The Feed-in Tariffs Entanglement: A Comparative Study of the Analytical Approaches Followed by the EU and WTO Judiciary Bodies regarding Renewable Energy Subsidies

Abstract:

The aim of this article is to carry out a comparative study exploring the legal approaches of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and EU’s judiciary bodies in assessing the compatibility of the protection of the environment through Feed-in Tariff schemes with the WTO and EU’s subsidy and state aid rules.

The benchmark to carry out the legal comparison between both legal systems will be the first ruling concerning renewable energy and dealt by the Appellate Body in the Canada-Renewable Energy case.

The comparison between both legal systems has showed the initial intention of the WTO and EU’s judiciary bodies to avoid finding the Feed-in Tariff programme incompatible with the WTO and EU’s subsidy and state aid rules. However, in the latter system, the new policy followed by the Commission may hamper these efforts in its desire to avoid any distortion of competition in the market.