India will file an appeal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against a panel report issued by on Tuesday that has ruled in favour of Brazil, Australia and Guatemala in their dispute settlement complaints targeting India’s domestic support for sugarcane producers and export subsidies for sugar.
India said that the ruling will not have any impact on any of the country’s existing and ongoing policy measures in the sugar sector. The commerce and industry ministry said that the findings of the panel are “completely unacceptable” to India, unreasoned and not supported by the WTO rules.
Australia, Brazil and Guatemala had challenged some of India’s policy measures in the sugar sector at the WTO in 2019. They complained that domestic support provided by India to sugarcane producers was higher than the limits set by the WTO and that India provided prohibited export subsidies to its sugar mills.
“The panel issued its report on December 14, 2021 in which it has made certain erroneous findings about our schemes to support sugarcane producers and exports,” the ministry said, adding that
the findings of the panel are “completely unacceptable to India”.
“The panel’s findings are unreasoned and not supported by the WTO rules. The panel has also evaded key issues which it was obliged to determine. Similarly, the panel’s findings on alleged export subsidies undermines logic and rationale,” it said.
In its report, the panel observed that for five consecutive sugar seasons, from 2014-15 to 2018-19, India provided non-exempt product-specific domestic support to sugarcane producers in excess of the permitted level of 10% of the total value of sugarcane production. It said that India was acting inconsistently with its obligations under the Agreement on Agriculture.
In the complaints made by Australia and Guatemala, the panel found that, under the challenged schemes including the scheme challenged only by Australia, India provided subsidies contingent upon export performance. This it said is inconsistent with the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures agreement.
The panel recommended that India bring the measures at issue into conformity with the WTO agreements.
“India believes that its measures are consistent with its obligations under the WTO agreements,” the ministry said
The panel report will be adopted by the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body within 20-60 days of circulation, unless the DSB decides by consensus not to adopt it or either party notifies its decision to appeal.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Business News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
