WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/L/999 
24 October 2012 
 (12-5795) 
  
  
 
REPORT (2012) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE (REGULAR SESSION)  
 
Report by the Chairperson 
 
 
 The present report on the regular meetings of the Committee on Agriculture held in 2012 is 
submitted on the responsibility of the Chairperson,  Ms Emalene Marcus-Burnett of Barbados, as 
agreed by the Committee at its sixty-seventh session.  
_____________ 
 
 
1. In 2012, the Committee on Agriculture held thr ee regular meetings on 21 March, 20 June and 
20 September.
1  A further regular meeting is scheduled for 14 November 2012. 
2. The working procedures of the Committee are contained in G/AG/1.  The Committee is 
charged, inter alia, to oversee the implementati on of the Agreement on Agriculture and to afford 
Members the opportunity to consult on any matter rela ting to the implementation of the provisions of 
the Agreement.  The work of the Committee is conduc ted in two parts: Part I – items relating to the 
review process and Part II – items relating to ot her matters within the purview of the Committee. 
I. PART I – THE REVIEW PROCESS 
3. In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agreemen t on Agriculture ("the Agreement"), at each 
of its meetings, the Committee reviewed progress in the implementation of Members' commitments.  This Review Process was undertaken on the basis of notifications submitted by Members in the areas 
of market access, domestic support, export compe tition, export prohibitions and restrictions as well as 
under the follow-up to the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on NFIDCs.  In total, 161 notifications 
were subject to review in 2012.  A wide range of general and specific matters relevant to the 
implementation of commitments were also raised independently of notifica tions under the provisions 
of Article 18.6 of the Agreement.  Overall, between March and September 2012, Members posed a 
total of 303 questions.  Approximately 87 per cent of  these were raised in connection with specific 
notifications while the remainder concerned impl ementation matters raised under Article 18.6.  
Subject-wise, 80 per cent dealt with domestic suppor t issues, 11 per cent rela ted to market access, 
7 per cent to export subsidies and 2 per cen t to export prohibitions and restrictions. 
4. At each of its meetings, the Committee revi ewed the overall position with respect to 
Members' compliance with their notification ob ligations under Article 18. 2 and other relevant 
provisions of the Agreement.  Specific concerns were  raised regarding long overdue notifications, in 
                                                      
1 The summary reports of these meetings are contained in documents G/AG/R/66, 67/Rev.1 
(English only) and 68 (to be issued). G/L/999 
Page 2  
 
  particular in the domestic support and export subsidy areas.  Document s showing the current status of 
compliance with notification requirements we re circulated in the G/AG/GEN/86 series.
2 
5. In substance, the concerns raised by Memb ers under the Review Process included, but were 
not limited to, the following matters: 
(a) Market access:  
(i) Introduction of import licensing regul ations or quantitative import 
restrictions;  consistency of such measures with Articles III and XI of GATT 1994 as well as Article 4.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture; 
(ii) Tariff quota management and utilization;  notification practices with regard 
to imports under bound tariff quotas; 
(iii) Application of special safeguard actions, including timeliness of notification;  
calculation of trigger levels, especially at very low trade levels;  possible linkages with the implementation of tariff quota commitments. 
(b) Domestic support:  
(i) Operation of notified Green Box programmes and consistency with the 
relevant Annex 2 policy-specific crite ria;  calculation of payments;  
year-on-year variability in programme funding; 
(ii) Operation of notified Development Pr ogrammes (special and differential 
treatment) and consistency with Article 6.2 criteria (e.g. policy coverage and 
eligibility requirements); definition of "low-income or resource-poor farmers"; 
(iii) Operation of notified Blue Box progra mmes and consistency with Article 6.5 
criteria;  introduction of new measures and linkages with on-going reform targeting specific agricultural sectors; 
(iv) Functioning of various government  support schemes;  year-on-year 
variability in product-specific support or in Current Total AMS/EMS;  
breaches of Final Bound Total AMS commitments and monitoring systems in 
place to ensure compliance;  policy and regulatory frameworks underpinning a number of market price support programmes, including government intervention and subsidization of storage costs;  support granted through import substitution and agricu ltural debt relief schemes; 
(v) Methodological and/or definitional issues, such as treatment of negative 
support, accounting for stages of processing, determination of "eligible 
production" and consistent use of the constituent data and methodology in the 
AMS calculations;  switch between AMS and EMS methodologies;  increases in administered prices;  estimation of value of production data; 
(vi) Transparency of notification practices: inclusion of details on external 
financing; timely submission of Table DS:2 notifications; review of domestic 
support notifications.
3 
                                                      
