Practical Case #2
Mindful of the need to support a transition towards clean energy, the government of British Columbia wants to increase the production of solar panels in its territory. After contacting SolarPans Ltd., a company that owns a plant of solar panels in Kelowna, the government of British Columbia decides to provide the following measures:
A property tax credit to which SolarPans Ltd. is entitled for every year that it buys at least 50% of the components needed to produce its solar panels from Canadian companies;
An annual direct transfer equivalent to 10% of the costs of production for each solar panel; and
A loan of $100 million to build an additional plant at an interest rate and conditions equivalent to those provided by commercial banks in the province.
Five years after the application of these measures, SunshineEnergy Inc., a company based in the United States, has noted a sharp decrease in its sales of solar panels following an increase in imports from Canada.
Questions
1) Are the measures provided by the Government of British Columbia consistent with Canada’s obligations under WTO agreements?
2) Can the United States impose countervailing measures on solar panels imported from Canada?
Instructions
In order to respond to the practical case, you are required to provide an argumentation that includes legal provisions and relevant case law. All the legal provisions and relevant cases are provided in the required textbook and on Brightspace. No additional research is expected to complete the practical cases. However, you must clearly identify the legal basis at each step of your reasoning in the footnotes of your response.
To cite a provision from an agreement, provide the full title of the agreement (in italics) and the article of the provision (e.g., General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Article XX); and
To cite case law, provide the instance issuing the report, the name of the case (in italics), the date of the adoption of the report, the number of the document, and the paragraph(s) of the report that is (are) relevant for your analysis (e.g., Appellate Body Report, China–
Measures Related to the Exportation of Various Raw Materials, Adopted 22 February 2012, WT/DS394,395,398/AB/R, para 329).
Your response must include a maximum of 2,500 words (excluding footnotes) and must be uploaded as a Word document (.docx) on Brightspace. While you can discuss the practical case with your colleagues, each student must write and submit their own response.
The response to the practical case will be graded according to the following criteria: 1) accuracy of the analysis; 2) adequacy of references to legal provisions and case law; 3) structure of the argumentation; 4) depth of the analysis; and 5) capacity for synthesis.