This report identifies options that negotiators and policy-makers could pursue in order to reach a permanent solution at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the problems some developing countries say they face when buying food at government-set (or government-administered) prices under their public stockholding programs for food security purposes. The …
REGIONAL leaders have agreed to cut tariffs on solar panels, wind turbine blades, solar hot water systems and other ''environmental goods'' in what has been hailed as a shift against protectionist sentiment after global financial turmoil. Meeting in the Russian port city of Vladivostok, the 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific …
China observers in Europe said that the opening of an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese solar panel exports by Brussels is "unfortunate, destructive and not smart" while urging Beijing to react reasonably to avoid an escalation. The experts said that they don't believe officials in Brussels "deliberately" announced the decision on …
The World Trade Organisation's Doha round of negotiations has been at an impasse since December 2008. Several academics and opinion-makers have recently argued that the Doha round is "dead". This article discusses the US narrative on the reasons for the impasse and the way forward. It contrasts this narrative with …
About 40 kilometres from Delhi, in the bustling real estate market of Noida-Greater Noida, lies the biggest irony that the renewable energy industry faces. Indosolar, the country’s largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic cells, has set up a 400 megawatt unit. Its entrance is slick and ultra-modern, typifying the product it …
This paper emphasises the importance of understanding what types of clean energy subsidies countries usually provide, why countries provide them, and how they fit into existing legal mechanisms. A SETA, by simultaneously addressing these questions and clarifying existing WTO subsidy rules, could add to the certainty and predictability of a …
More than a month after Pranab Mukherjee resigned from the Cabinet after being nominated as the UPA’s presidential candidate, the government on Monday rationalised the total number of Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) and the Group of Ministers (GoM) to 21 as against 39 previously. According to the new list …
China, the supplier of 90 percent of the world's rare earths, cut mining rights for the materials by about half to 65 nationwide to help the industry consolidate and create bigger producers. Rare earth mining rights in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, were reduced to 44 from 88, Chen Zhanheng, deputy secretary-general …
Stands up to White House’s strong-arm tactics against manufacturers of generic equivalent Over the summer one thing about U.S. President Barack Obama has become clear. His hawkishness in foreign policy affects not only nations like Pakistan and Yemen, which are saddled with U.S. drones carrying out targeted assassinations on their …
New Delhi India is considering various measures including extension of price preference to domestic suppliers to curb the use of imported equipment in national solar mission projects. The government is contemplating changes in the equipment sourcing policy ahead of the bidding for the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National …
This paper looks at the legal options for a group of interested countries to enter into a new international agreement dedicated to the interface between trade policy and climate change, which could be titled the Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement (SETA). Sustainable energy, for the purposes of this paper, includes solar, …
The US will formally fight India at the World Trade Organisation over import restrictions imposed by New Delhi on poultry products from countries reporting outbreak of low-intensity bird flu, hoping to grab the country’s growing market for chicken legs. The dispute settlement body of the WTO on Monday accepted Washington’s …
The document provides the full text of 53 pages final outcome document of Rio+20 Conference adopted on June 22, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, released during United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Summit). The document describes: 1) the common vision, 2) Renewing political commitment : a) reaffirming the …
The commerce ministry has decided to seek consultations with the US under the Dispute Settlement Understanding of the WTO on the countervailing duty (CVD) measures imposed by the Obama administration on India’s export of carbon steel flat products. The US Department of Commerce had contended that India is extending subsidy …
Trade ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries hope to have a list of environmental goods for tariff liberalisation by September, officials announced after meeting in Kazan, Russia earlier this week. The two-day gathering also saw ministers address issues such as food security and trade facilitation, while continuing …
Countries that oppose the European Union's move to include airlines in its scheme to control carbon emissions would find it difficult to bring a dispute to the World Trade Organization (WTO), an official with the global trade body said on Friday. China and India have boycotted their airlines from taking …
Countries that oppose the European Union's move to include airlines in its scheme to control carbon emissions would find it difficult to bring a dispute to the World Trade Organization (WTO), an official with the global trade body said on Friday. China and India have boycotted their airlines from taking …
Reacting to the US government approaching the global trade body, WTO, against India imposing a ban on US agricultural products, including poultry meat and chicken eggs, the government clarified that it had already revoked the ban on imports from the US last September when it was declared free of avian …
The WTO's highest court ruled on Wednesday 16 May that the US "dolphin-safe" label violates WTO law, marking another step in a decade-old dispute between the US and Mexico (DS381). Notable is the landmark finding that a non-binding label can be a prohibited technical regulation - a point that could …
The degree to which countries can help support their burgeoning renewable energy sectors was again the subject of debate at the WTO this week, with Canada defending itself at a second dispute settlement hearing. Japan and the EU have brought two separate cases - DS412 and DS426, which are being …
The US solar industry is pushing the government to drag India to the World Trade Organisation, alleging that the recent Indian regulation that certain things in solar panels be manufactured in the country is in violation of the WTO rules. “It seems to us at SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association) …
