RESTRICTED  
  
G/AG/R/76  
 
5 February 2015  
(15-0815)  Page: 1/6  
Committee on Agriculture    
 
 SUMMARY REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 13 NOVEMBER 2014 
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT1 
The Committee on Agriculture held its seventy-fifth (75th) regular meeting on 13 November 2014 
under the Chairmanship of Mrs Mi riam Chaves from Argentina. 
 The agenda of the meeting as set out in WTO/AIR/4385 was adopted with the following 
modifications: 
  Part 1 (Review Process): 
 Addition of questions from Brazil with respec t to India's notification on domestic support; 
and 
 Addition of questions from the Russian Federation with respect to the United States of 
America's domestic support commitments. 
1  THE REVIEW PROCESS 
1.1  Matters relevant to the implementa tion of commitments under the Reform 
Programme: article 18.6 
1.1.  The 17 implementation-related issues raised as well as the responses provided and follow-up 
exchanges are compiled in section 1 of document G/AG/W/138. These relate to: 
a. Brazil's tax credit programmes (raised by the European Union); 
b. Brazil's domestic support programmes (raised by the United States of America); 
c. Canada's dairy policies (raised by New Zealand and the United States of America); 
d. Canada's proposed changes to tariff schedule (raised by the United States of America); 
e. Canada's tariff-rate quota for cheese (rai sed by the United States of America); 
f. Costa Rica's compliance with AMS commitments (raised by Canada and the United 
States of America); 
g. Egypt's domestic support and export subsidies (raised by the European Union); 
h. India's sugar subsidies (raised by Australia); 
i. Jordan's inflation adjustments on the fixed external reference price (raised by Canada); 
j. Russian Federation's agricultural support for 2015 (raised by the European Union); 
                                               
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  G/AG/R/76 
 
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  k. Saint Lucia's domestic purchase requirements for poultry and pork (raised by the United 
States of America); 
l. Thailand's paddy pledging scheme (raise d by the United States of America); 
m. Thailand's rice farmer assistance  programme (raised by Canada); 
n. Turkey's destination of wheat flour sale (r aised by the United States of America); 
o. Turkey's agricultural credit and investment subsidies (raised by Canada); 
p. Turkey's domestic support and export su bsidies (raised by the European Union); 
q. Turkey's export subsidy programmes (raised by Australia). 
1.2  Review of Notifications 1.2.  The Chairperson informed Members that since the June 2014 meeting the Committee had 
received 76 notifications which had been distributed electronically to all delegations. 
1.2.1  Notifications in respect of which ques tions have been raised in advance of the 
issuance of the convening airgram 
1.3.  Section 2 of document G/AG/W/138 reflects the questions raised, responses provided, and 
Members' follow-up comments in connection with the 35 notifications on which questions had been 
raised in advance of the issuance of the convening airgram
2. 
1.2.2  Notifications subject to review in resp ect of which no questions have been raised 
in advance of the issuance of the convening airgram 
1.4.  The Committee took note of the 42 notifi cations circulated before 3 November 2014, 
including notifications carried over from the June 2014 meeting but in respect of which no questions had been raised by that date under the Committee's working procedures.
3 
1.2.3  Notifications circulated or made av ailable after the issuance of the convening 
airgram 
1.5.  Five notifications had been circulated after the issuance of the convening airgram on 
3 November 2014: 
Annual summary of Special Safeguar d actions taken (Table MA:5): 
 Canada (2012): G/AG/N/CAN/102 
Domestic Support Commitments (Table DS:1): 
 Norway (2013): G/AG/N/NOR/78 
Export Subsidy Commitments (Table ES:1-ES:3): 
 United States of America (2011-2012): G/AG/N/USA/99 
 Mexico (2009-2012): G/AG/N/MEX/27/Corr.1 
Notification under Article 16.2 of the Agreement: Monitoring of the follow-up to the Decision on 
Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed 
and net Food-Importing Developing countries (Table NF:1): 
 Japan (2011): G/AG/N/JPN/199/Corr.1 
                                               
