RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SCM/W/508
8 April 2002
(02-1829)
Committee on Subsidies
and Countervailing MeasuresOriginal:  English
IMPLEMENTATION-RELATED ISSUES REFERRED
TO THE COMMITTEE BY MINISTERS
Follow-up Questions from the UNITED STATES to INDIA Regarding Tiret 80 Proposals
Involving ASCM Article 14 and De Minimis1
The following communication, dated 4 April 2002, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
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The SCM Committee should clarify the provisions of the ASCM in Annex I (items h and i),
Annex II and Annex III so that any remission, exemption or drawback of duties and import charges tothe extent of those levied on inputs consumed is  not countervailed and only the amount of remission,
exemption or drawback of duties and import charge s in excess of those levied on inputs consumed
may be treated as a countervailable subsidy (G/SCM/W/462, para 14).
In its response to the US questions India states, "it is not clear how it is being claimed
that the amount of excess remission exemption or drawback is not calculable or can
only be calculated with great difficulty".  Based on our experience, the appropriaterate of duty drawback is contingent in part, for example, upon highly technical
input/output studies.  If these types of studies are not done or are based on faulty
premises, it is the US view that it is unreasonable to expect the investigating authority
to conduct another input/output study.
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1 G/SCM/W/462, G/SCM/W/466, G/SCM/W/470, G/SCM/W/486.