Japan, EU want early creation of WTO panel on RI car row
Japan, EU want early creation of WTO panel on RI car row
GENEVA (Kyodo): Japan and the European Union have taken action to pave the way for the early creation of a dispute settlement panel in the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Indonesia's national car policy, trade officials have confirmed.
Japan filed a request Friday with the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), seeking to convene an extraordinary meeting June 12 to set up such a panel, the officials said on Friday.
Under WTO rules, if a complainant country in a trade dispute fails to reach an accord through bilateral talks and requests that a settlement panel be set up at two separate DSB meetings, the request will be automatically granted regardless of the defendant country's response.
Japan made its first request for a panel at a regular DSB meeting in April, and the EU made the same request at another regular meeting on May 23. But Indonesia rejected both requests out-of-hand.
WTO members had expected Tokyo to make a second request at the next regular DSB meeting June 25.
The EU, meanwhile, officially notified the DSB on Thursday of its intent to make a second panel request at the body's next meeting, which will be on June 12 as requested by Japan.
Tokyo could have made its second request at the DSB May 23 meeting, but refrained from doing so out of consideration for the general election in Indonesia, Japanese officials said.
Warned
Nobutoshi Akao, Japan's ambassador to the WTO, instead warned Indonesia at the meeting that Japan would have no choice but to seek the early establishment of a panel if Indonesia failed to soon offer a proposal "which could provide a basis for a mutually satisfactory solution."
Indonesia's Industry and Trade Minister Tunky Ariwibowo said Friday in Jakarta, "We still hope to settle this dispute without a WTO panel."
Tunky said Indonesia would have further bilateral meetings with Japan, the EU and the United States to iron out differences on the car dispute.
The three trade powers lodged a complaint with the WTO over Indonesia's national car policy last October, claiming it discriminated against foreign competitors.
The policy provides domestically owned automakers with tariff and luxury sales tax exemptions on condition they raise the content of locally produced components in their cars to 60 percent in three years.
However, only a joint venture between PT Timor Putra Nasional, headed by Hutomo Mandala Putra, President Soeharto's youngest son, and South Korean Kia Motors, has been qualified for the privilege until 1999.