2 WTO/AIR/4385, Attachment Section B. 
3 WTO/AIR/4385, Attachment Section C. G/AG/R/76 
 
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  1.6.  These notifications would be reverted to for substantive review during the next regular 
meeting, in accordance with paragraph 9 of the working procedures. 
1.2.4  Points concerning notificati ons raised at previous meetings 
1.7.  There were no requests for the floor under this agenda item. 
1.2.5  Counter-notifications (Article 18.7 of the Agreement on Agriculture) 
1.8.  There were no requests for the floor under this agenda item. 1.2.6  Deferred replies to questions raised under the review process 
1.9.  The Chairperson noted that a total of 15 dele gations had outstanding replies in the context of 
the review of notifications. The Chairperson stro ngly advised them to submit the replies to the 
Secretariat in order to enhance the efficiency of the review process. There were no requests for the floor. 
1.2.7  Overdue notifications 
1.10.  The Committee took note of document G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.19 dated 3 November 2014 
reflecting the current status of Members' compliance with notification obligations. 
1.11.  The Chairperson highlighted  a few numbers with respect to the outstanding notifications. 
For the period 1995 to 2012: 
 9% (58) of notifications in the MA:2 series; 
 10% (58) of notifications in the MA:5 series; 
 36% (669) of notifications in the DS:1 series; 
 35% (728) of notifications in the ES:1 series; and  
 10% (49) of notifications in the ES:2 series remain outstanding. 
1.12.  A question was raised under this agenda item  by the United States of America to China. The 
question and corresponding answer can be found on page 74 of document G/AG/W/138. 
2  OTHER MATTERS WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF THE COMMITTEE 
2.1  Annual monitoring exercise on the follo w-up to the Marrakesh net food-importing 
developing countries (NFIDC) decision under Article 16.2 
2.1.  The annual monitoring exercise was undertaken on the basis, inter alia , of contributions by 
Members, including Table NF:1 notifications, as we ll as contributions by observer international 
organizations. 
2.2.  The Committee took note of the background note
4 revised annually by the Secretariat. 
2.3.  Egypt, on behalf of the African Group, welcomed the report and expressed appreciation for 
the notifications submitted on this topic. Th e African Group noted that the Agreement on 
Agriculture had had mixed impacts on NFIDCs since food aid deliveries had followed a declining trend over the last ten years. The African Gr oup recalled the communication submitted by the 
NFIDCs, African and Arab groups
5 which called for an adoption of a comprehensive work 
programme to mitigate the impact of the food market prices and the volatility on LDCs and 
NFIDCs. To improve implementation of the NFIDC de cision and to achieve its intended objectives, 
                                               
4 G/AG/W/42/Rev.17 dated 30 October 2014. 
5 G/AG/W/90 circulated on 14 November 2011. G/AG/R/76 
 
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  the debate needed to move beyond Members' notifications. Specifically, the African Group 
considered that  
 There should be an automatic trigger to release support at times of high world 
prices/low domestic production, rather than  a need to prove negative impact on the 
part of the NFIDCs and LDCs;  
 Support should not increase the indebtedness of countries seeking assistance;  
 Price signals to domestic producers in the NFIDCs and LDCs should be maintained;  
 The support mechanisms should increase agricultural productivity and competitiveness 
in the longer term if NFIDCs are not to benefit from any increase market access resulting from liberalization; and  
 The importance of agricultural livelihood in NFIDCs, especially those of small scale and 
women farmers, needed to be considered.  
 
The African Group called on Members to start a review of the Ministerial Decision to strengthen the 
language to make it more mandatory, to increase the level of technical and financial assistance 
promised under the Decision and to establish a me chanism to fully implement the provisions of the 
Decision. 
 
