. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/DS267/40 
30 September 2009 
 
 (09-4585) 
 Original:   English 
  
 
UNITED STATES – SUBSIDIES ON UPLAND COTTON 
 
Communication from Brazil
 
  
 The following communication, dated 25 Septembe r 2009, from the delegation of Brazil to the 
delegation of the United States and to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated at 
the request of that delegation.  
_______________ 
 
 1. On 31 August 2009, the WTO circulated the Decision by the Arbitrator in the proceedings 
United States – Subsidies on Upland Cotton – Recourse to Arbitration by the United States under 
Article 22.6 of the DSU and Article 4.11 of the SCM Agreement .  In that Decision (contained in 
document WT/DS267/ARB/1), the Arbitrator provided a formula
1 for the calculation of the 
permissible amount of annual countermeasures that Br azil would be entitled to take with respect to 
measures which were found to be prohibited s ubsidies in the above-mentioned dispute. 
2. According to the Arbitrator, the amount of such  countermeasures shall depend, inter alia, on 
the transaction value secured by General Sales Mana ger 102 ("GSM 102") export credit guarantees.  
In that regard, the Decision by th e Arbitrator provides as follows:  
"The United States shall provide the most recent fiscal year data on GSM 102 
transactions. The data on GSM 102 transactions by commodity and by obligor shall be supplied in the exact format (and software) as Exhibit US-78."
2 
3. Furthermore, the Arbitrator determined that  the formula shall be applied to scheduled 
products (pig meat, poultry meat and rice) only to th e extent that the export subsidies provided to 
volumes of exports of the products are in excess  of US quantity or budgetary outlay reduction 
commitments.  According to the Arbitrator, this sh all require a deduction to be  made to the transaction 
value secured by GSM 102 export credit guarantees issued for a particular fiscal year, so that only export subsidies that exceed US WTO commitments are included. 
4. In order for Brazil to be able to calculate th is deduction, the Arbitrator decided as follows: 
"The United States shall provide the most recent data on US export prices of the 
scheduled products. 
[Original footnote: The period covered by the data on US export prices must correspond to the 
fiscal year of the GSM 102 data, i.e. if GSM 102 data of fiscal year 2008 is used, data on US 
export prices for calendar year  2008 shall be employed.] "3 
                                                      
1 See document WT/DS267/ARB/1, paragraph 6.5(a) and Annex 4. 
2 See document WT/DS267/ARB/1, and Annex 4, paragraph 5. WT/DS267/40 
Page 2  
 
   
5. Bearing in mind that fiscal years 2008 and 2009 ended on 30 September 2008 and 
30 September 2009, respectively, I hereby request that the United States provide Brazil with (i) the data on GSM 102 transactions for fiscal years 2008 and 2009, by commodity and by obligor, in the format and software indicated by the Arbitrator; a nd (ii) most recent data on US export prices of the 
above-mentioned scheduled pr oducts for 2008 and 2009. 
6. A copy of this letter is being sent to the Chai rman of the Dispute Settlement Body, with the 
request that it be circulated to its Members. 
 
__________  
                                                                                                                                                                    
 
3 See document WT/DS267/ARB/1, and Annex 4, paragraph 6.