U.S. takes solar dispute with India to WTO

   The United States on Wednesday requested World Trade Organization dispute settlement consultations with India concerning domestic content requirements in India’s national solar program.
   “India’s program appears to discriminate against U.S. solar equipment by requiring solar energy producers to use Indian-manufactured solar cells and modules and by offering subsidies to those developers for using domestic equipment instead of imports. These forced localization requirements of India’s national solar program restrict India’s market to U.S. imports,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.
   “Let me be clear: the United States strongly supports the rapid deployment of solar energy around the world, including with India. Unfortunately, India’s discriminatory policies in its national solar program detract from that successful cooperation, raise the cost of clean energy, and undermine progress toward our shared objective,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in a statement.
   Consultations are the first step in the WTO dispute settlement process, and parties are encouraged to agree to a solution at this stage. Under WTO rules, if the matter is not resolved through consultations within 60 days, the United States may request the establishment of a WTO dispute settlement panel.
   On Jan. 11, 2010, India launched its national solar policy, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). Phase I of that national policy is composed of two parts: Batch 1 and Batch 2. Under Batch 1, India required developers of solar photovoltaic projects to use solar modules manufactured in India. Subsequently, under Batch 2, India expanded this domestic sourcing requirement to crystalline silicon solar cells.
   In its draft policy for Phase II of the JNNSM, India has stated that it’s considering expanding the scope of the domestic content requirements further to include solar thin film technologies, which currently comprise the majority of U.S. solar exports to India. India also offers solar energy developers participating in the JNNSM a guarantee that the government will purchase a certain amount of solar power at a highly subsidized tariff rate, provided that they use domestically manufactured solar equipment instead of imports.
   The United States has engaged India on its concerns regarding the JNNSM over the past three years, including in bilateral fora such as the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum and the U.S.-India Energy Dialogue, and at the WTO in various committees.