United States – Conditional Tax Incentives
for Large Civil Aircraft
Communication from the Appellate Body
The following communication, dated 10 February
2017, from the Chair of the Appellate Body addressed to the Chair of the
Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated to Members in accordance with
Article 17.5 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the
Settlement of Disputes.
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I am writing to you pursuant to Article 17.5 of the
Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes
(DSU), which stipulates that, as a general rule, the Appellate Body will
circulate its report no later than
60 days after the appellant has formally notified the Dispute Settlement
Body (DSB) of its decision to appeal. Article 17.5 states, furthermore, that,
when the Appellate
Body considers that it cannot provide its report within 60 days, it shall
inform the DSB in writing of the reasons for
the delay together with an estimate of the period within which it will submit
its report.
The United States notified
the DSB on 16 December 2016 of its decision to appeal certain issues of law
covered in the Panel Report and legal interpretations developed by the Panel in
this dispute, with the result that day 60 in this proceeding falls on Tuesday,
14 February 2017. On 17 January 2017, the European Union filed a Notice of
Other Appeal in this dispute.
The
Appellate Body is not able to circulate its report by the end of the 60-day period, or within the 90‑day
timeframe provided for in the last sentence of Article 17.5 of the DSU, due to particular aspects arising in this proceeding, including the time needed for adopting and
complying with additional procedures to protect business confidential
information, the consequent extensions of the deadlines for filing submissions,
and overlapping issues identified by the participants in parallel proceedings. We further note the substantial workload faced by the Appellate
Body, the overlap in the composition of the Divisions hearing several concurrent appeals, and the shortage of staff in the
Appellate Body Secretariat.
The circulation date of
the Appellate Body report in this appeal will be communicated to the
participants and third participants in due course.
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