RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SCM/6
9August 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-2357)
Committee onSubsidies andCountervailing Measures
QUESTIONNAIRE FORMAT FOR SUBSIDY NOTIFICATIONS
UNDER ARTICLE 25OFTHE AGREEMENT ONSUBSIDIES
AND COUNTERVAILING MEASURES AND UNDER
ARTICLE XVIOFGATT 1994
Adopted bytheCommittee on21July19951
General Rules
1. Thefollowing subsidies aresubject tonotification under Article 25oftheAgreement on
Subsidies andCountervailing Measures andunder Article XVIofGATT 1994:
(a) allspecific subsidies, asdefined inArticles 1and2oftheAgreement onSubsidies
andCountervailing Measures ("the SCM Agreement"), shallbenotified pursuant to
Article 25.2oftheSCM Agreement;
and
(b) allother subsidies (i.e., inaddition tothose described in(a)),which operate directly
orindirectly toincrease exports ofanyproduct from, ortoreduce imports ofany
product into,theterritory oftheMember granting ormaintaining thesubsidies, shall
benotified pursuant toArticle XVI:1 ofGATT 1994.
2. Itisunderstood thatnotifications made inaccordance withthefollowing questionnaire format
willsatisfy thenotification requirements ofbothArticle 25oftheSCM Agreement and
Article XVIofGATT 1994.
3. AnyMember considering thattherearenomeasures initsterritory requiring notification under
theSCM Agreement andArticle XVIofGATT 1994shallsoinform theSecretariat inwriting.
4. Thecontent ofnotifications should besufficiently specific toenable other Members toevaluate
thetrade effects andtounderstand theoperation ofnotified subsidies.
5. Itisrecognized thatnotification ofameasure doesnotprejudge either itslegalstatus under
GATT 1994 andtheSCM Agreement, theeffects under theSCM Agreement, orthenature
ofthemeasure itself.
6. Totheextent thatsubsidies areprovided tospecific products orsectors, notifications ofthose
subsidies should beorganized byproduct orsector.
1TheCommittee agreed that,inlightofthefactthatthisformat replaces anexisting format for
notifications under Article XVI:1 oftheGATT 1947 approved bytheCONTRACTING PARTIES
(BISD, 9S/193-194), itshould bereferred totheCouncil forTrade inGoods forapproval bythatbody.G/SCM/6
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7. Totheextent thatinformation called forinanyquestion isnotprovided, theresponse tothat
question shallexplain whynot.
8. Inaccordance withArticle 25.1oftheSCM Agreement, subsidy notifications shallbesubmitted
nolaterthan30Juneofeachyear.
9. Members shallsubmit newandfullnotifications eachthirdyear(with 1995 understood tobe
theyearforthefirstnewandfullnotifications under Article 25oftheSCM Agreement and
under Article XVIofGATT 1994), andshallsubmit updating notifications intheintervening
years.
Information tobeProvided2
1. Titleofthesubsidy programme, ifrelevant, orbriefdescription oridentification ofthesubsidy.
2. Period covered bythenotification.
3. Policy objective and/or purpose ofthesubsidy.
4. Background andauthority forthesubsidy (including identification ofthelegislation under which
itisgranted).
5. Form ofthesubsidy (i.e., grant, loan, taxconcession, etc.).
6. Towhom andhowthesubsidy isprovided (whether toproducers, toexporters, orothers;
through whatmechanism; whether afixed orfluctuating amount perunit;ifthelatter, how
determined).
7. Subsidy perunit,orincases where thisisnotpossible, thetotalamount ortheannual amount
budgeted forthatsubsidy (indicating, ifpossible, theaverage subsidy perunitintheprevious
year). Where provision ofperunitsubsidy information (fortheyearcovered bythenotification,
fortheprevious year, orboth) isnotpossible, afullexplanation.
8. Duration ofthesubsidy and/or anyother time limits attached toit,including dateof
inception/commencement.
9. Statistical datapermitting anassessment ofthetradeeffects ofthesubsidy. Thespecific nature
andscope ofsuchstatistics islefttothejudgement ofthenotifying Member. Totheextent
possible, relevant and/or determinable, however, itisdesirable thatsuchinformation include
statistics ofproduction, consumption, imports andexports ofthesubsidized product(s) or
sector(s):
2Theinformation requested inpoints 1-9below must beprovided infull:
(a) forallsubsidies inthecaseoffullnotifications
(b) forsubsidies notified forthefirsttimeinupdate notifications.
Inthecaseofsubsidies which havepreviously beennotified, theinformation provided inupdate
notifications under points 3,4,5,6and8maybelimited toindicating anymodifications (ortheabsence
thereof) from theprevious notification.G/SCM/6
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(a) forthethree most recent years forwhich statistics areavailable;
(b) foraprevious representative year, which, where possible andmeaningful, should be
thelatest yearpreceding theintroduction ofthesubsidy orpreceding thelastmajor
change inthesubsidy.