B. UNITED STATES – ANTI-DUMPING MEASURES ON CERTAIN HOT-ROLLED STEEL PRODUCTS FROM JAPAN:  STATUS REPORT BY THE UNITED STATES (WT/DS184/15/ADD.64)

• The United States provided a status report in this dispute on March 3, 2008, in accordance with Article 21.6 of the DSU.
  
  
• As of November 23, 2002, the U.S. authorities had addressed the DSB’s recommendations and rulings with respect to the calculation of antidumping margins in the hot-rolled steel antidumping duty investigation at issue in this dispute.  Details are provided in the document numbered WT/DS184/15/ADD.3.
  
  
• The U.S. Administration will work with Congress with respect to the recommendations and rulings of the DSB that were not already addressed by the U.S. authorities by November 23, 2002.

C. UNITED STATES – SECTION 110(5) OF THE US COPYRIGHT ACT:  STATUS REPORT BY THE UNITED STATES (WT/DS160/24/ADD.39)

• The United States provided a status report in this dispute on March 3, 2008, in accordance with Article 21.6 of the DSU.
  
  
• The U.S. Administration will work closely with the U.S. Congress and continue to confer with the European Communities, in order to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of this matter.
  
  
• In this regard, we appreciate theEC’s recent statements that it remains prepared to work with the U.S. to seek a resolution to this dispute.  We share the EC’s goal of discussing how such a mutually satisfactory solution could be achieved.

D. EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES – MEASURES AFFECTING THE APPROVAL AND  MARKETING  OF  BIOTECH  PRODUCTS:  STATUS  REPORT  BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (WT/DS291/37/ADD.2 – WT/DS292/31/ADD.2 – WT/DS293/31/ADD.2)

• We thank the EC for its written status report and for its statement today. 
  
  
• The reasonable period of time for EC compliance in this dispute expired on January 11, 2008.   The issues covered in the dispute remain unresolved, even though nearly five years have passed since the United States filed its consultation request in May 2003.
  
  
• The EC, as it did at the February meeting of the DSB, has cited progress in making approvals. Accordingly, the United States – as we did at the February DSB meeting – must respond in order to provide the DSB with a more complete understanding of this matter.    
  
  
• In a nutshell, the supposed progress claimed by the EC has not come close to resolving the problems with the EC’s biotech approval procedures.   The number of biotech applications currently pending in the EC approval system – over 40 in number – is even greater than the number of applications pending when the complainants first brought this dispute in 2003.  Many of the products covered by the pending applications are currently approved, grown, and marketed around the world.  One pending application was filed nearly twelve years ago.  The Commission is not even following its own mandated timetables.  The EC’s ongoing failure to make timely decisions has resulted in a serious barrier to trade.
  
  
• And, even when the EC finally does approve a biotech product, EC member States apparently feel free to ignore the EC’s own positive scientific assessments and to adopt national bans on products approved at the EC level.  The DSB found such bans to be in breach of the EC’s obligations under the SPS Agreement.  Yet some of the bans identified in the DSB recommendations and rulings remain in force.  In addition, certain EC member States – including France, Hungary, and Greece – have adopted new bans on some of the same biotech products covered by the member State measures found to be in breach of SPS obligations.
  
  
• Having said that, the United States does look forward to continuing its dialog with the EC.  We continue to hope that the EC will take the steps necessary to resolve this dispute, so that there will be no need for the United States to resort to the withdrawal of concessions or other obligations. 

2. UNITED STATES – CONTINUED DUMPING AND SUBSIDY OFFSET ACT OF 2000:  IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED BY THE DSB

A. STATEMENTS BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND JAPAN

• As the United States has explained at prior DSB meetings, the President signed the Deficit Reduction Act into law on February 8, 2006.  That Act includes a provision repealing the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000.  Thus, the United States has taken all actions necessary to implement the DSB’s recommendations and rulings in these disputes.
  
  
• We welcome the EC and Japan’s recognition that the 2006 Deficit Reduction Act does not permit the distribution of duties collected on goods entered after October 1, 2007.
  
  
• We therefore remain surprised to hear the statements made by the EC and Japan today.
  
  
• With respect to comments regarding further status reports and DSB surveillance in this matter, as we have already explained at previous DSB meetings, the United States has taken all steps necessary to implement the DSB’s recommendations and rulings in these disputes. 
  
  
• In this light, the United States fails to see what purpose would be served by further submission of status reports repeating the progress the United States made in the implementation of the DSB’s recommendations and rulings.
  
  
• Finally, we would like to comment on Members’ statements made today that this legislation – although repealed – continues to cause trade distortions.  Frankly, we find this statement surprising.
  
  
• Recall that, with one exception, none of the complaining parties in this dispute claimed that the CDSOA caused trade-distorting effects under the SCM Agreement.  Indeed, none of the Members speaking today made such a claim.
  
  
• Furthermore, though one Member did claim that the CDSOA caused trade-distorting effects under the SCM Agreement, those adverse effects claims were rejected by the panel.  Members’ comments alleging any trade-distorting effects are thus not based on any DSB recommendations and rulings.
  
  
• We therefore fail to understand the basis for Members’ continuing statements that their trade with the United States is being distorted by virtue of the now-repealed CDSOA.