WTO Law on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures

This course will examine the provisions of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, their relationship with other WTO agreements, and the manner in which they have been interpreted and applied, particularly by the Appellate Body. The course will be divided into seven main parts: (i) introduction to the design and architecture of the SCM Agreement, including the constituent elements of a subsidy and the different types of subsidy; (ii) the constituent elements of a subsidy (financial contribution, benefit, specificity); (iii) prohibited subsidies (export contingent subsidies and import substitution subsidies); (iv) actionable subsidies (a subsidy as a genuine and substantial cause of adverse effects to trading partners (material injury, price and volume effects); (v) countervailing duties; (vi) the relationship between the SCM Agreement and other WTO agreements (including the GATT 1994 and the Anti-Dumping Agreement); and (vii) possible reforms of WTO subsidies law. Legal and practical questions will be raised during the course, and where appropriate examples of dispute settlement cases will be discussed.

Course leader

James Flett and Luca Rubini

Target group

We accept individuals who have completed an undergraduate degree in law, economics or political science, or in an unrelated field supplemented by relevant working experience. Participants are expected to have a strong command of English and should be ready to read a large amount of material in English both prior to and during both the Winter Academy and Summer Academy.

Credits info

Participants receive a Certificate of Attendance upon completion of each course.

Fee info

CHF 1200: Applications are accepted until the maximum number of participants per week is reached.
Tuition for one week is 1,200 Swiss francs, for two weeks it is 2,200 Swiss francs, and for three weeks it is 3,200 Swiss francs.
The Winter and Summer Academy tuition fees do not cover costs such as meals, housing or local transportation.

Scholarships

Special rates apply to students registered at the University of Bern.

A 50% tuition waiver is applicable to participants affiliated with the UNCTAD Virtual Institute (staff and students of university and think tank members, with proof of institutional