WORLD TRADE G/AG/N/ARG/4
7November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4913)
Original: Spanish Committee onAgriculture
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification concerning domestic support commitments (Table DS:1 andthe
relevant supporting Tables) foragricultural year1995/96 wasreceived from thePermanent Mission
ofArgentina on6November 1997.
_______________
TheGovernment ofArgentina wishes tomake thefollowing clarifications inconnection with
thisnotification ondomestic support foragricultural year1995/96:
1. When the(original) supporting tables relating todomestic support reduction commitments were
prepared forsubmission totheWTO, acomparison wasmade, intheoriginal schedule, between the
partcorresponding topricesupports under theSpecial Fund forTobacco, theonlyproduct thatreceives
suchsupport, andthecountry 'stotalagricultural production. Theresults ofthiscalculation showed
thattheamounts werebelow thedeminimis percentage andtherefore didnothavetobecovered by
areduction commitment.
Inview ofthedifferences ofopinion concerning thisinterpretation oftheAgreement on
Agriculture andtheinterpretation involving acomparison withtobacco sector production, aninternal
process ofreview andanalysis wascarried out,inthecourse ofwhich theSub-Federal authorities of
thetobacco-producing regions wereconsulted. Thisexplains theslight delay thathasoccurred inmaking
thenotification fortheyear1995/96.
2. Asaresult ofthisanalysis, theArgentine authorities havedecided torequest WTO Members
torectify thecommitments setoutinitsoriginal Schedule, taking thevalue given therein forthebase
period 1986-88, including theadjustment for"excessive inflation" asprovided forinArticle 18:4of
theAgreement.1
Accordingly, theAggregate Measurement ofSupport amount willbereduced by13.3percent
during theperiod ofimplementation oftheAgreement, between marketing years 1995/96 and2004/5,
following themethodology used forthispurpose intheUruguay Round (see document
MTN.GNG/MA/W/24 of20December 1993).
Itistherefore proposed thatthevalues ofthedomestic support commitments should bereduced
assetoutinthefollowing tableduring theUruguay Round implementation period.
1"Excessive inflation" wascalculated asthedifference between theinflation rates intheUnited States and
Argentina during thisperiod, based onthemovement ofthewholesale price index andtheexchange rateinforce
inourcountry (1peso equals 1USdollar).G/AG/N/ARG/4
Page2
BaseAMS
(inDecember 1995 $) 91.817.085
1995/96 90,595,918
1996/97 89,374,751
1997/98 88,153,583
1998/99 86,932,416
1999/00 85,711,249
2000/01 84,490,082
2001/02 83,268,914
2002/03 82,047,747
2003/04 80,826,580
2004/05 79,605,413
Owing tothedifferences ofinterpretation mentioned earlier, intheyear1995/96 thecurrent
totalAMS wasgreater thanitshould have been ($122,779,312 instead of$90,595,918). Inthe
year1996/97, thebudgetary funds allocated forthisinternal support have been subjected tothe
above-mentioned reduction process: thelimitsetisconsistent withtheadjustment tobemade.G/AG/N/ARG/4
Page3Table DS:1 DOMESTIC SUPPORT: Argentina
REPORTING PERIOD: 1995/96
Current Total Aggregate Measurement ofSupport
Total AMS commitment level forperiod in
questionCurrency Current Total AMS
(from Section IofPartIVoftheSchedule) (from Section IofPartIVoftheSchedule) (from attached
Supporting Tables)
1 2 3
$90,595,918 Pesos $122,779,312G/AG/N/ARG/4
Page4Supporting Table DS:1 DOMESTIC SUPPORT: Argentina
REPORTING PERIOD: 1996
Measures exempt fromthereduction commitment -"Green Box"
Measure type Name anddescription ofmeasure withreference tocriteria inAnnex 2 Monetary value of
measure inyearin
question
(current pesos)Datasources
(Ministry ofAgriculture)
Description ofcriteria
andconditions for
specific policies
ANNEX 2
1 2 3 4
General services Pestanddisease control
*SENASA
*IASCAV
*PROMSAP (12)
*INTA1,310,000
1,590,000
1,000,000
6,941Paragraph 2(b)
Inspection andresearch
*SENASA
*IASCAV
*INTA826,000
3,611,400
6,136,382Paragraph 2(a)and(e)
Marketing
*IASCAV
*INASE
*PROMEX (3)
*PROCAR (4)
*INTA97,312
149,009
1,450,000
2,524,841
43,724Paragraph 2(f)
Payments forrelief from natural
disastersDevelopment loans forfarmers inMendoza, RioNegro, Neuquen andLaPampa provinces affected by
adverse weather conditions. Law22.913.(6)
Personal development loans forfarmers inagricultural emergency ordisaster situations. Law22.913.(7)
Refinancing forfarmers inagricultural emergency ordisaster situations. Law22.913.(8)16,636
30
3,886,361Paragraph 8(a)to(e)G/AG/N/ARG/4
Page51 2 3 4
Regional assistance programme Special conditions forwool producers inthePatagonia region. PEN Decrees 2.586/92, 991/93, Ministry
oftheEconomy Resolution 511/93 andDepartment ofIndustry andTrade Resolutions 33/93 and
174/93 (9).
