NEW DELHI: India on Friday lost the appeal it had filed against a World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel ruling that the country's power purchase agreements with solar firms and domestic content requirements (DCR) were "inconsistent" with international norms. The setback comes a couple of days after India dragged the US to the WTO challenging the domestic content requirements and
subsidies provided by eight US states in the renewable energy sector.
"Consequently, we uphold the Panel's finding...that solar cells and modules are not "products in general or local short supply" in India...that the DCR measures are not justified under GATT 1994," the WTO said in its final order, upholding its earlier ruling.
The US had initiated this dispute in February 2013 because it considered that India's domestic content requirements were inconsistent with WTO rules that prohibit discrimination against imported products.
Under the solar mission, solar power developers are mandated to use Indian-manufactured cells and modules rather than US or other imported solar technology that the US considered a breach of international trade rules. India had appealed against this in April.
"We strongly support the rapid deployment of solar energy worldwide, including in India. But local content requirements are not only contrary to WTO rules, but actually undermine our efforts to promote clean energy by requiring the use of more expensive and less efficient equipment, making it more difficult for clean energy sources to be cost-competitive," said United States Trade Representative Michael Froman.
The US has said that since India enacted these domestic content requirements in 2011, its solar exports to India have fallen by over 90%.
No comments:
Post a Comment