2.4.  The Dominican Republic welcomed the Afri can group's statement and supported the call for 
the Committee to start work on possible ways to improve the implementation of the Decision. 
2.5.  Argentina was of the view that there was no justification for the food aid not to be provided 
in fully grant form, and recalled that the food assistance convention allowed the provision of 
non-concessional food aid at the 20% level. 
2.6.  The Russian Federation welcomed Members' work in relation to food security. The Russian 
Federation stated that the volume of food aid to be provided by the Russian Federation, in 
accordance with its commitments under the food assistance convention, would amount to US$15 million in 2014. The Russian Federation highlighted the importance of advancing rules on 
the provision of food aid as well as on other elem ents of export competition. Finally, the Russian 
Federation noted the importance of the food assistance provided at the international level to the populations in need, particularly to regions experiencing difficult humanitarian situations or regional military conflicts. 
2.1.1  Contributions by Members 
2.7.  The Committee took note of the circulation of the following notifications in the Table NF:1 
series since the 2013 monitoring exercise
6: Australia (G/AG/N/AUS/93); Canada 
(G/AG/N/CAN/100); Cuba (G/AG/N/CUB/46 and G/AG/N/CUB/48); European Union 
(G/AG/N/EU/21); Japan (G/AG/N/JPN/199 and Corrigendum); New Zealand (G/AG/N/NZL/82); 
Norway (G/AG/N/NOR/70); South Africa (G/AG/ N/ZAF/82); Switzerland (G/AG/N/CHE/64); and 
United States of America (G/AG/N/USA/97 and Corrigendum; and G/AG/N/USA/98). 
2.1.2  Contributions by observ er international organizations 
2.8.  The Committee took note of the contri butions made by the observer international 
organizations: The International Grain Council submitted a document describing the key 
components of the Food Assistance Convention, which entered into force on 1 January 2013, and 
its activities.7 The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) highlighted the 
trends in food import bills of LDCs and NFIDCs,  developments in food price volatility and on 
market trends in basic foodstuffs, as well as on the operation of the Agriculture Market Information 
System.8 The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) reported on its 
technical cooperation provided during 2014 to support countries in Latin America and the 
Caribbean on food security and nutrition.9 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and 
Development (OECD) presented the OECD's latest work concerning the contribution of trade to 
                                               
6 A reminder (WTO/AIR/4379) was also circulated on 20 October 2014. 
7 G/AG/GEN/124 circulated on 11 November 2014. 
8 G/AG/GEN/122 circulated on 3 November 2014. 
9 G/AG/GEN/121 circulated on 3 November 2014. G/AG/R/76 
 
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  food security, with a focus on the issues faced by NFIDCs, and described the forecasts for 
agricultural production, trade and prices, and their implications to food security.10  
2.9.  Argentina noted that prices had only recently recovered in real terms and that the prevailing 
low prices of previous decades had been caused by  protectionist policies that continued to exist 
without reform. Argentina noted that increased production had benefitted resource poor producers. 
According to Argentina the recent decline in international prices of agricultural products, threatened investments in the agricultural sector and could lead to increased subsidies on these 
products. Argentina stated that the elimination of all forms of export subsidies was an urgent 
priority as increased subsidies would lead to increased protectionism. 
2.2  Implementation-related issues 2.10.  The Chairperson noted that the situatio n had not changed since the circulation of the 
2003 and 2006 reports to the General Council.
11 
2.11.  Argentina stated that without prejudice to the provisions of Article 10.1 of the Agreement on 
Agriculture, the establishment of additional and spec ific disciplines on export credits, export credit 
guarantees and insurance programmes remained an  outstanding implementation issue resulting 
from the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. Argentina requested that this item be retained 
on the agenda of the Committee on Agriculture. 
2.3  Annual Consultation under Article 18.5 with  respect to Members' Participation in the 
Normal Growth of World Trade in Agricultur al Products within the Framework of the 
Commitments on Export Subsidies 
2.12.  The Chairperson recalled that one of the main bases for the present consultations within the 
framework of the commitments on export subsidies was the full picture of notifications in the 
export subsidy area. These notifications covered no t only subsidized exports and related budgetary 
outlays but also total food aid and total export volumes (i.e. Tables ES:1, ES:2 and ES:3). 
Members' compliance with notification obligations in the export subsidy area was crucial to enable 
the Committee to undertake such consultations.  Members were referred to G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.19 
which reflected the state-of-play of submissions in the export subsidy area. The document showed 
that for the implementation period 1995-2012, 728 Table ES:1 notifications and 49 Table ES:2 
notifications remained outstanding. 
2.13.  The Chairperson noted that for this year's consultations the Secretariat could not prepare 
the customary background note in the G/AG/W/32 series containing export statistics in respect of 
select agricultural products. This was due to th e delay in the processing and dissemination of 
updated trade statistics by the FAO which had been  the primary data source for the background 
note. The FAO statistics unit had informed the WTO Secretariat that the public dissemination of the 
updated trade statistics for 2012 (and possibly 2013) was expected in 2015. The next revision to 
the G/AG/W/32 document should be able to incorporate the updated trade data. 
2.14.  Paraguay regretted that a revised G/AG/W/32 document could not be produced as it 
provided an excellent overview of world trade on agricultural products, and stated that it would 
wait for the updated document to complete the consultation exercise. 
2.4  Implementation of Bali outcomes 2.15.  The Chairperson recalled that the CoA had cl ear implementation responsibilities in the areas 
of TRQ administration and export competition. The Chairperson noted the steps to be taken on 
these two areas for the CoA to fulfil its normal transparency and monitoring functions. 
2.16.  Regarding TRQ administration, the Chairperson recalled the discussions carried out at the 
June meeting about options for facilitating the notification of TRQ fill rates as called for by the Bali 
Decision on TRQ administration.
12 Based on suggestions from Members, the Secretariat had 
                                               
