G/L/1044  
 
7 October 2013  
(13-5437)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Agriculture    
 
REPORT (2013) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON 
1.  The present report on the regular meetings of the Committee on Agriculture held in 2013 is 
submitted on the responsibility of the Chairperso n, Mr Guilherme Marquardt Bayer of Brazil, as 
agreed by the Committee at its seventy-first session. 
2.  The Committee held three meetings in 2013 on 26 March, 13 June and 26 September.1 The last 
Committee meeting in 2013, normally held in November, was postponed to 28 January 2014. In addition, three informal meetings were held in 2013.  
3.  In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agreem ent on Agriculture ("the Agreement") at each of 
its meetings the Committee reviewed progress in the implementation of Members' commitments. 
This review process is undertaken on the basis of  notifications submitted by Members in the areas 
of market access, domestic support, export compet ition, export prohibitions and restrictions as 
w e l l  a s  u n d e r  t h e  f o l l o w - u p  t o  t h e  M a r r a k e s h  M i n i s t e r i a l  D e c i s i o n  o n  N F I D C s .  I n  t o t a l  
137 notifications were subject to review in 2013. Specific concerns were also raised regarding the outstanding notifications that some Members had yet to submit to the Committee.
2 
4.  Overall in the Committee meetings that t ook place in 2013 Members posed 175 questions in 
connection with specific notifications. These questions were distributed as follows: 77% related to domestic support issues, 20% to market access and 3% to export subsidies.
3  
5.  A wide range of matters relevant to the implementation of commitments was also raised 
independently of notifications under the provisions  of Article 18.6 of the Agreement. A total of 
17 implementation-related issues were raised by five Members during 2013.4 Out of these, four 
issues were discussed for the first time in 2013, whereas the remaining issues were discussed one 
or more times in previous years either under the review of notifications or under matters raised 
under Article 18.6. Topics in relation to domestic  support were among the most discussed in this 
section (e.g., Members adherence to its domestic support commitment levels and additional 
information on domestic support measures). 
                                               
1 The summary reports of these meetings are contained in documents G/AG/R/70, G/AG/R/71, and 
G/AG/R/72 [to be issued]. 
2 See for example G/AG/R/7 1, paras. 1.10-1.12. 
3 See G/AG/W/109 sections 2.1-2.6; G/AG/W/111, sections 2.1-2.3; and G/AG/W/114, sections 2.1-2.5. 
4 The issues raised included Indonesia's stockholdi ng programmes; Turkey's de stination of wheat flour 
sale; Thailand's paddy pledging scheme; Saint-Lucia's domestic purchase requirements for poultry and pork; 
Costa Rica's compliance with AMS commitments; Chin a's cotton domestic support; Brazil's domestic support 
programmes; United States of America's refined suga r re-export program; Ukraine's state regulation of 
production and realization of Sugar; Republic of Korea's domestic support for pork and beef; India's national 
food security bill; Brazil's trade and industry policy; Canada's dairy policies; Philippines’ continuous use of reference prices applied to imports; Indonesia’s quantitative and other im port restrictions on certain food 
products; Sri Lanka's milk powder tariff and compliance  with WTO bindings; and Sw itzerland's Compliance with 
Article 9.1(c) (see G/AG/W/109 section 1.1-1.8; G/AG/W/111, section 1.1-1.9; and G/AG/W/114, section 1.1-1.14). G/L/1044 
 
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  6.  At each meeting the Committee reviewed the current status of Members' compliance with their 
notification obligations under the Agreement. A document summarizing the current status of compliance with notification requirements was circulated at each Committee meeting.
5 While a 
significant proportion of notifications are still outstanding (about 33%), Members have increased 
their efforts to bring their notification record up-to-date by submitting notifications covering 
multiple reporting periods. 
7.  The Committee continued to work on updating the list of Significant Exporters for the purposes 
of Table ES:2 notification. Most discussions occurred in informal meetings with the Chair reporting 
back on the discussions in formal meetings.6  
8.  The Follow-up to the Ministerial Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects 
of the Reform Programme on Least developed and Net Food-Importing Developing Countries 
(NFIDC) was monitored in the Committee's September meeting. The monitoring exercise was 
undertaken on the basis of, inter alia , Table NF:1 notifications by donor Members, contributions by 
Members and observer organizations7, as well as a background note prepared by the Secretariat.8 
The WTO list of NFIDCs9 remained unchanged as no new application had been received since 2012. 
9.  In September the Committee also conducted its annual consultations under Article 18.5 to 
review the normal growth of world agricultur al trade in the context of export subsidy 
commitments. A background note by the Secretariat10 showed the evolution of world agricultural 
trade in respect of a number of products or product categories which have been considered potentially more prone to the provision of export subsidies.  
10.  The Committee maintained a standing item on its agenda relating to implementation issues, 
both in the framework of its follow-up to the De cision by the Doha Ministerial Conference on 
Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns
11, as well as in the framework of issues and 
proposals referred to it by the General Council.  
11.  In the Committee Members also exchanged views on approaches to strengthen the 
functioning of the Committee particularly its work relating to transparency. This issue was discussed in informal meetings in March, June and September.
12 Members also continued 
discussions on how to improve submission of no tifications. At the request of Members, the 
Secretariat produced a documentation guide su mmarizing the Committee's work on this issue.13 
12.  To facilitate the preparation and review of agriculture notifications, the WTO's Agriculture and 
Commodities Division in collaboration with the Institute for Training and Technical Co-operation 
delivered the fifth workshop in Geneva on agricu lture notifications on 2-5 July 2013. A total of 
20 participants from developing country capitals were funded by the WTO and number of participants came on a self-funded basis. The work shop included practical exercises related to the 
review process of the Committee on Agriculture and provided hands-on training on the use of the 
Agriculture Information Management System (AG IMS) (see below). Participants also had the opportunity to meet individually with Secretariat staff to consult on unfulfilled notification 
obligations. In addition, in 2013 the Secretariat conducted three national seminars on agriculture 
notifications in Cape Verde, China and Guatemala. 
                                               
5 G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.13, G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.14 and G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.15. 
6 See G/AG/R/71, paras. 2.3-2.5. 
7 G/AG/GEN/114, G/AG/GEN/114/Corr.1 and G/AG/GEN/111. 
8 G/AG/W/42/Rev.16. 
9 G/AG/5/Rev.10. 
10 G/AG/W/32/Rev.14 and G/AG/W/32/Rev.14/Corr.1 
11 Paragraph 2 of WT/MIN(01)/17. 
12 See, for example, G/AG/W/107 and G/AG/W/113. 
13 G/AG/W/112 and G/AG/W/112/Corr.1. G/L/1044 
 
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  13.  Members' access to the AG IMS was further enhanced during 2013. The system can now be 
accessed through the WTO's public website. The AG  IMS enables Members to search questions and 
answers discussed in the Committee since 1995. The system also allows users to search and analyse up-to-date agriculture-related notified information in market access, domestic support and 
export subsidies. Members have begun submitting and responding to questions on-line through 
this system. This system will also provide th e platform for future on-line submission of 
notifications.  
14.  The following international intergovernmental organizations have regular observer status in 
the Committee: Food and Agriculture Organization, International Monetary Fund, the International Grains Council, OECD, UNCTAD, World Food Prog ramme, and the World Bank. The Inter-American 
Institute for Agricultural Co-operation (IICA) continued to benefit from ad hoc observer status. No 
consensus has been reached as regards requests for observer status by eleven other international 
organizations. 
15.  The Committee agreed to hold regular meetings on 28 January, 14 March, 6 June and 
13 November in 2014. 
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