This book enables readers with a tax background to place taxation in the perspective of trade subsidy regulation. For experts in the field of EC state aid regulation and/or the WTO Subsidies Agreement it provides insight in certain tax aspects of both regimes.

This book provides an analysis of the multi-level regulation of State aid and subsidy in the regulatory context of taxation. Starting from a review of the substantive provisions of tax incentives as provided for in European law and in WTO law, the author moves on to examine how these legal frameworks are enforced at national levels. The book covers practical elements in the following areas: legal regimes of State aid and subsidy (including rules on compatibility with the internal market, classification of subsidies and analysis of prohibited subsidies in taxation); definitions of state aid and subsidy; analysis of the criteria for tax selectivity and specificity; administrative and judicial review; rights of taxpayers as private parties in State aid and subsidy litigations; remedies (including recovery, withdrawal and countervailing duties); overlaps between EU and WTO rules; liabilities in situations of conflict; case law of the Court and WTO adjudicating bodies.

The book provides insights to the alleviation of tensions between Chinese tax incentives and the WTO’s subsidy rules, thus further offering implications for both China and the WTO on integrating in the world economy. Moreover, doing a comparative study with EU State aid law can also provide China with a source of inspiration for reviewing its legal mechanism in respect of tax incentives and the WTO for rethinking its subsidy rules with regard to achieving its objectives and purposes. Academics and students in related subject will be interested to read the book. Practitioners doing business related to China, EU and international trade can be very interested in this book. Policymakers in both China and EU can also get valuable knowledge and inspiration from the book.

WTO Law and Direct Taxation are linked in numerous ways. The WTO Agreements, thereof especially the GATT and GATS Agreements, contain several explicit provisions on the subject of direct taxes or even on its delimitation from Tax Treaty Law. To some extent, the scope of application of WTO Law has been broadened by case law to comprise also direct taxes. This entails overlappings particularly with regard to the law of subsidies, prohibitions of discrimination, and most-favoured-nation obligations. This book highlights increasingly relevant interdependencies between WTO Law and Direct Taxation from the viewpoint of 21 States. Special emphasis is placed on the conformity of national taxes on profits with WTO Law as well as on specifics of interpretation in several Member States. 21 National Reports from nearly all EU countries as well as Colombia, Israel, New Zealand, Norway and the USA dealt with this topic and were compiled and published in this volume. Additionally, a General Report prepared by Servatius van Thiel summarises the results of the National Reports. Moreover, experts in this field joining the Conference among them Reuven Avi-Yonah, Michael Lennard and Raymond Luja have volunteered contributions dealing with specific problems of WTO and Direct Taxation.

International Trade Subsidy Rules and Tax and Financial Export Incentives is an inquiry into the interrelations between international trade subsidy rules and the use of tax and financial export incentives by developing countries. Its central claim is that developing countries should be allowed to adopt - based on their right to development - certain such incentives without violating the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules concerning subsidies. It advances the idea that the right to development of developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) entitles them to use tax and financial export incentives vis--vis comparatively more developed nations. However, in order to actualize this right, the existing WTO regulations must go through a process of revision. This process should craft an exception, available exclusively to developing countries and LDCs, allowing them to apply fiscal and financial export incentives against countries with a higher level of development, without being accused of granting prohibited subsidies. As a result of this policy reform, the WTO itself would incorporate development and fair/just trade concerns into its regulatory framework, providing an exceptional treatment for a patently exceptional situation. In doing so, the WTO would be contributing to a more equal international trade scene and a more developed and freer world.

In today’s environment of largely globalizing national economies, international economic integration does not stop at the frontiers of the European Union. Many non-EU-based enterprises are carrying on business in the European Union through the operation of branches or subsidiaries established in EU Member States, and a large number of EU-based enterprises maintain a diversified range of investments outside the Union. Accordingly, in both inward and outward investment relationships, ‘economic openness’ is key nowadays. This legal relationship between EU Member States and the EU as a whole vis-à-vis the rest of the world is the starting point of this book. The author analyses the ‘freedom of investment’ concept between EU Member States and non-EU States under EU law, and specifically its effect on company taxation regimes, from the perspective of multinational enterprises. Focusing on the impact of the Treaty freedoms and international integration agreements on relations with non-EU Member States, this work is the first to specifically address the all-important issue: Under which circumstances can investment-related rights deriving from EU law be invoked by companies established in non-EU states? The analysis identifies the impact of the EU Treaty freedoms on six basic corporate income tax themes that are of particular interest for multinational enterprises: limitation on the deduction of interest expenses; withholding taxes on dividend, interest, and royalty payments; relief for double taxation of income received from foreign investments; CFC legislation; non-deduction of foreign losses from the domestic taxable base; and company taxation upon the transnational transfer of business assets.

Grain Subsidies in Ukraine is the first attempt to examine impact of international trade law on Ukrainian policies in the cereals sector. The author focuses on instruments of state support for agricultural producers. Those are examined in their compliance with Ukraine’s WTO commitments. The other central component of the book is the effect of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on the the country’s policy space. The treaty contains legal approximation provisions, which may have a farreaching impact on Ukrainian agricultural regulation. In this regard, the agreement is compared to other free trade agreements signed by Ukraine. Another focal point is the question to what extent Ukraine could make use of the EU agricultural aid practice. Although certain EU experience is found to be useful, the book generally advocates reducing distortive policies in Ukraine by substituting subsidies with market-based instruments.