The EU has requested WTO consultations with Canada
regarding the domestic content rules under Ontario's Feed-in
Tariff program. The announcement opens a third front for Canada in
respect of the domestic content rules. As
reported yesterday,
Japan has moved past the WTO consultation phase into a formal
dispute at the WTO and Texas enegy company Mesa Power has given
notice of intent to commence an investor-state dispute under
Chapter 11 of NAFTA.
The EU (along with the US) had reportedly participated in the
consultations between
Japan and Canada. The EU claims to have attempted to negotiate
a solution with Canada, but without success.
The EU believes that it could increase exports of renewable
generation technology to Canada if the domestic content
requirements were lifted. According to the EU announcement,
"exports from the EU into Canada in wind power and
photovoltaic power generation equipment are significant, ranging
from 300 to 600 million euros
