TN/RL/GEN/187/Rev.1  
 
17 July 2017 
(17-3842) Page: 1/4 
Negotiating Group on Rules  Original: English  
 
PROPOSAL FOR DISCIPL INES ON FISHERIES SU BSIDIES  
Communication from  Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica,  Panama , Peru, and Uruguay  
Revision  
The following communication, dated 14 July 2017, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegations of Argentina, Colo mbia, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay . 
 
_______________  
 
 
Members hereby;  
 
Considering  a growing consensus within the international community has been emerging on the 
need to act to prevent the harmful impacts of certain fisheries subsidies on susta inability of marine 
resources. That understanding was reflected in Paragraph 173 of the outcome document of the 
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, 'The future we want' and in the recent 
multilateral mandate of the 2030 Agenda for Sustain able Development of the United Nations, in 
which Heads of State and Government agreed on the Sustainable  Development Goals 
(SDGs)  14.6;  
 
Recognizing the urgent need to eliminate i llegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and prohibit 
certain forms of subs idies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity;  
 
Acknowledging that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and 
least-developed country Members should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization 
fisheries subsidies negotiation;  
 
Recalling, that the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has developed relevant international 
plans of actions to address Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, and overcapacity, as 
well as technical guidelines for responsible fisheries;  
 
Fulfilling  the fisheries subsidies ' goals will be the most relevant WTO contribution to trade and 
environment, representing at the same time an important contribution to food security and 
development;  
 
agree to establish effective d isciplines on  fisheries subsidies as follows :  
 
1  GENERAL PROVISIONS  
1.1.  This instrument shall have no legal implications regarding, territoriality or delimitation of 
maritime jurisdictions.  
1.2.  Any fish -stock assessment report or any technical report issued by a re gional fisheries 
management organization shall only have effects for the purposes of the present instrument and 
its clauses and shall have no legal implications over territorial disputes or delimitation of maritime 
jurisdictions, or be interpreted as a cha nge in the position of the parties involved in such disputes 
with regard to sovereignty or maritime jurisdiction, and cannot be invoked as recognition of such 
organizations on disputed areas.  TN/RL/GEN/187/Rev.1  
 
- 2 - 
 
  1.3.  Except for disciplines for IUU fishing, subsidies referred to in  this instrument shall not be 
prohibited when limited to the relief of a particular natural disaster, provided that the subsidies are 
directly related to the effects of that disaster, are limited to the affected geographic area, are 
time-limited, and in th e case of reconstruction subsidies, only restore the affected area, the 
affected fishery, and/or the affected fleet to its pre -disaster state, up to a sustainable level of 
fishing capacity as established through a science -based assessment of the post -disaster status of 
the fishery.  
1.4.  For the purposes of this instrument, a subsidy shall be attributable to the Member granting it, 
regardless of the flag of the vessel involved.  
2  DISCIPLINES  
2.1.  No Member shall grant or maintain any of the following subsidies within th e meaning of 
Article 1.1 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) that are specific 
within the meaning of Article 2 of the SCM Agreement:  
2.1.1   Related to IUU fishing  
Subsidies conferred to any fishing vessel or operator1 of a fishing ve ssel engaged on IUU fishing 
activities. Such fishing vessels or operators shall be determined by:  
 
a. a Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO), which the Member is Party to; in 
accordance with the rules and procedures of that organization and; in c onformity with 
international and domestic law of the concerned Member; or,  
b. each Member in accordance to its national legislation .2,3 
2.1.2   Related to Overfishing  
a. Subsidies for fishing that negatively affect4 fish stocks that are in an overfished 
condition.5 
In order to bring any subsidy programs into conformity with the obligations provided in 
this provision, developing and least -developed country Members, that at [the time of 
entry into force/adoption] of this instrument, have not completed; or, need to update  the 
information related to the status of the fish stocks in the fishery for which the subsidy is 
provided, shall be granted with a period of time of [X] and [Y] years, respectively, after 
entry into force, subject to comply with the transparency section p rovided below in 
paragraph 2.3.  
 
                                                
1 If an operator has more than one fishing vessel, this provision will only be applicable to that fishing 
vessel engaged in IUU activities.  
2 The determination made by a Me mber of a fishing vessel or operator having engaged on IUU fishing 
activities may include vessels of such flag State and/or vessels of a third country flag State when those fishing 
vessels have been found on IUU fishing activities within waters under the n ational jurisdiction of the Member 
making the determination.  
3 Lists of fishing vessels or operators issued by RFMOs which a Member is not Party to, may be 
recognized by such a Member.  
4 The negative effect of such subsidies shall be determined based on t he best scientific evidence 
available to that Member.  
5 For the purposes of this Article, a fish stock is overfished if the stock is at such a low level that 
mortality from fishing needs to be restricted to allow the stock to rebuild to a level that produc es maximum 
sustainable yield or alternative reference points based on the best scientific evidence available to the Member 
within its jurisdiction or to the relevant RFMO.  In the cases of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks, 
shared among Members, t he evaluation related to the fish stocks in the fishery for which the subsidy is 
provided shall be made pursuant cooperation of the Members involved.  TN/RL/GEN/187/Rev.1  
 
