of August 2021. On 17 September 2021, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that the panel had received joint requests from the parties to postpone the issuance of the final report. Cognisant of the aim of the dispute settlement mechanism to secure a positive solution to a dispute, and of the requirement that Members engage in the dispute settlement procedures in good faith in an effort to resolve the dispute, the panel agreed to the parties' requests, and postponed the issuance of the final report to the parties until 3 November 2021.

 

On 19 November 2021, the panel report was circulated to Members.

 

At its meeting on 20 December 2021, the DSB adopted the panel report.

 

Reasonable period of time

 

On 19 January 2022, the United States informed the DSB that it intended to implement the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in a manner consistent with its WTO obligations and that it would need a reasonable period of time to do so. On 17 March 2022, the European Union and the United States informed the DSB that in light of ongoing discussions between them, in order to allow sufficient time for the parties to discuss a mutually agreed period, they had agreed on a common understanding regarding the deadlines relative to the arbitration procedure provided in Article 21.3(c) of the DSU.

 

On 1 July 2022, the European Union and the United States informed the DSB that they had agreed pursuant to Article 21.3(b) of the DSU, that the reasonable period of time for the United States to implement the DSB's recommendations and rulings would be 12 months and 25 days. Accordingly, the reasonable period of time was set to expire on 14 January 2023.

 

Implementation of adopted reports

 

On 16 January 2023, the United States informed the DSB pursuant to Article 21.6 of the DSU of its compliance with the DSB's recommendations in this dispute. The United States explained that on 6 July 2022, the US Department of Commerce initiated a proceeding under section 129 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act to address the DSB's recommendations relating to the measures at issue in this dispute. On 20 December 2022, the US Department of Commerce issued its final determination in which it revised certain aspects of its original determination in the countervailing duty investigation regarding ripe olives from Spain at issue in this dispute; in particular, the calculation of one respondent's subsidy rate, the determination of specificity, and the calculation of subsidies for processed agricultural products under section 771B of the Tariff Act of 1930. On 12 January 2023, the US Trade Representative directed the US Department of Commerce to implement the final determination, and a notice of the completed implementation was issued on 13 January 2023.The United States submitted that, accordingly, it had fully implemented the DSB's recommendations in this dispute.