2 An updated status will be circulated on 2 November 2012 (G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.12). 
3 G/AG/W/97 dated 31 August 2012.  G/L/999 
 Page 3 
 
 
  (c) Export competition: 
(i) Operation of selected export subsidy schemes and their compliance with the 
relevant provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture;  developing countries 
continued recourse to Article 9.4 of the Agreement on Agriculture;  product coverage of internati onal food aid programmes; 
(ii) Transparency considerations, including with respect to notification practices 
to account for subsidy outlays/volumes based on licences issued rather than 
actual exports. 
(d) Export prohibitions and restrictions:  export restrictions introduced by a number of 
Members and underlying regulatory framework; absence of Table ER:1 notifications 
with respect to newly-introduced measures,  and other transparency considerations. 
(e) Broader implementation matters:  modifi cation and certification of scheduled 
commitments;  maintenance of regulations w ith no scientific or technical justification 
and their market access im pacts, especially on deve loping country exports;  
government involvement in private sector policy initiatives. 
II. PART II – OTHER MATTERS UNDER THE PURVIEW OF THE COMMITTEE 
A. IMPLEMENTATION -RELATED ISSUES AND CONCERNS  
6. The Committee maintained a standing item on its agenda relating to implementation issues, 
both in the framework of its follow-up to the Decision by the Doha Ministerial Conference on 
Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns4, as well as in the framework of issues and proposals 
referred to it by the General Council.  In this rega rd, the three relevant impl ementation related issues 
are: 
(a) Article 10.2 of the Agreement: the developmen t of internationally-agreed disciplines 
to govern the provision of export cred its, export credit guarantees or insurance 
programmes; 
(b) Examination of the possible means of improving the effectiveness of the 
implementation of the Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative 
Effects of the Reform Programme on Least Developed and Net Food Importing Developing Countries;  and 
(c) The administration of tariff quotas and tariff quota regimes. 
7. The Committee noted that the s ituation remained unchanged since the circulation of the 2003 
and 2006 reports to the General Council.
5 
                                                      
4 Paragraph 2 of WT/MIN(01)/17 refers. 
5 G/AG/16/Add.1 and G/AG/22 refer. G/L/999 
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  B. R
EVIEW OF THE LIST OF SIGNIFICANT EXPORTERS  
8. In 2012, the Committee continued work towa rds an agreement on an updated List of 
Significant Exporters for the purposes of Table ES:2 notifications.  Most exchanges took place in an 
informal setting, with the Chairman orally reportin g the substance of the discussion during the March 
and June regular sessions.  Some elements were exte nsively pointed out, such as the rationale for the 
Table ES:2 notification requirement and its valu e addition especially for those Members with no 
export subsidy reduction commitments;  the linka ge between the Table ES:1 and Table ES:2 for 
Members with export subsidy reduction commitments;   product coverage, including the definition of 
existing G/AG/2 product categories and the need for enhancing transparency by using the Harmonized System nomenclature to notify the volumes of total exports. 
9. In order to facilitate further progress in this ar ea, the formal and informal contributions made 
since 2010 by Members, the Chairpersons as well as th e Secretariat were compiled and circulated.  In 
the second half of 2012, there was further construc tive engagement with a number of delegations 
tabling additional formal contributions
6 and informal inputs that were circulated as room documents. 
10. Cuba's written7 and Zimbabwe's oral requests for exem ption from the Table ES:2 notification 
requirement remained before the Committ ee pending an agreement on a revised list. 
C. OTHER IMPLEMENTATION -RELATED MATTERS  
11. A number of informal consultations were also convened by the Chairman at Members' 
request.  Such meetings afforded Members the oppor tunity to raise any matters that relate to the 
implementation of provisions of the Agreement.  Useful exchanges ensued, aimed at enhancing 
overall understanding and contribute towards th e implementation and review processes. 
D. MONITORING 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 S) 
12. In accordance with the Committee's Decision8, Antigua and Barbuda a nd El Salvador were 
included in the WTO list of NFIDCs at the March 2012 meeting.9 The follow-up to the Ministerial 
Decision on NFIDCs will be monitored by the Committee at its November meeting.  As is customary, 
that monitoring exercise will be undertaken on the basis of, inter alia , Table NF:1 notifications by 
donor Members, contributions by Members and ob server international organizations, as well as a 
background note by the Secretariat.10 On that occasion, the Committee will consider the 
implementation of the various elements constituti ng the Decision, namely (i) food aid levels, 
particularly the level of food aid destined to LD Cs and NFIDCs; (ii) the technical and financial 
assistance made available by donor Members and ot her multilateral institutions to improve LDCs' and 
NFIDCs' agricultural productivity and infrastructure;  as well as (iii) any other relevant information 
with respect to actions taken within the framework of the Decision. 
                                                      
