WASHINGTON -- The U.S. aerospace industry has lost $1 billion and
likely will lose more due to a thorny European Union regulation
that would restrict the use of aircraft fitted with so-called
hush-kit noise-reduction devices, according to officials testifying
before the House aviation subcommittee.
Subcommittee chairman Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) characterized
the EU's hush-kit rule as an "act of trade war" with the U.S.
David Marchick, the State Department's deputy assistant
secretary for transportation affairs, testified the rule was "one
of the clearest acts of discrimination against the United
States."
Approved by the European Parliament, the EU rule bans commercial
aircraft equipped with replacement engines or quieting devices from
operating in European airspace. However, quieting devices marketed
by Airbus would be allowed, leading the U.S. to claim the EU rule
largely is protectionist.
Some committee members, including Rep. Jack Metcalf (R-Wash.),
urged Clinton administration officials to mount some "retaliation"
in response to the hush-kit rule.
"This is an economic issue masquerading as a noise issue," said
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), the committee's ranking minority
member. Oberstar has introduced a bill (H.R. 661) that would impose
tough noise standards to prohibit supersonic airplanes, such as the
Concorde, from landing in the U.S. if the EU rule is
implemented.
In response, the EU, whose representatives were in Washington
last week meeting with the Clinton administration, delayed
implementation of the rule until May 8, 2000.
The Clinton administration and aerospace companies have
criticized the EU for circumventing noise-reduction criteria agreed
to under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a
United Nations body, to create its own noise standards.
"If this rule is enacted, it will stand clearly for the
proposition that any country or region can ignore its international
obligations and confer an advantage to its own industry by passing
an `environmental regulation' without a shred of evidence of any
environmental benefit," John Douglass, president and chief
executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association of
America told the committee.
In the meantime, Douglass and lawmakers contend the hush-kit
rule is drying up the market for U.S.-made, hush-kit-fitted
aircraft and parts around the world.
So far, the Clinton administration has followed diplomatic
channels to negotiate the dispute. But the administration has
threatened to take the unusual step of filing a formal complaint
with the ICAO against the European Union unless some progress is
made toward resolving the issue this fall.