Targeted andsupervised credits foragro-industrial production andagro-industry inthePatagonian region.
Interest ratesubsidy fororiginal loans. Order 185/94 (10).
NEA credit andtechnical support programme forsmall producers.63,337
286,899
1,327,248Paragraph 13(a) to(f)
Structural adjustment assistance
provided through investment aidsSpecial Fund forTobacco (1995/96)
FINAGRO (1)
1. Lineforpurchase ofcapital goods
2.1 Lineforworking capital (inpesos)
2.2 Lineforworking capital (indollars)
3. Investment and/or reconversion projects
CAMBIO RURAL
MINIFUNDIO
PROHUERTA (11)51,988,157
10,700,000
3,000,000
7,200,000
800,000
17,500,000
2,000,000
9,000,000Paragraph 11(a) to(f)
Decoupled income support Social programme foragriculture (2) 10,284,352 Paragraph 6(a)to(e)
Environmental programmes Prevention andcontrol ofdesertification forthesustainable development ofPatagonia (PRODESER).
*IASCAV 15,000196,679
15,000Paragraph 12(a) and(b)G/AG/N/ARG/4
Page6Notes:
(1) These values were estimated onthebasis oftheloanportfolio balance inhand asatMay 1996, applying the4percentinterest ratesubsidy accorded.
Thelines areavailable forsmall- andmedium-sized enterprises, i.e.those thatmeet thecondition thattheir capital doesnotexceed $3million ortheir
invoicingdoesnotexceed$1millionannually(MinistryoftheEconomyResolutions401/89and208/93).Inthecurrentyear,8,317,7,644and153enterprises
received aidfrom lines 1,2and3respectively.
(2) Thesocial programme benefits smallholders in21provinces ofthecountry through financial, technical andtraining assistance. Some oftherequirements
forentitlement are: having amonthly income thatdoesnotexceed twice therural agricultural worker 'swage, notemploying anylabour, living onthe
farm, andhaving working capital notexceeding $20,000. Smallholders whohaveformed agrouping maypresent production projects foruptoamaximum
perfamily of$1,200 and$200 inthecaseofself-consumption projects. Together withtheproject, thesocial programme finances technical assistance
provided byindependent institutions orexperts foraperiod ofnotmore thanthree years. When thefunds arepaidout,beneficiary families undertake
torepay them toaprovincial revolving fund, which isused tofinance newprojects.
(3)and(4) Theprogrammes mentioned areaimed atproviding assistance toagricultural producers ininternational fairs andevents.
(5) Information taken from thebudget ofeach agency.
(6)and(9) Nodataisavailable inthenumber ofbeneficiaries under these programmes.
(7),(8)and(10)Thenumber ofproducers whohave benefited under these programmes is500, 7,700 and374, respectively.
(11) Thetotalnumber ofproducers assisted under thefirsttwoprogrammes is45,150. TheProhuerta programme covers 344,400 family vegetable gardens
and8,800 school vegetable gardens.
(12) Provincial agricultural services programme.G/AG/N/ARG/4
Page7Supporting Table DS:4
DOMESTIC SUPPORT: Argentina
REPORTING PERIOD: 1995/96
Calculation oftheCurrent Total Aggregate Measurement ofSupport
Description ofbasic products
(including non-product specific
AMS)Product-specific AMS (from
Supporting Tables DS:5 toDS:7
below)Product-specific measurements ofsupport
(from Supporting Table DS:8 below)
($)Current Total AMS (aggregate)
($)
1 2 3 4
Tobacco $122,779,312 $122,779,312G/AG/N/ARG/4
Page8Supporting Table DS:8
DOMESTIC SUPPORT: Argentina
REPORTING PERIOD: 1995/96
Product-Specific Equivalent Measurements ofSupport
Description
ofbasic
productsCalendar/
marketing
year
beginning ...Measure
type(s)Applied
administered
price
($/kg.)Production
eligible to
receive the
applied
administered
price
(kg.)Market price
support
budgetary
outlays
($)Equivalent
measurement
ofsupport
(include
calculation
details)
($)Non-exempt
direct
paymentsOther
product-
specific
supportAssociated
fees/leviesTotal
monetary
value of
equivalent
commitment
($)Datasources
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
(7+8+9-10)12
Tobacco 1December
1995-
30November
1996Payment per
unit1.2503 98,201,157 122,779,312 122,779,312 - - - 122,779,312 Ministry of
Agriculture,
Fishery and
Food/FET
Annual
Reports