./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/W/33
11 June 1998
(98-2405)
Committee on Agriculture Original:  English
COMPLIANCE WITH NOTIFICATION OBLIGATIONS
"OVERDUE NOTIFICATIONS"
Discussion Paper by the United States
The United States would like to draw attention to the importance of and Members'
compliance with notification deadlines.  Discussion of this matter in the Committee could help
Members better understand the delays and non-submission of  notifications and allow the Committee
to assess its ability to monitor complia nce with commitments in a timely manner.
An important achievement of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture was the
commitment by Members to allow for periodic reviews under the auspices of the Committee on
Agriculture, the progress that has been made in the implementation of commitments negotiated and
agreed to under the Agreement.  Consequently, guidelines, notification requirements and formats were
established and agreed to by Members.  Based on the Agreement, the Secretariat published and
circulated the requirements and formats for noti fications (documents G/ AG/2 and G/AG/2/Add.1) to
ensure that Members understood their notification obligations.
The table below shows overdue notifications from the 1995 implementing year, as of the end
of February 1998.
Notification type Number of Members not notifying
Domestic Support - Total AMS (Table DS:1) 36
Tariff Rate Quota - Administration (Table MA:1) 2
Imports under - Tariff Rate Quota  (Table MA:2) 5
Export subsidy - Subsidized export (Table ES:1) 45
Export subsidy - Total  export (Table ES:2) 5
Use of special safeguard (Table MA:5) 1
Source: WTO room document, Compliance with notification obligations, Committee on Agriculture,
19-20 March 1998.
The above table only shows notifications which have not been submitted.  It does not show
notifications which were submitted after their deadlines.  The fact that delayed notifications continued
through the 1996 and 1997 implementing years, including some from industrialized countries,indicate that problems exist with respect to deadlines for submitting notifications.  This disrespect of
deadlines seriously undermines the commitments established under Article 18, which provides thatG/AG/W/33
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progress in the implementation of commitments shou ld be reviewed by the Committee.  Submitting
notifications before or by deadlines allows for timely evaluation of commitments and helps legitimize
the WTO system by providing an affirmative demonstration that Members are living up to their
notification obligations.
Reviewing the notification process would assist Members in developing mechanisms to make
the Committee more effective in its work of monitoring implementation of commitments.   It may be
useful to examine the underlying reasons why some Members are not meeting the deadlines
established for submitting notifications and explore the possibility and the appropriateness of the use
of  "counter notification" when the Committee does not receive a Member's notification on time.
An examination of why notifications are delayed would provide valuable background for an
assessment of the monitoring of compliance of commitments by Members, and for evaluating the
difficulties countries face in developing and submitting notifications.  It would be useful if the WTO
Secretariat could summarize for the Committee the requirements and established deadlines for
notifications of  agricultural commitments.  In providing this summary, due consideration should be
given to the concerns that have been expressed by Members regarding overdue notifications.
In instances where Members delay submission of notifications, the Working Procedures
(G/AG/1) of the Committee allow the use of "counter notification" under Article 18.7 as a means of
advancing its monitoring work.  Under this procedure, any Member of the Committee may present
data in the form of a notification on the non-notifying Member’s commitments to the Committee.This notification then becomes the basis for disc ussions relating to implementation of commitments
by the non-notifying country.
These comments are offered to underline the importance the US associates with the
notification process and the crucial role it plays in the Committee's work in monitoringimplementation of the Agreement on Agriculture.  In that regard, we look forward to reaction and
discussion by other Members to these comments.
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