EU WINS KEY WTO CASE AGAINST BOEING

SINGAPORE, April 1 (Bernama) -- The European Commission (EC) welcomes the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel report which found that billions of dollars
in US Federal and state subsidies granted to Boeing are illegal under the
latter's rules.

This landmark ruling has clearly confirmed the EU’s position on all of its
main claims, it said in a statement.

The WTO, on Thursday, issued the panel report that had examined the
European Union’s (EU) complaint which alleged that Boeing received almost US$24
billion in illegal subsidies between 1989 and 2006.

The EC said notably in the report, the US Federal and state governments
granted WTO-incompatible subsidies to Boeing, amounting to at least US$5.3
billion.

It also said planned future subsidies are estimated to be worth between
US$3-US$4 billion.

In hailing the report, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said: "This WTO
panel report clearly shows that Boeing has received huge subsidies in the past
and continues to receive significant subsidies today.

"The US began this dispute in 2004 and now finds itself with a crystal clear
ruling that exposes its long-running multi-billion dollar subsidisation of
Boeing through Federal and state programmes as illegal.

"These subsidies have resulted in substantial harm to EU interests, causing
Airbus to lose sales, depress its aircraft prices and unfairly lose market share
to Boeing."