. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SCM/Q2/JPN/30
8 June 2001
(01-2826)
Committee on Subsidies
and Countervailing MeasuresOriginal:  English
SUBSIDIES
Questions from the UNITED STATES
Regarding the Updating Notification of JAPAN1
The following communication, dated 17 May 2001, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
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General Question
1. Please indicate whether the following programmes have been terminated.  If these
programmes have been terminated, have they been replaced by similar programmes?
– Tax Credit for the Increased Expense of Research
− Tax Measures to Strengthen the Management  of Small- and Medium-Sized Corporations
− Special Depreciation on Machinery (Related to the Law of Temporary Measures to Facilitate
Business Innovation)
− Special Depreciation on Machinery for Busi ness Innovation (in the Law on Temporary
Measures for Activation of Specific Regional Industrial Agglomerations)
− Special Depreciation on Facilities (Relating to Law on Temporary Measures for Enhancing
the Control Method of the Food Production Process
− Special Depreciation on the Drift for the Mining Industry
− Special Depreciation on the Payment to Specific Association
− Reserve for Prevention from Mineral Pollution of Metal Mining
− Provision for the Disposal of the Offshore Oil and Natural Gas Field
− Reserve for Preventing Specific Disasters
− Reserve for Searching out New Mineral Beds in and out of Japan
Tax Credit for the Increased Expense of Research
1. For this programme, as well as many throughout your notice that indicate that the enabling
legislation is “Special Taxation Measures Law,” please indicate the year that the legislation for this
programme came into effect.
Tax Measures to Strengthen the Management of Small- and Medium-Sized Corporations
1. Please indicate the year that the legislation for this programme came into effect.
                                                     
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Special Depreciation or Tax Credit on the Ma nufactured Machines when Import of Products
Increases
1. Are all manufacturers in Japan eligible for this special depreciation?  Is the use of these
provisions contingent on the recipients of the ai d exporting their further-manufactured or completed
good?
2. Based on your explanation of how this programme operates, it is our understanding that in
order to receive the special depreciation, a manufacturer must increase the value of products it
imports.  Is this correct?  What is the base period to which the increase in imports is measured?
Special Depreciation on Certain Machinery Used for High-Technology Industries in the
Designated High-Technology Industrial Areas (“Technopolis”)
1. Please describe the criteria used to designate machinery as “high-technology machinery” and,
thus, eligible for the special depreciation under this programme.
2. In answer to the question concerning duration of the subsidy, you stated “within 16 years after
the approval of the “Technopolis” plan.  Please explain what the Technopolis plan is.
Grants for Promoting Rationalization and Discontinuance or Change of Business of Salt
Industry
1. Please explain the rationale of providing subsidies to companies which have discontinued or
changed their business.
2. On what basis does Japan determine the amount of grant to provide to each producer or
wholesaler?
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