. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/DSB/M/272 
28 September 2009 
 (09-4505) 
Dispute Settlement Body 
31 July 2009  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 31 July 2009  
 
Chairman:  Mr. John Gero (Canada) 
 
 
1. United States – Certain measures affecting imports of poultry from China 
(a) Request for the establishment of a panel by China (WT/DS392/2) 
1. The Chairman  recalled that the DSB had considered this matter at its meeting on 
20 July 2009, and had agreed to revert to it.  He drew attention to the communication from China 
contained in document WT/DS392/2, and invited the representative of China to speak. 
2. The representative of China  said that, at the previous DSB meeting on 20 July 2009, his 
country had described its concerns over the measures identified in its request for the establishment of 
a panel, which had been circulated as document WT/DS392/2 on 23 June 2009.  As detailed in the 
panel request, the United States had imposed measur es that constituted clear violations of its WTO 
obligations, and had resulted in a complete ba n on the import of poultry products from China.  
Although China had repeatedly expressed its serious concerns to the United States, both bilaterally 
and multilaterally, unfortunately the matter had not been  solved.  As a result, given its systemic and 
practical concerns, China had no alternative but to renew its request that the DSB establish a panel at 
the present meeting under Article XXIII of the GATT 199 4, Article 6 of the DSU, Article 19 of the 
Agreement on Agriculture and Article 11 of the SPS Agreement. 
3. The representative of the United States  said that his country was disappointed that China had 
decided to pursue its request for a panel in this  matter.  The United States understood that a panel 
would be established at the presen t meeting but, nonetheless, did not agree with China's assertions 
that the measure at issue amounted to a discriminator y or protectionist measure.  As had been stated, 
nothing in the measure identified by China preven ted the relevant US authorities from continuing to 
work together to reach an objec tive, science-based response to Chin a's request for a declaration of 
equivalence with respect to poultry products.  These  authorities were examining whether China's food 
safety system ensured that poultry products from Ch ina met the United States level of protection, and 
they were proceeding in a way that both safeguarded  human life and health and was consistent with 
US obligations under the WTO Agreement.  The Un ited States was confident that a panel would so 
agree.  In addition, the United States did not ag ree with China's statement at the previous DSB 
meeting that this measure would forestall the normal business of trade between the two countries, 
which had a broad and deep trade relationship, and continued to work together closely on a bilateral 
and multilateral basis to resolve any problems that  might arise.  On occasion, both the United States 
and China had had recourse to dispute settle ment under the DSU, as the WTO Agreement 
contemplated.  Although the United States was disappoi nted that China had chosen to pursue a panel 
in this matter, it was confident that this dispute could be resolved through the WTO dispute settlement WT/DSB/M/272 
Page 2  
 
  system.  Therefore, the United States saw no reason that this, or any other dispute, should have 
repercussions on any other trade matters between the United States and China.  The United States 
remained concerned with the way in which China had framed its panel request.  In particular, the 
request appeared both to include measures that ha d not been consulted upon or did not exist and to 
make claims under a covered agreement pursuant to which consultations were neither requested nor 
held. 
4. The DSB took note
 of the statements and agreed  to establish a panel in accordance with the 
provisions of Article 6 of the DSU w ith standard terms of reference. 
5. The representatives of the European Communities , Guatemala , Korea  and Turkey  reserved 
their third-party rights to participate in the Panel's proceedings. 
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