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 (CAD$420-840 million) in 2007-2009.
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