NEWS - EU Suspends WTO Panel Probi

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Subject: NEWS -  EU Suspends WTO Panel Probing Massachusetts' Law

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EU Suspends WTO Panel Probing Massachusetts' Law

               Reuters
               08-FEB-99

               BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said Monday it
               had suspended its World Trade Organization (WTO) panel
               probing a Massachusetts' law targeting foreign companies
               investing in Myanmar. 

               The disputes panel was set up by the Geneva-based WTO
               last October in response to complaints by the EU and
Japan
               over the Massachusetts law, which sets a "pricing
penalty"
               on goods and services offered to the state by foreign
               companies doing business in the junta-ruled former Burma. 

               The 15-nation EU argued that the penalty broke WTO rules
               on government procurement. 

               "We have today suspended the panel," European
               Commission spokesman Nigel Gardner said. He said the EU
               had taken the action because a U.S. federal court last
               November struck down the Massachusetts law as
               unconstitutional. 

               He stressed that the EU was suspending the panel, not
               dropping the case altogether. That means the EU could
               revive the panel within the next year if, for example, a
U.S.
               appeals court overturned the district court's ruling. 

               Although EU officials denied any link, the EU's action
               appeared to extend an olive branch to Washington at a
time
               when the two commercial giants are locked in a bitter
dispute
               over banana trade.