RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SCM/M/56 
12 September 2006 
 (06-4327) 
Committee on Subsidies 
and Countervailing Measures  
 
 
MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING 
HELD ON 25 APRIL 2006 
 
Chairperson:  Ms Victoria Campeanu (Romania) 
  
1. The Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing M easures (the "Committee") held a special 
meeting on 25 April 2006.  The purpose of the special meeting, as set forth in WTO/AIR/2735 of 10 January 2006, and WTO/AIR/2808 of 13 April 2006, was to review the 2005 new and full subsidy 
notifications of Australia;  Brazil;  Bulgaria;  Canada;  Cuba;  the European Communities (all 
Member States with the exception of Spain, as the tr anslation of this document in all three working 
languages had not been completed by the statutor y 17 weeks prior to the meeting);  Honduras;  
Iceland;  Israel;  Japan;  Norway;  Separate Cust oms Territory of Taiwan, Pengu, Kinmen and Matsu;  
Singapore and Uganda. 
2. The Chairperson
 recalled that at its meeting of 14 April 2005, the Committee had adopted 
procedures for the review of 2005 new and full subsidy notifications.1  Under these procedures, the 
2005 new and full subsidy notifications were to be reviewed in three sp ecial meetings to be held in 
conjunction with the regular meetings of the Committee in Autumn 2005, Spring 2006 and, if 
necessary, Autumn 2006.  The Committee had held the first such special meeting on 27 October 2005, 
at which the subsidy notifications of Albania;  the Dominican Republic;  Georgia;  Macao, China;  
Oman;  and St. Vincent and the Grenadines had been reviewed.2  Thus, the present meeting was the 
second in that series of meetings. 
3. The procedures adopted in April 2005 provided that  only subsidy notifications distributed in 
all three WTO working languages not less than sevent een weeks before a meeting may be reviewed at 
the meeting.  Pursuant to this provision, the Committee had before it 38  subsidy notifications, 
including one notification from the European Comm unities, comprising 24 notifications relating to 
subsidies provided by individual EC Member Stat es.  The procedures adopted in April 2005 also 
provided that the review of subsidy notifications w as to be conducted on the basis of written questions 
and answers provided to the Committee prior to the meeting.  Written questions on the notifications 
on the agenda of the present meeting were to have been submitted to the Member concerned and to 
the Secretariat by 23 January 2006 and written answ ers to those questions were to have been 
submitted by 27 March 2006. 
4. The Committee then proceeded to examine the 38 notifications on the agenda of the meeting 
in the order in which they had been lis ted in the airgram convening the meeting. 
                                                      
1 Document G/SCM/117 of 26 April 2005. 
2 The minutes of this meeting have been circulated in document G/SCM/M/55.  G/SCM/M/56 
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  5. With respect to the notification of Australia
 (document G/SCM/N/123/AUS/Rev.1), the 
Chairperson  noted that written questions had been  submitted by the European Communities3 and that 
Australia had provided written answers to these questions.4 
6. There were no further comments made or ques tions raised on this notification.  The 
Committee thus agreed  to conclude its review of the notification of Australia. 
7. The Chairperson  then took up the notification of Brazil , circulated in document 
G/SCM/N/123/BRA.  Written questions had been posed by the European Communities5, and written 
answers had been provided by Brazil.6 
8. As there were no further comments or ques tions raised, the Committee then concluded  the 
review of the notification of Brazil. 
9. The next notification to be reviewed was that of Bulgaria , contained in document 
G/SCM/N/123/BGR.  Written questions posed by th e United States and written responses provided by 
Bulgaria had been circulated prior to the meeting.7  As no further questions or comments were raised 
during the meeting, the Committee concluded  the review of the notification of Bulgaria.  
10. The Committee then examined the notification of Canada , circulated in document 
G/SCM/N/123/CAN.  The European Communities ha d submitted written questi ons, and Canada had 
replied to those questions.8 
11. The delegate of the United States  stated that they had submitted some questions very recently 
to Canada on its new and full s ubsidy notification and that they were looking forward to receiving 
written responses at the earliest opportunity.9  The delegate also noted that the United States would 
shortly be submitting questi ons on the notifications of various  Members, including Chinese Taipei, 
the European Communities and some of its Member States (Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, 
Luxemburg, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom) and Singapore.10 
12. The delegate of Canada  assured the delegate of the United States that the questions had been 
transmitted to capital and that a response would be forthcoming in due course.  The Committee took 
note of the statements made by the United States and Canada.  
13. The Committee then turned to the notification of Cuba , as contained in document 
G/SCM/N/123/CUB.  No written questions had been r eceived. As there were no further questions or 
comments, the Committee concluded  its review of this notification.   
14. The following notification on the Committee's ag enda was that of the European Communities , 
containing general information on aid granted within  the Community's territory, and circulated in 
document G/SCM/N/123/EEC.  In addition, the Comm ittee had before it notifications submitted by 
the European Communities in respect of subsidi es provided by individual Member States, both at 
national and sub-national le vels.  These notifications covered all the EC Member States, with the 
exception of Spain, as the translation of the documen t had not been completed in time to be included 
                                                      
