WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/55
10 November 2000
(00-4776)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  English
SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
IN WORLD AGRICULTURAL TRADE
Submission by ASEAN
Introduction
Special and differential treatment for developing countries (S&D) has to be appreciated from
the point of view that developing countries, although possessing a fair degree of comparative
advantage in agricultural production, are still in a substantially different "playing field" when
compared to developed countries.  Special and differential treatment for developing countries is anintegral part of the reform process and must be developed taking into account the principles of fair
trade and the need to achieve a level playing field for all WTO Members.  Following is a presentation
of what the negotiations should be able to achieve at its conclusion.
Schedule and Level of Commitments:
The primary intent of S&D is to establish equity and fair competition where structural
conditions across countries are different.  Paragraph 5 of the "Enabling Clause" captures the essence
of S&D:
"The developed countries do not expect reciprocity for commitments made by them in trade
negotiations to reduce or remove tariffs and other barriers to trade of developing countries, i.e. the
developed countries do not expect the developing countries, in the course of the negotiations, to makecontributions which are inconsistent with their individual development, financial and trade needs.
Developed contracting parties shall therefore, not seek, neither less developed contracting parties be
required to make, concessions that are inconsistent with the latter's development, financial and trade
needs."
The sheer underdevelopment of agriculture in developing countries limits their ability to
implement reforms at the same level and pace as that which developed countries are able to undertake.
The Agreement must therefore afford developing countries to adopt reforms in a differential and more
gradual basis.  As such, flexibility in terms of longer timeframe for the implementation of
commitments, which must continue to be given to developing countries, will not suffice.  The nature,depth and substance of commitments must also be different.
Export Subsidies
As a first general obligation, developed countries must immediately eliminate all forms of
export subsidies and commit to their unconditional prohibition.
Developing countries, on the other hand, must be able to continue using existing flexibility
with respect to export subsidies (i.e. Article 9.4).G/AG/NG/W/55
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Furthermore, disciplines in export credits, export credit guarantee or insurance programmes
should be developed and concluded before the end of the implementation period.  The development of
these disciplines should provide adequate flexibility for developing countries.
Domestic Support
The inclusion of domestic support policies in agriculture is seen as a major breakthrough in
the Uruguay Round.  However, the rules and disciplines on domestic support in the Agreement on
Agriculture were formulated more in consideration of the policies of developed countries.  This has
resulted in major imbalances in obligations and commitments between developed and developing
countries.
The present Agreement allows most developing countries, which had applied little or had no
trade-distorting domestic subsidies, a 10 per cent ceiling on the level of this type of domestic support
they can provide.  The developed countries, however, are not subject to an effective upper limit, butare only expected to bring down trade-distorti ng subsidies (AMS) by 20 per cent in six years.
As a result, it is evident that the heavily subsidising countries, which include the majority of
developed countries, will have an obvious advantage.  They can retain up to 80 per cent of their trade-
distorting subsidies, while the developing countries, which had not applied trade-distorting support
measures can subsidize their farmers no more than 10 per cent of the total value of their agriculturalproduction.
It is therefore imperative that the next reform programme must remedy this state of imbalance
by taking on board the following:
A. Developed Countries:
1. Developed countries must commit to a substantial downpayment of aggregate and
specific support from a determined base period, in absolute terms.  The remaining
AMS should then be subject to reduction overtime leading to their elimination.  This
depth of commitment will render any tendency to apply export subsidies (to resolve
the perennial problem of over-production due to unbridled internal subsidization)
academic.
2. The aggregate nature of AMS reduction in the present Agreement has allowed
countries to meet their overall commitment by adjusting policies in a manner that
resulted in some changes in a limited number of sectors while preserving the support
regimes in others, particularly in more sensitive commodities.  Reduction
commitments in the next phase must therefore be made on a disaggregated level, to
ensure that all sectors are included in the multilateral disciplines and to avoid greaterdistortions in the level of support between commodities.
