US aircraft lobby heads for new EU clash on hush kits

Date: 24/06/1999

By Renée Cordes
THE American aerospace industry is seeking to force another EU-US showdown over hush-kitted aircraft, two months after Union leaders agreed to delay a planned ban on the equipment to appease Washington.

The Aerospace Industries Association, which represents American

makers of commercial and military aircraft, has asked US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky to investigate whether the ban unfairly discriminates against American industry under the US' notorious 'Super 301' trade law. Other groups are planning to file similar requests.

US officials have not yet decided whether to launch an investigation but EU diplomats have already protested against the move, insisting that it would be premature and inappropriate given that the ban is not due to take effect until 2002.

"You cannot try a person for something he may be about to do, but only after he has done it," said one. "I do not think the ban can be the basis for a new trade war until it is actually in force." Besides, he added, "if it has been delayed once, it can be delayed again".

Super 301 is a provision in the US Omnibus Trade Act of 1988 which gives the US trade representative the power to identify "priority" foreign countries whose trading practices are believed to curb American exports unfairly. Investigations into cases can take up to three years, ending with a negotiated settlement to the dispute or, possibly, a US decision to retaliate.

Robert Robeson, the AIA's vice-president of civil aviation, said his group's main objection to the hush-kits measure was that it set requirements for design rather than performance. "You are trying to establish a legal principle here about how standards can be drafted and adopted," he said.

Denying that the move was a last-ditch attempt by industry to get the ban scrapped altogether, Robeson insisted that it was necessary to discourage the EU from taking a similar approach with other regulations. "Today they are talking about noise, tomorrow it could be engine emissions," he said.

If the US does decide to go ahead with the investigation, it could open new wounds at a time when the EU and US have vowed to try to avert fresh trade wars through the new 'early warning system' set up at this week's transatlantic summit.

EU leaders approved the hush-kit ban two months ago, but delayed its implementation for 12 months after an unprecedented lobbying campaign by Washington, which feared that it would hit more than h1 billion worth of American-made aircraft and equipment.

The measure would prevent airlines from registering planes fitted with hush kits or other equipment to reduce engine noise in Europe as soon as it entered into force, and those registered in other countries from flying in the EU from 2002.

European Commission officials argue that the measure is justified because aircraft fitted with hush kits do not always comply with international environmental standards. They maintain that planes should instead be fitted with new engines guaranteed to meet world-wide standards laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).