3 G/SCM/Q2/AUS/26. 
4 G/SCM/Q2/AUS/27. 
5 G/SCM/Q2/BRA/13. 
6 G/SCM/Q2/BRA/14. 
7 G/SCM/Q2/BGR/6 and G/SCM/Q2/BGR/7. 
8 G/SCM/Q2/CAN/20 and G/SCM/Q2/CAN/21. 
9 G/SCM/Q2/CAN/22 (26 April 2006).  
10 See, respectively, G/SCM/Q2/TPKM/6 (2 May 2006), G/SCM/Q2/EEC/50 (3 May 2006), 
G/SCM/Q2/SGP/11 (27 April 2006).   G/SCM/M/56 
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  on the agenda of the meeting.  The notifications pe rtaining to the Member States had been circulated 
in documents G/SCM/N/123/EEC/Add.1-22 and Add.24-25. 
15. The Chairperson  noted that the Committee had receive d written questions from Canada with 
respect to Italy  and the Netherlands  and that written answers to the se questions had been submitted by 
the European Communities and circulated in docum ents G/SCM/Q2/EEC/47 and 49, respectively.  
Questions relating to France , Germany , Spain  and the United Kingdom  had been received from Japan 
and circulated in document G/SCM/Q2/EEC/48,  but as yet the Committee had not received written 
answers to these questions.  The United States had also recently submitted questions on the 
notifications made in respect of various EC Member States in document G/SCM/Q2/EEC/50.   
16. The delegate of the European Communities  thanked Canada and Japa n for their questions and 
acknowledged that the replies to the questions of Jap an were still outstanding.  As these questions in 
general related to the aeronautics sector, which was cu rrently the subject of a dispute settlement panel, 
his delegation was not able to provide any replies at  the present time but it would be happy to do so as 
soon as possible.  He reassured the United States that  their questions would be answered in due course 
and as quickly as possible.  His delegation was looki ng forward to reviewing the subsidy notification 
of the United States. 
17. The delegate of Japan  stated that the questions of his delegation regarding the 2005 subsidy 
notification of the European Communities were substantially the same as the ones Japan had 
submitted on the 2003 subsidy notifi cation, to which Japan had still not yet received a reply.   
18. The delegate of the United States  expressed surprise at the r esponse just provided by the 
delegate of the European Communities to the effect that it could not respond to the questions posed by 
Japan because the subject matter was involved in dispute settlement.  He considered that these 
questions were of a factual nature and was interest ed to hear on what basis the EC felt that it was 
exempted from responding under normal transparency obligations. 
19. The delegate of the European Communities  stated that he did not feel that the EC was 
exempted from transparency obligations and recognized  that the replies to these questions were still 
outstanding.  The EC would submit a reply as soon as it was in a position to do so. 
20. The Committee took note  of the statements made.  
21. The next notification on the Committee's agenda was that of Honduras , as contained in 
document G/SCM/N/123/HDN.  No written questions had been received on this notification.  As there 
were no questions or comments on this notification, the Committee concluded  its review of this 
notification. 
22. The Committee then examined the notification of Iceland , circulated in document 
G/SCM/N/123/ISL.  No written questions had been received on this notification and no further 
questions or comments were raised during the meeting.  The Committee therefore concluded  its 
review of this notification.  
23. The next notification to be reviewed was that of Israel , circulated in document 
G/SCM/N/123/ISR.  Written questions on this notif ication had been received from the European 
Communities and written answers to these questi ons were submitted by Israel, in documents 
