Countervailing Measures in Merchandise Trade 20 Industrial subsidies are nothing new but have become an increasing threat to fair competition on global markets in recent years. Similar to the number of anti-dumping investigations, the number of anti-subsidy investigations is also steadily increasing. According to the WTO, new countervailing investigations among members have increased in recent years, with 36 new investigations initiated in 2019 compared to just nine in 2010. 21 Since the founding of the WTO in 1995, WTO members have introduced 604 countervailing investigations against one another. In 337 cases (56 %), measures were imposed and countervailing duties collected (as of June 2020).22
Total Countervailing Investigations initiated among WTO Members (1995-2020)
Diagrammtitel
700 600
541
604
486
500
*Data as of end of June 2020 380
400 300 200 99 117 100
577
33 10 17
217 190 201 168 176 182 144 153
245 254
279
302
411
445
335
58
0
Quelle: World Trade Organization, Countervailing Initiations: By Reporting Member 01/01/1995 - 30/06/2020, <https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/scm_e/CV_InitiationsByRepMem.pdf> (accessed 8 Februar 2021).
Status quo While the rulebook of the WTO contains disciplines on subsidies, there is a lack of coherent and comprehensive rules to effectively address market distortive practices particularly in the area of subsidies (beyond export subsidies) – in particular regarding industrial subsidies – the role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and forced technology transfers. The WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement) only vaguely defines subsidies. It also covers only export subsidies and subsidies intended to increase domestic supply or replace imports.
20
BDI has published a more detailed position on the reform of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. The paper is available via the following link: https://english.bdi.eu/publication/news/reform-of-the-wto-agreement-on-subsidiesand-countervailing-measures/. 21 The WTO data is only available until the end of June 2020; in order to compare full years, we have used the data here for 2019. 22 World Trade Organization, Countervailing Measures: Reporting Member vs. Exporting Country 01/01/1995 – 30/06/2020, <https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/scm_e/CV_InitiationsByRepMem.pdf> und Countervailing Measures: By Reporting Member 01/01/1995 - 30/06/2020, <https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/scm_e/CV_MeasuresByRepMem.pdf> (accessed 8 February 2021). 22