- 3 - 
 
  b. Subsidies given to vessels or operators fishing in areas beyond national jurisdiction, 
which are not aimed  to fulfill a quota or a right established by a RFMO .6 
2.1.3   Related to Overcapacity7 
a. Subsidies that increase or allow to m aintain the marine fishing capacity of a fishing 
vessel or a fishing fleet of vessels or support the acquisition of equipment that increases 
or maintains the ability of a fishing vessel or a fishing fleet of vessels to find fish;  
b. Subsidies that support the  construction, importation or transference of fishing vessels or 
any other form of increasing a fishing fleet of vessels.  
2.1.4   Small -Scale artisanal fishers  
Except for disciplines for IUU fishing, in waters under national jurisdiction of a Member, disciplines 
shall not be construed or applied in a manner that prevents small -scale artisanal fishers8 to access 
marine resources and markets.  
 
3  TRANSPARENCY  
3.1.  In order to enable effective surveillance of subsidies elimination, Members shall notify as part 
of their regu lar notifications under Article 25.3 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures the following information:  
a. fleet capacity in the fishery for which the subsidy is provided;  
b. vessels and operators fishing  in areas beyond national jurisdiction , for which the subsidy 
is provided;  
c. kind of subsidies provided and amounts granted;  
d. programme name;  
e. legal authority for the programme;  
f. catch data , to the extent possible  by species , in the fishery for which the subsidy is 
provided;  
g. status of the fishery for which the subsidy is provided (for example, overexploited, 
depleted, fully exploited, recovering or underexploited);  
h. conservation and management measures in place for the relevant fish stock;  
i. total imports/export , to the extent possible  per species;  
 
3.2.  Members shall make this notification , for the first time,  within one year after [the entry into 
force/adoption] of this instrument. In the case of developing and least -developed country Members 
the information requested in paragraph 2.1 shall be submitted  to the Committee on Subsidies and 
Countervailing Measures (SCM Committee) within [the entry into force/adoption] of this 
instrument, 2 years and 4 years, respectively.  
3.3.  Members shall also provide, to the extent possible, information in relation to other fi shing 
related subsidies, granted or maintained, that are not covered by paragraph 3.1, in particular fuel 
subsidies.  
3.4.  Within the six months after [the entry into force/adoption] of this instrument, Members that 
have not completed; or, need to update the inf ormation related to the status of the fish stocks in 
the fishery for which the subsidy is provided, shall inform the SCM Committee . 
3.5.  In order to enable the effective surveillance of subsidies elimination established in 
paragraph  2.1.1, the SCM Committee shall receive com munications  from:  
                                                
6 Subsidies allowed under this provision do not include those subsidies granted to maintain vessels 
fishin g in areas beyond national jurisdiction, without returning to the jurisdiction of the subsidizing Member 
within [x days] counted after the day of departure.  
7 Disciplines related to overcapacity shall be restraint to areas beyond national jurisdiction  and shall not 
be covered  subsidy programs of Members aimed to fulfill a quota or a right established by an RFMO .  
8 Small -scale artisanal fishers should be interpreted and applied in accordance with national legal 
systems of the Member concerned, taking into a ccount the "Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable 
Small -Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication " of the FAO (the SSF Guidelines).   TN/RL/GEN/187/Rev.1  
 
- 4 - 
 
  a. RFMOs informing a determination finding that a vessel or operator has engaged in IUU 
fishing activities in waters covered by such organization, and;  
b. Members informing a determination finding that a vessel of a third country  flag state has 
engaged in IUU fishing activities within waters under the national jurisdiction of the 
Member making the determination.  
3.6.  The SCM Committee shall, upon receipt, circulate these communications to the Member s. 
4  TECHNICAL COOPERATIO N  
4.1.  Members agr ee to implement an effective scheme of cooperation to help developing and 
least-developed country  Members to acquire capacity building in the form of technical assistance in 
order to fulfill their commitments. This scheme could include bilateral and region al cooperation as 
well as technical assistance from relevant international organizations.  
4.2.  The provision of technical cooperation and capacity building under this instrument will be 
notified by providing Members and reviewed in the SCM Committee. The WTO sh all cooperate with 
the FAO and UNCTAD in the provision of technical assistance under this Article.   
5  REVIEW CLAUSE  
The SCM Committee should hold an annual special session to evaluate the progress in the 
implementation of the agreed disciplines and make rec ommendations for their future 
improvements.  
6  DEFINITIONS  
For the purposes of this instrument, the following definitions shall apply:  
a.  "Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing" is to be understood to have the same meaning 
as paragraph 3 of the Internati onal Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, 
Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (2001 IUU Fishing Plan of Action) of the UN Food and 
Agricultural Organization (FAO), adopted in Rome, 2001.  
b.  "Vessels" refers to any vessel, ship or other type  of boat used for, equipped to be used for, 
or intended to be used for fishing or fishing related activities  
c.  "Fishing" means searching for, attracting, locating, catching, taking or harvesting fish or 
any activity which can reasonably be expected to resul t in the attracting, locating, 
catching, taking or harvesting of fish.  
 
__________