G/SCM/Q2/ISR/13 and 14, respectively.  There were no comments or further questions and the 
Committee thus concluded  its review of this notification. 
24. With respect to the notification of Japan , to be found in document G/SCM/123/JPN, the 
Chairperson noted that the Committee had receive d written questions on this notification from the G/SCM/M/56 
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  United States, circulated in document G/SCM/Q2/J PN/29.  However, these questions had been 
received well after the deadline provided of 23 January 2006, and therefore, according to the 
Committee's procedures, Japan was not required to  provide written answers to these questions in 
advance of the meeting. 
25. The delegate of Japan
 reported that written answers to th e questions of the United States were 
currently being prepared in capital and would be pr ovided to the Secretariat and the United States as 
soon as possible.  He also noted that the United States had not as yet submitted its 2005 new and full 
subsidy notification and hoped that it would soon  be able to fulfil its obligation under the SCM 
Agreement. 
26. The delegate of the United States  noted that he would like to take this opportunity to advise 
the Committee that the Unit ed States  was now in the final stages of preparing its subsidy notification 
and that it would be submitted in the very near future. 
27. The Committee took note  of the statements made.  
28. Regarding the notification of Norway , circulated in document G/SCM/N/123/NOR, the 
Chairperson noted that written questions had been submitted by Canada and written answers to those 
questions had been submitted by Norway in docum ents G/SCM/Q2/NOR/19 and 20, respectively.  As 
there were no further comments or  questions, the Committee concluded  its review of this notification. 
29. The Committee then turned to the notification of  the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, 
Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, contained in document G/SCM/N/123/TPKM.  The European 
Communities had submitted written questions on this  notification and Chinese Taipei had provided 
written answers to these questions  in documents G/SCM/Q2/TPKM/4 and 5, respectively.  There 
being no further comments or questions, the Committee concluded  its review of the notification. 
30. The Committee then turned to the notification of Singapore  contained in document 
G/SCM/N/123/SGP.  No written questions had been  received and no further comments or questions 
were raised during the Committee meeting.  The Committee thus concluded  its review of this 
notification.  
31. The final notification on the Committee's agenda was that of Uganda , circulated in document 
G/SCM/N/123/UGA.  No written questions had been received and no questions were raised or 
comments made at the meeting.  Thus the Committee concluded  its review of this notification. 
32. The Chairperson  stated that the next special meeting of the Committee would take place in 
conjunction with the regular meeting of the Committ ee scheduled to be held in the last week of 
October 2006.  At that meeting all new and full noti fications that would have been circulated in the 
three working languages no later than 17 weeks prior to  the date of that meeting would be reviewed.  
The Secretariat would circulate a document in the near future detailing the deadlines for the 
submission of questions and answers on these notifications.11 
33. The Chairperson  wished to thank China for observing its commitment made during the last 
meeting of the Committee to present a new and full notification.12  
 
__________ 
 
                                                      
11 See documents G/SCM/W/536/Rev.1 of 8 May 2006 and WTO/AIR/2863 of 3 July 2006. 
12 G/SCM/N/123/CHN (13 April 2006).