Marin Duran, G;
Espa, I;
(2019)
EU and WTO Regulatory Approaches to Renewable Energy Subsidies: Negative and Positive Integration.
Positive Integration - EU and WTO Approaches Towards the "Trade and" Debate
pp. 61-86.
10.1007/978-3-030-25662-3_4.
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Abstract
This paper compares how the EU and the WTO have grappled with balancing the negative (trade-distortive) and positive (climate change-mitigation) effects of renewable energy (RE) subsidies. It first shows that, although both subsidy control regimes share some basic tenets of negative integration (i.e. prohibiting trade-distortive RE subsidies), EU State aid law is comparatively more constraining on governments’ space to support green energy in both substantive and procedural/institutional terms. It then argues that the more negative integration is strictly framed and implemented, the greater the need for positive integration (i.e., sheltering trade-distortive but climate-friendly RE subsidies under certain conditions). This, in turn, goes a long way in explaining why the EU’s regulatory model is also distinct for having progressively established a set of common rules on permissible “good” RE subsidies. With this in mind, the paper assesses the extent to which the absence of a comparable positive integration dimension in the WTO legal framework exposes RE subsidies to the risk of WTO-illegality. It finally argues that while comparing the two regimes may be useful from a theoretical standpoint, a transposition of the EU’s positive integration approach to the WTO is not desirable for a variety of legal, political and institutional reasons.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | EU and WTO Regulatory Approaches to Renewable Energy Subsidies: Negative and Positive Integration |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1007/978-3-030-25662-3_4 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25662-3_4 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | Renewable energy subsidies, Climate change mitigation, WTO subsidy rules, EU State aid law |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Laws |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10078472 |
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