INTRODUCTION

On 18 February 2003, the Government of Mexico requested consultations with the Government of the United States of America (United States) pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), Article XXII:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), and Article 17.3 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (the AD Agreement) regarding the final determinations of the United States Department of Commerce (USDOC) and the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) in the sunset and fourth administrative reviews of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Mexico, as well as certain United States laws, regulations, procedures, administrative provisions and practice. Mexico and the United States held consultations on 4 April 2003, but they failed to settle the dispute.

On 29 July 2003, Mexico requested the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to establish a panel pursuant to Article XXIII of the GATT 1994, Article 6 of the DSU and Article 17 of the AD Agreement.

At its meeting on 29 August 2003, the DSB established a Panel pursuant to the request by Mexico in document WT/DS282/2, in accordance with Article 6 of the DSU. At that meeting, the parties to the dispute also agreed that the Panel should have standard terms of reference. The terms of reference are, therefore, the following:

On 11 February 2004, the parties agreed to the following composition of the Panel:

Argentina, Canada, China, the European Communities, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Venezuela reserved their third-party rights.

The Panel met with the parties on 25-26 May 2004 and on 17-18 August 2004. It met with the third parties on 26 May 2004.