This is from the Interim Review section of the Aircraft report:
6.26 The United States requests that the first sentence of paragraph 7.248 of the Interim Report be modified to remove any suggestion that reports of the Appellate Body are binding except with respect to resolving the particular dispute between the parties to that dispute.1481 The United States also notes that, consistent with Article 17 of the DSU, it would be more accurate to refer to "reports" of the Appellate Body, rather than "decisions". The United States identifies a number of references throughout the Interim Report to "decisions" of the Appellate Body which it requests be modified to "reports".1482
6.27 The European Communities does not agree with the United States' request to modify the first sentence of paragraph 7.248 of the Interim Report.1483 According to the European Communities, the United States' request omits reports subsequent to Japan – Alcoholic Beverages II in which the Appellate Body clarified its reasoning about the relevance of adopted Appellate Body reports in subsequent proceedings. The European Communities considers that the current wording of paragraph 7.248 of the Interim Report properly reflects the Appellate Body's position on this issue.1484
6.28 The question of the relevance of Appellate Body reports is highly contentious among Members, and it is not necessary for us to address it in order to resolve the dispute before us. The changes requested by the United States do not affect or undermine our reasoning on the substantive issues before us. We therefore have amended paragraph 7.248 (numbering unchanged), and made conforming changes, both where identified by the United States, and where identified by us, throughout the final report, to refer to Appellate Body "report" rather than "decision".
I wish I could see the original para. 7.248 that had the U.S. so concerned about the "binding" nature of Appellate Body reports, but alas, that is confidential.