3. The Blue Box category of support measures, or domestic support under production
limiting programmes, must be subjected to similarly substantial reduction
commitments leading to their elimination.
4. Given their already high levels of AMS, developed countries should no longer be
allowed to have the additional flexibility to apply de-minimis  .
5. Moreover, the criteria for "Green Box" measures or Annex 2 of the present
Agreement must be reviewed to ensure that they meet the fundamental requirement
that they have at least minimal or no trade distorting effects or effects on production.G/AG/NG/W/55
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The review should also ensure that the elements contained in the "Green Box" are
more responsive to the needs, particularly food security concerns, of developing
countries.
6. There should be an overall cap on the budget of developed countries allocated for
Green Box measures.
B. Developing countries
For developing countries, domestic support will continue to be important, considering that
efforts to develop their agricultural sectors remain a long-term legitimate concern.  S&D under the
umbrella of domestic support must therefore provide developing countries the flexibility to pursuepolicies and strategies that would allow them adequate incentives to develop their agricultural
potential.
While considered to be an essential feature of S&D in domestic support, lower levels in
reduction alone would not be adequate to address the development needs of developing countriesbecause, in the first instance, developing countries have not historically provided large trade-
distorting subsidies.  Moreover, resource constraints faced by developing countries prevent them from
realising fully the advantages offered by the present S&D scheme in the Agriculture Agreement.
The following are some key elements of S&D that  would continue to be relevant to the needs
of developing countries:
1. Direct or indirect measures that are an integral part of the development programmes
of developing countries, including investment and input subsidies, as identified in
Article 6.2 of the present Agreement, must remain exempt from reductioncommitments during the next phase of the reform programme.
2. Measures intended to promote agricultural diversification must be exempt from
reduction commitments;
3. The existing de minimis  concept and threshold must be continued to be applied but
only to developing countries;
4. Developing countries must be given an effective and meaningful degree of autonomy
on policy instruments to address food security concerns.
5. In addition, the Agreement must be able to make an appropriate differentiation
between domestic measures which result in overproduction and the ability to carve
out a niche in the international market, and those measures designed to face the
challenges of food security of developing countries.
Market Access
The negotiations must include a clarification of the continuation of the use of tariff quotas,
and if so, ensuring the non-discriminatory allocation and administration of tariff quotas, involving
inter-alia disciplines in the operations of state trading enterprises.
The next round must result in the elimination of tariff disparities, with developed countries
committing to greater tariff reductions.G/AG/NG/W/55
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Presently, tariffs on tropical products remain significant in developed countries' markets.
Imports of tropical agricultural products from developing countries continue to suffer from tariff
escalation against processing of exports.  The next reform programme must therefore pursue the
fullest liberalization of trade in tropical products, by among others, applying further tariff reductions
and eliminating tariff peaks and tariff escalation on these products.
Developing countries must have differential commitments and modalities as appropriate, in
the area of market access.  In addition, developing countries must be allowed the flexibility to
continue the application of special safeguards.
Although many developing countries are accorded preferential tariff margins under the
Generalized System of  Preferences (GSP) scheme, the concessionary nature of the GSP and therecent tendency to impose cond itionalities on GSP benefits not only flouts the fundamental GSP
principles of non-discrimination and non-reciprocity, it also results in unpredictable market access
conditions for developing countries.  To rectify this, the GSP principles already encapsulated in the
Enabling Clause should be elaborated and mainta ined in the framework of the Agreement, with an
explicit commitment by developed countries to conform to the principles of non-discrimination andnon-reciprocity.
Conclusion
This submission has broadly outlined the essential elements of any meaningful manifestation
and implementation of Special and Differential Treatment for Developing Countries asunambiguously stated in Paragraph 5 of the "Enabling Clause".  S & D, as specified in this outline –
that further trade reforms, promote fairness and are facilitative rather than constraining of developing
countries' development aspirations, in turn, must be essential in addressing the latter's legitimate
concerns if they are to meaningfully participate, contribute and benefit from furthering the reform
process.
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