INTRODUCTION

On 3 April 1998, the European Communities requested consultations with the Government of Argentina under Article XXII:1 of the GATT 1994 (“GATT”) and pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (“DSU”) and Article 14 of the Agreement on Safeguards with regard to provisional and definitive safeguard measures imposed by Argentina on imports of footwear.

The European Communities and Argentina held consultations on 24 April 1998, but failed to reach a mutually satisfactory solution.

On 10 June 1998, pursuant to Article 6 of the DSU, the European Communities requested the establishment of a panel with standard terms of reference.

At its meeting on 23 July 1998, the DSB established a panel pursuant to the request by the European Communities (WT/DS121/3).

At that DSB meeting, parties agreed that the Panel should have standard terms of reference. The terms of reference of the Panel are the following:

On 15 September 1998, the Panel was constituted as follows:

Brazil, Indonesia, Paraguay, Uruguay and the United States reserved their rights to participate in the Panel proceedings as third parties.

The Panel met with the parties on 30 November – 1 December 1998 and 3 February 1999. It met with the third parties on 1 December 1998.

The Panel submitted its interim report to the parties on 21 April 1999. On 10 May 1999, both parties submitted comments on the interim report, and Argentina requested that an interim review meeting be held. On 20 May 1999, the Panel held the interim review meeting with the parties. The Panel submitted its final report to the parties on 4 June 1999.