Study On The Definition Of Subsidies Under The WTO System

In international trade fields, subsidies, as an economic instrument, may distort resource allocation and impair fair competition. So SCM Agreement was made to regulate subsidies from the Uruguay Round. The definition of subsidies is a basic problem and proper definition of subsidies is the precondition of the application of SCM Agreement and countervailing measures. This dissertation focuses on the legal problems of the definition of subsides so as to probe into the connotations of subsidies. The author hopes this dissertation will provide helpful guidelines to proper application of SCM Agreement and countervailing duty laws in practice.Besides the preface and the conclusion, this dissertation is composed of the following four chapters:Chapter 1 first introduce the concepts, classifications and influence of subsidies and countervailing measures and then reviews the development of the international subsidy rules.Chapter 2 discusses the definition of subsidies. It first introduces the definition of subsidies and then divided the definition of subsidies into two factors (they are"financial contribution"and"benefit"). And then it analyzes each factor in both theoretic and practical way.Chapter 3 discusses the problems of specificity rule. First it analyzes the definition of specificity and the policy objectives in the specificity rule. And then it analyzes the origin and problems of the specificity rule in SCM Agreement.Chapter 4 probes into connotations of three kinds of subsidies in SCM Agreement. According to the agreement, subsidy is divided into three categories. This chapter discusses them separately.The conclusion is: though SCM Agreement made big progress in defining subsidies, the illegibility of the rules is unresolved. The explanation of the panel and DSB is referable. But the complete approach is to revise and consummate the agreement by multilateral negotiation.