. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/60
29 November 2000
(00-5141)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  English
FOURTH SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
15-17 NOVEMBER 2000
Statement by Australia on behalf of the Cairns Group
Introducing the Cairns Group Mark et Access Proposal (G/AG/NG/W/54)
I am pleased to introduce the third negotiating proposal by the Cairns Group.  The latest
Cairns Group proposal addresses the third "pillar" of agricultural support and protection - market
access.  It is part of an integrated set of proposals the Group has put forward this year.  We have
already tabled two proposals - on export competition and domestic support - and this proposal on
market access should be read in conjunction with those already submitted.
The Group's proposal on market access aims to rectify the discrimination between access
conditions for agriculture and for other goods, discrimination which runs contrary to the basic purpose
of the multilateral trading system and unfairly penalises efficient producers.
The market access outcome of the Uruguay Round made only limited progress towards the
goal of correcting and preventing the restrictions that apply to world agriculture trade.  The approach
adopted in the last round permitted the retention of prohibitive protection levels; it contained too
many opt-outs from meaningful market opening; it allowed countries to convert quotas into
deliberately inflated, restrictive tariff quotas; and it left the administration of such tariff quotas
vaguely disciplined and open to administrative impediment.
Our proposal addresses, among other things, four issues of specific concern to developing
countries regarding market access, included in a proposal submitted at the September Special Session
by a group of developing countries (G/AG/NG/W/37):  these issues are dirty tariffication, tariff
escalation, unweighted tariff reductions, and complex tariffs.
To take just a few examples of current deficiencies in market access: many of Japan's
agricultural tariffs are over 100 per cent.  In the case of the EU, 60 per cent of its tariffs on basic
cereals are over 20 per cent; 53 per cent of its tariffs on sugar and cocoa - key products for many
developing countries - are classified as tariff peaks.  The EU's meat tariffs peak at 826 per cent.  As
stated in the World Bank's 2000 World Development Report titled "Attacking Poverty", tariff levels
this high have undermined the success of trade reform in developing countries and inhibited efficientproducers.
Let me give just one example of tariff escalation from the perspective of a specific industry to
show how current tariff regimes impede the devel opment of food processing industries outside rich
country markets.  In the case of chocolate, while 90 per cent of the world's cocoa beans are grown indeveloping countries, as we move down the processing chain we see that only 44 per cent of cocoa
liquor is produced in these countries.  This share falls even further, to 38 per cent for cocoa butter, and
then 29 per cent for cocoa powder.  By the time we  get to the final product we see that developing
countries account for a mere 4 per cent of the global chocolate production.  What we see is that tariff
escalation has effectively reduced developing countries to mere suppliers of unprocessedcommodities.  Their input and labour costs, however, suggest they should have a comparative
advantage in food processing.  Instead, tariff escalation in this and many other cases is denying themG/AG/NG/W/60
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the benefit from higher and value-added processing of agricultural products.  Through tariff
distortions it is the rich countries that are extracting the value from processing.
In short, it is the current distorted structure of world agricultural markets that is holding back
investment in efficient agricultural sectors and food processing, and doing much to harm thedevelopment efforts of many countries.
We propose to address the failure of current approaches to agricultural market access to
deliver fair access on just and commercial terms for all participants in the international marketplace.
Our proposal includes the following main features:
. deep reductions to all tariffs on the basis of a formula which eliminates tariff escalation, curtails
tariff peaks, imposes greater reductions on higher tariffs, and sets a maximum level for alltariffs;
. reduced scope for complex tariff systems and  an effort to increase the number of tariffs
imposed on an ad valorem basis compared to other approaches;
. expanded access volumes under tariff quotas to create genuine market access opportunities;
. elimination for developed countries of the transitional special agricultural safeguard;
. a requirement for effective rules to ensure the methods of tariff quota administration do not
undermine the size or volume of access offered;
. a substantial downpayment is proposed which will ensure that the reform process is an ongoing
one;
. concrete and operational special and differential treatment provisions, to bolster developing
countries' ability to harness agriculture trade reform for their economic development.
The Cairns Group is proposing a balanced and achievable set of market access measures to
deliver substantial progressive reduction in protection and advance the objective of fundamental
reform of the agricultural trading system.
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