10 G/AG/GEN/123 circulated on 11 November 2014. 
11 G/AG/16/Add.1 and G/AG/22. 
12 WT/MIN(13)/39 and WT/L/914. G/AG/R/76 
 
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  circulated an example of a notification which included  an additional column for fill rate information. 
In the July informal meeting, Members expre ssed a willingness to use a common presentation 
based on the format circulated so as to be able to provide information on TRQ fill rates. Some Members had already started to report fill rates using the proposed format. In order to encourage 
a consistent approach in Members' Table MA:2 notifications, the Chairperson suggested that in 
future notifications Members use an additional column to provide the relevant TRQ fill rate data.
13 
2.17.  On export competition, the Chairper son noted the conclusion of the 2014 dedicated 
discussion on export competition with the circulation of the revised Secretariat document on 
16 September and subsequent addendum on 13 October 2014.14 The Chairperson stated that 
these dedicated discussions should occur on an annual basis as called for by the Bali Declaration on export competition, and the next one should therefore take place during the 2015 June meeting 
of the CoA.
15 The Chairperson intended to request the Secretariat to circulate by the end of 2014 
the questionnaire for the 2015 dedicated discussion exercise, along with a summary of suggestions 
received from several Members on how to increase the number and improve the overall quality of 
replies to this questionnaire.16 
2.5  Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods 2.18.  The Committee took note of the draft annual report to the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG). 
Members were invited to submit comments by 14 November 2014. The draft report would be 
updated to reflect Members' submissions and discu ssions from the November meeting of the CoA. 
The report was scheduled to be considered by the CTG at its meeting on 17 November 2014.
17 
2.6  Renewal of ad hoc Observer Status to the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural 
Cooperation (IICA) 
2.19.  The Committee agreed to invite IICA to participate in its regular meetings in 2015 regular 
sessions as an ad hoc  observer. 
2.7  Other Business 
2.7.1  Secretariat briefing  on Technical Assistance 
2.20.  The Secretariat informed the Committee that the planned notification workshop scheduled 
to take place on the first week of December 2014,  in Spanish, had been cancelled due to the low 
number of applications. The Secretariat was considering the options for the delivery of notification workshops in 2015.  
2.7.2  Date of next regular meetin g and reminder of upcoming agenda 
2.21.  The Chair proposed that the next (76
th) regular meeting of the Committee on Agriculture 
would be held on 4-5 March 2015. The airgram convening this meeting would be issued on 20 February 2015.  
2.22.  The Committee also took note of the proposed Committee meetings for 2015: 4 June, 
24 September and 19 November. 
__________  
                                               
13 The recommended format has been distributed, in  the three official languages, under G/AG/W/137 
on 26 November 2014. 
14 G/AG/W/125/Rev.1 and G/AG/W/125/Rev.1/Add.1. 
15 WT/MIN(13)/40 and WT/L/915. 
16 The questionnaire and summary of suggestions were circulated by fax on 26 November 2014. 
17 G/L/1093.