La disciplina giuridica internazionale delle sovvenzioni pubbliche e delle misure compensative è esaminato, in questa monografia, prevalentemente sulla base dell’esame critico della “giurisprudenza” in materia. Il volume si apre con lo studio delle regole sulle sovvenzioni in vigore all’epoca del GATT 1947 e prosegue con l’approfondimento della normativa accolta in materia dai vari Accordi che fanno capo all’OMC.
Alla ricostruzione della nozione di sovvenzione segue l’analisi delle diverse categorie di misure di aiuto e dei rispettivi regimi giuridici. Particolare attenzione è dedicata altresì ai rimedi previsti nel sistema OMC per controbilanciare l’uso distorsivo delle sovvenzioni: l’imposizione unilaterale di diritti compensativi, da una parte, e il ricorso al meccanismo multilaterale di soluzione delle controversie, dall’altra. Il lavoro, infine, si sofferma sui problemi sollevati dal concorso tra queste due opzioni concesse dal sistema.
The analysis of the international legal discipline on public subsidies carried out in this book is mainly founded on a critical examination of the relevant disputes. The volume begins with the study of the rules on subsidies in the 1947 GATT, so as to single out both its positive features and its flaws. The research continues with an in-depth exam of the relevant rules in the WTO Agreements, based on several rulings issued by the panels and the Appellate Body throughout the last fourteen years.
The monograph is directed to reconstruct the notion of subsidy and to check as well if the notion provided by the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures has a general nature and could also apply to other Agreements, in particular to the special category of agricultural subsidies. This question has been settled by assuming that WTO Agreements are part of a single system of rules. Therefore it seems necessary to find solutions that could preserve its consistency.
The examination of the “case-law” shows that prohibited subsidies – especially “export” subsidies – are more challenged than “actionable” subsidies. Hence, even if the current definitions of “injury” and “causal link” are more precise, the regime of the so-called “effect-based norms” provided for in the Agreement still lacks of effectiveness. Thus, the provision of prohibitions turns itself into an essential means to limit the use of subsidies. The book also analyses the remedies established by the WTO system in order to offset the distortive use of these measures.
The research also focuses on the problems raised by the two competing options allowed to Members under the system: the unilateral imposition of countervailing duties and the recourse to the multilateral mechanism of disputes settlement.
