TOKYO, (AFP) - The European Commission is studying ways to stop indirect Japanese subsidies to Boeing via contracts to build part of the US aviation giant's key 7E7 Dreamliner jet, a commission spokesman said.
"For the moment we haven't decided any initiative on Japan but we are of course studying this," spokesman Etienne Reuter told AFP.
Three top Japanese firms -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries -- are contracted to work on parts of the new 7E7, a fuel-efficient passenger jet due out in 2008 on which Boeing is staking its future.
"We are aware that in industrial and aviation circles people have always seen the Japanese subsidies to develop the 7E7 as a way for Boeing to skirt around the stipulations of our 1992 agreement," Reuter said.
The European Union and United States agreed in the 1992 accord to limit the subsidies they give to Boeing and its European rival, Airbus.
Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry declined comment on the EU statement, saying only that Tokyo has been "providing support for projects that would help improve technology of the aviation industry of our nation.
"For Japanese companies participating in the 7E7 project, we would consider providing assistance to them under international rules if the project should contribute to improvement of the technology of our nation's aviation industry," a ministry statement said.
Washington and Brussels on Wednesday each said they would go to the World Trade Organisation with their concerns that the other side was violating the 1992 accord on subsidies, setting off a legal process that could last at least a year.
Japan was not part of the 1992 deal, which brings "very complicated legal aspects" to the dispute over the 7E7, Reuter said.
Japan's second largest airline, All Nippon Airways, in April became the first to order the 7E7, saying it would buy 50 jets for about six billion dollars.