. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SCM/Q2/POL/9
25 October 1999
(99-4633)
Committee on Subsidies
and Countervailing MeasuresOriginal:  English
SUBSIDIES
Replies to Questions Posed by the UNITED STATES1
Regarding the New and Full Notification of POLAND2
The following communication, dated 22 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Poland.
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Q1. On 22 October 1998, the Polish Ministry of  Agriculture authorized the Agency for
Agricultural Markets (AAM) to subsidize exports of pork.  The Ministry of Finance allocated
Zl 25 million for pork export subsidies.  Is this programme still in effect?  If so, what are thecriteria to participate in the programme, and how long is the programme expected to be in
effect?
Reply
The programme of subsidizing exports of pork meat was in force in the fourth quarter of 1998
and the first half of the current year.  The Council of Ministries' Resolution of 13 October 1998authorized the Agency for Agricultural Markets (A AM) to make surcharges for domestic enterprises
which would export pork of domestic origin until the end of the first quarter of 1999.  The programme
was to be financed with the bank credit amounting to PLAN 25 million, which was to be repaid by
AAM from the State Budget funds in the first half of 1999.
Enterprises interested in the scheme (and only domestic enterprises) took part in a tender
procedure whose subjects were mainly:
- amount of surcharge to 1 kg. of exported pork;
- volume of export declared;- time of starting and finishing of export transactions.
Moreover, the subject of the scheme could only be pork meat, meeting detailed veterinary and
quality standards and also the basis for obtaining a surcharge was to present the documents
confirming those technical standards as well as documents confirming export of the declared amountof pork.
It should be stressed that due to the difficult situation on Eastern markets at this time,
resulting in the cancelling of many contracts before they were concluded, the exports of pork really
                                                     
1 G/SCM/Q2/POL/8
2 G/SCM/N/38/POLG/SCM/Q2/POL/9
Page 2
subsidized by AAM amounted only to 683 tons and the amount of subsidy was PLAN 670.4 thousand
(2.7 per cent of the reserved funds).  Due to the small amount of surcharges, the AAM did not use the
possibility of obtaining bank credit and financed this programme by its own funds.
The last payment within the framework of this scheme took place on 14 May 1999 and the
scheme is no longer in force.
As this programme was not in force in 1997 it was not notified in document
G/SCM/N/38/POL.
Q2. In Section A, Programme 9 - Restructuring Programme for Steel And Iron Industry, the
notification stipulates that Zl 59.79 million in credit guarantees were provided to one steel plant
in 1997.  What criteria determined eligibility for the programme?
Reply
The plant mentioned under this scheme was granted, at the end of 1997, a State Budget credit
guarantee of repayment of 50 per cent of investment credits (interest included) for modernization of
production lines.
However, investment was terminated a few weeks after its initiation.  The credit in question
was not obtained and following that fact a credit guarantee scheme was not actively in use.
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