RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SCM/Q2/EEC/23
23 March 2001
(01-1435)
Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Original:  English
SUBSIDIES
Questions Posed by the UNITED STATES Regarding the Updating
Notification of EUROPEAN CO MMUNITIES: Addendum – ITALY1
The following communication, dated 19 March 2001, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
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The following are questions regarding the notification of the European Communities made
pursuant to Article XVI:1 of the GATT 1994 and Article 25 of the Agreement on Subsidies and
Countervailing Measures, in document G/SC M/N/60/EEC/Add.9, dated 21 November 2000.
Production aid to shipyards
1. You stated that, according to EU rules, pr oduction aid to shipyards was allowed until
31 December 2000.  Are there any plans to continue a similar programme after this deadline?
2. Does this mean that all aid will have been disbursed by the 31 December 2000 deadline?  Or
that shipyards which only received a partial payment by this date will be able to receive the rest of
their payment after this date (i.e. shipyards whose delivery of ships takes place after the 31 December
2000 deadline)?  Will shipyards which applied for aid under this programme before the deadline be
eligible to receive aid?
Home credit scheme to ship owners
1. In response to “the duration of the subsidy,” you state that it is according to OECD rules
(8.5 years).  Does this mean that each subsidy granted has a duration of 8.5 years?  Or that the entire
programme lasts for 8.5 years?
Special fund for the reconversion of the asbestos production
1. The information provided for the duration of th e subsidy states that “final  term for the
submission of the request under this scheme was October 1995."  Accordingly, are grants still beingprovided for submissions received by October 1995?
2. How much longer will grants be distributed under this programme?
Soft loans for Italian enterprises to cover expenses concerning the participation in international
tenders held in Non-EU countries
1. Can you please provide the terms of the loans granted?
                                                     
1 G/SCM/N/60/EEC/Add.9G/SCM/Q2/EEC/23
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2. Do these terms vary by industry?  Which type of industries participate in these loans?
Support to the reduction of energy consumption
1. You state that the law under which grants were notified was replaced by Law 10/91.  Can you
please provide more information concerning when the older law was replaced?
2. Does the new law extend the time period of the grants?
3. You state that under the old law, submissions must have been received by 1992.  Does the
new law also follow that submission deadline?
4. Since the submission deadline was 1992, was the amount of the grant per year set in that
year?  Or has the amount changed every year?
Support to innovation and development in SME’s
1. In your submission, you note that the grant or tax concession is provided to beneficiaries upon
their request.  Is every request granted?  Or are only certain requests granted?
2. Who grants the request, and under what criteria is the request fulfilled?
Incentives to manufacturing and extractive enterprises in disadvantaged regions
1. Can you please provide more detailed information on which regions are considered
“disadvantaged”?
2. Are incentives under this programme provided specifically to mining industries?
3. You state that under this programme, companies are allowed to benefit from a fiscal “bonus”
in tax payment in the next five years.  Can you please describe more completely what this “bonus”
entails?
4. Does this mean that companies are allowed to benefit every year?  Or only once in the course
of the next five years?
5. Which government agency administers this programme?
6. Do industries or companies have to meet certain criteria to receive incentives under this
programme?  Or is every company eligible to receive these incentives if they are located in adisadvantaged region?
Soft loans to companies to favour a long-lasting penetration in non-EU countries
1. Can you please provide more information on the terms of these loans?
2. Once the Italian company has achieved a certain degree of penetration in non-EU countries,
are additional loans withheld or withdrawn?
3. Are all companies and industries eligible for loans under this programme?G/SCM/Q2/EEC/23
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Extraordinary intervention in the south of Italy
1. Are the same companies eligible for tax concessions under Incentives to Manufacturing and
Extractive Enterprises in Disadvantaged Regions eligible for grants under this programme?
Credit scheme to co-operatives and urge nt measures for employment protection
1. Are co-operatives in every industry eligible for this programme?
2. Are agricultural co-operatives eligible for this programme?
3. You state that “the scheme is intended to provide grants and soft loans ...” yet under Form of
the Subsidy, it says that only grants are given.  Can you please explain?
4. If soft loans are offered, what are the terms of these loans?
5. If fired or laid-off workers form a co-operative receive aid under this programme, are their
former companies still required to pay any unemployment or suspension wages?
6. If the co-operative is disbanded, what happens to the grants levied under this programme?
Interest rate subsidies for the industrial sector
1. How much longer will subsidies be provided under this programme, even though it is no
longer in existence?
2. Has this programme been replaced with another that provides basically the same assistance?
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