Article 104: Withdrawal of Prohibited Subsidies
- Notwithstanding the investigation confirming the existence of a prohibited subsidy in paragraph 3 of Article 103, COTED shall not impose a requirement for the Member States to withdraw such a subsidy sooner than specified in this paragraph as follows:
(a) with respect to subsidies contingent upon export performance:
(i) the Member States with per capita GNP of less than one thousand United States dollars shall be allowed to maintain such subsidies; and
(ii) other Member States shall be allowed to maintain such subsidies until 1 January 2003;
(b) with respect to subsidies contingent upon the use of domestic over imported inputs, the Member States with per capita GNP of less than one thousand United States dollars shall be allowed to maintain such subsidies until 2003.
- Whenever the results of an investigation by COTED prove that the alleged subsidy is not a prohibited subsidy, any provisional countervailing measures which might have been imposed shall be promptly withdrawn and any bond or deposit which might have been effected, released or refunded, as the case may be. If the provisional measures referred to in this paragraph have materially retarded the exports of the Member State which was wrongfully alleged to have introduced or maintained prohibited subsidies, COTED shall, upon application from such a Member State, assess the effects of the provisionally applied measures and determine the nature and extent of compensation which is warranted and recommend compensation in accordance with its assessment.
- From the date of entry into force of this Treaty until the expiration of the dates mentioned in paragraph 1, no provisional measures shall be imposed where it has been determined by preliminary investigations that prohibited subsidies are maintained.