GENEVA, March 3 (Reuters) - Canada has appealed a WTO ruling which found its auto pact with the United States discriminatory, a World Trade Organisation (WTO) spokeswoman said on Friday.
The appeal, filed on Thursday at the world trade watchdog's headquarters, means that a WTO appellate body has three months to review the ruling in the complaint brought by Japan and the European Union (EU).
A planned meeting on Friday of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), composed of the 135 member countries, was cancelled after the appeal was lodged, a WTO spokeswoman told a briefing.
The DSB would nornmally have been expected to adopt the panel ruling, which found the 35-year-old bilateral pact was discriminatory and constituted an illegal export subsidy.
Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew said in a statement in Ottawa on the same day, February 11, that Canada would appeal.
But analysts have said that the ruling struck a likely death blow to the pact, which has helped protect the "Big Three" North American car makers from foreign competition since 1965.
Japan and the EU challenged a section of the pact that allows Ford Motor Co, DaimlerChrysler Ag and General Motors Corp to import vehicles into Canada from anywhere in the world duty free. Non-North American companies must generally pay a tariff of 6.1 percent on imports.
The United States is protected from WTO action over the agreement because it obtained a waiver for the terms from the WTO's predecessor, the GATT. But Canada never sought one.:
