Brussels, 18/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Ontario's feed-in tariff programme has received complaints from Japan and the EU and may soon have a ruling made against it by the dispute settlements body.
According to the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), quoted by the Presse Canadienne agency, a preliminary WTO report decided that the Canadian province of Ontario's renewable energy support programme, which has been on the receiving end of complaints made to the WTO by Japan and the EU, discriminates against foreign equipment providers for renewable energy production units because it treats them in a less favourable way than it does for similar products from Ontario. The Canadian tariff repurchase guarantee system for green energies was set up in 2009. It requires electricity plants participating in this programme to obtain up to 60% of their equipment from the province of Ontario, in order to benefit from government subsidies.
Japan's complaint proceedings were launched in September 2010 and a special group was set up in July 2011, following the breakdown of consultations with Canada (DS 412). The EU also went to the WTO in August 2011 and was successful in ensuring that a special group was set up in January 2012, after the failure of consultations with Canada (DS 426). The WTO dispute settlement body is expected to reach a decision in November. (EH/transl.fl)