Many WTO Members Failing to Submit Notification of CVD Measures, Committee Chair Says
World Trade Organization members' compliance rates with notification requirements for subsidies and countervailing duties remain "concerningly low," according to the chair of the WTO's Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. Compliance is crucial to the function of that committee, its chair, New Zealand's James Lester, said Oct. 27.
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To date, 101 members have yet to make their 2023 notifications -- which were due June 30 -- while 85 and 73 members haven't completed their 2021 and 2019 notifications, respectively, the WTO said. Tools, including a technical assistance project from the WTO Secretariat, can help members notify the committee of their subsidies, Lester noted.
Lester also highlighted the four members that received "fast track" extensions that should have eliminated export subsidies under Article 27.4 of the SCM Agreement. The four members have not made their final transparency requirements, which were due June 30, 2016.
In addition, the committee said it was "not able to finalize the election of a new member to the Permanent Group of Experts to replace Rabih Nasser, whose term expired last spring." The vacancy, along with an additional vacancy coming in the spring, will be filled during a new election process at the next committee meeting, set for the week of April 22.