6 G/AG/W/99 (19 September 2012); G/AG/W/101 and G/AG/W/102 (9 October 2012). 
7 G/AG/W/85 dated 29 June 2011. 
8 G/AG/3 refers. 
9 G/AG/5/Rev.10 refers. 
10 G/AG/W/42/Rev.15 (to be issued).  G/L/999 
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  E. ARTICLE 18.5  ANNUAL CONSULTATIONS  
13. Pursuant to Article 18.5 of the Agreement, th e Committee will hold its annual consultation on 
Members' participation in the normal growth of world trade in agricultural products within the 
framework of the export subsidy disciplines during the November 2012 meeting.  A background note was issued by the Secretaria t to facilitate the discussions.
11 
F. OBSERVER STATUS  
14. The following international intergovernmental or ganizations have regular observer status in 
the Committee:  FAO, IMF, the International Gr ains Council, OECD, UNCTAD, WFP and the World 
Bank.  The Inter-American Institu te for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA) continues to benefit from 
ad hoc  observer status on the basis of meeting-by-meeting invitations. 
15. At present, no consensus has been reached as re gards requests for observer status by eleven 
other international intergovernmental organizations.12 
III. GENERAL COUNCIL DECISION ON COST SAVINGS IN DOCUMENT 
PRODUCTION AND MEETINGS 
16. In response to the General Council Decision on cost savings, the length of the regular 
meetings of the Committee on Agriculture was kept to  one day and all formal and informal meetings 
started on time.  In order to further expedite th e conduct of regular meetings, the Committee examined 
the possibility of considering the extension of ad hoc  observer status to IICA on an annual basis 
unless the issue was specifically placed on the agenda by  a Member in the intervening meetings.  This 
would be therefore without prejudice to a former decision to invite the IICA on a meeting-by-meeting 
basis.  In March 2012, the Committee agreed to i nvite IICA to participate in its regular June, 
September and November 2012 meetings. 
17. As regards the streamlining of documentati on, the distribution of official Committee 
documents previously circulated during regular me etings was discontinued as of 1 January 2012.  
Furthermore, the Secretariat strived to control the overall volume of official documents generated.  A number of documents were restructured and their length reduced, notably the convening airgram, the 
annotated compilations of agenda items raised by Members under the Review Process
13, the summary 
reports and their annexes, as well as the compliance documents.14  In view of the availability of 
updated notification-related t oolkits on the public website15, the circulation of the room document 
listing the notifications circulated after  the issuance of the convening ai rgram was also discontinued.  
Simultaneously, the Documents for Meetings  facility improved Members' direct access to all relevant 
formal and informal documentation.  The Committee also agreed to discontinue the preparation and 
circulation of the Compendium of doc uments on implementation-related issues.16 
18. The Secretariat also briefed Members on the st ate-of-play of the Agriculture Information 
Management System (Ag-IMS) including its two ma in modules, namely, (i) the online notification 
submission system, and (ii) the archiving system for questions and answers that were raised during the Review Process. 
                                                      
11 G/AG/W/32/Rev.13 dated 18 October 2012. 
12 G/AG/W/29/Rev.7 refers. 
13 Hence, both the convening airgram and the compilation of questions are circulated on the same day. 
14 Circulated in the G/AG/GEN/86 series. 
15 See http://www.wto.org/englis h/tratop_e/sps_e/transparency_toolkit_e.htm . 
16 G/AG/W/70 document series. G/L/999 
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  IV. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
19. As part of capacity building initiatives, a specia lized Workshop on Agri culture Notifications 
was held in September 2012.  Twenty-seven Engl ish-speaking government officials having direct 
responsibility in the preparation of notifications par ticipated in that event.  As provided for in the 
WTO's Biennial Technical Assistance and Training Plan 2012-2013 , a second event was organized in 
Geneva on the side-lines of the 68
th regular session of the Committee, offering specialized training to 
18 capital-based French-speaking government offi cials, most of them from Least-Developed 
Countries.  All participants were selected taking into consideration their experience and current or 
future involvement in the WTO agriculture notifications  file.  As in September, the participants will 
be able to attend the regular session of the Committee on Agriculture.  A " notifications clinic " will 
also afford them an opportunity to address a ny unfulfilled notification obligations in direct 
consultation with the Secretariat. 
V. SCHEDULE OF REGULAR MEETINGS IN 2013 
20. The Committee adopted the followi ng schedule for its regular meetings in 2013:  26 March, 
26 September and 12 November. 
21. In line with paragraph 5 of its Working Pro cedures (G/AG/1), additional regular meetings 
may be scheduled as appropriate. 
 
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