As India gets ready to impose 25 percent safeguard duty on solar imports from China and Taiwan, the Taiwanese delegation at the World Tarde Organization (WTO) has requested a consultation with New Delhi in the matter.

According to a WTO filing, the delegation comprising separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu has requested consultations with India under Article 12.3 of the Agreement on Safeguards with a view to exchange views on the proposed measure and reaching an understanding on ways to achieve the objective set out in Article 8.1 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.

In its communication, Taiwan has suggested holding the consultations as soon as possible. The communique also stated that the separate customs territory looks forward to India’s positive response to this request.

This is not the first time that India’s safeguard duty has been a hot topic of discussion at the trade body. Recently, the Malaysian delegation at the WTO had also requested consultations with India on the imposition of 25 percent safeguard duty on solar imports from China and Malaysia.

Previously, at a WTO safeguard committee meeting, the European Union and Japan had criticized the conduct of the safeguard duty investigation and the initial findings. India’s actions will create serious domestic shortages and even risk the environment, the committee opined. The European Union said it trusts India will refrain from imposing any definitive measure while Japan said an investigation should include reasonable public notice and other appropriate means to ensure interested parties can present evidence.

Recently, the United States accepted China’s request to enter consultations with regards to U.S. safeguard measures on imported solar photovoltaic products and domestic subsidies.

On August 14, 2018, China had made the request and the U.S. granted it on August 24, 2018.