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WT/ACC/SPEC/KAZ/6/Rev.11/Add.1  
 
27 September 2013  
(13-5201)  Page: 1/3  
Working Party on the Accession of Kazakhstan  Original: English  
 
ACCESSION OF KAZAKHSTAN 
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND REPLIES 
Addendum 
 The following submission, dated 16 September 2013, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.  
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 WT/ACC/SPEC/KAZ/6/Rev.11/Add.1 
 
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  Comments on documents WT/ACC/SPEC/KAZ/6/Rev.11 and JOB/ACC/37/Rev.3. 
Question 1  In section IV., under the chapter of Agricult ural Policies, docume nt JOB/ACC/37/Rev.3 
of 15 July 2013, a Member requested Kazakhstan to undertake the following 
commitment:  [The representative of Kazakh stan confirmed that Kazakhstan would not 
seek recourse to the special safeguard provis ions (SSGs) of Article 5 of the Agreement 
on Agriculture.  The Working Party took note of these commitments.] 
Answer:  
First, according to Article 5 (Special Safeguard Provisions) of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, 
only those Members may take recourse to the provisions of Article 5, whose agricultural products are designated in their Schedule with the symbol "SSG" as being the subject of a concession in 
respect of which the provisions of Article 5 may be  invoked. With regard to Kazakhstan's Schedule, 
there are no agricultural products with the symbol "SSG", which means that Kazakhstan has no right to take recourse to the provisions of Article 5.  
Taking above into account, Kazakhstan is not ready to undertake the proposed commitment 
language.   
Question 2  
With regard to Table DS:9 Non Product Specif ic AMS, we believe that several measures 
included in DS:9 should not be categorized as  Non-product specific given that they seem 
to be associated to specific products.  We refer to the following measures: 
- Subsidies to reduce the cost of mine ral fertilizers, seed disinfectants and 
herbicides applied by agricultural producers;  
- Soft loans for spring- field and harvesting works; - Partial compensation of feedstuffs cost; 
- Pedigree livestock subsidies; and 
- Elite seed subsidies. 
Are these measures product specific?  If the answer is yes, please include them in the 
product specific AMS calculations.  
Answer:  
Measures provided to agricultural producers under the programmes in question do not target a 
particular agricultural crop or animal product.  Therefore, such payments are considered to be 
input subsidies that are available to agricultural producers in general and thus were reported as 
non-product-specific support in the AGSTs.  
Below are descriptions of the measures: 
- Subsidies to reduce the cost of mineral fertiliz ers, seed disinfectants and herbicides applied 
by agricultural producers. 
Subsidies are used to partially (up to 40%) compensate the cost of mineral fertilizers, seed 
disinfectants and herbicides sold by suppliers of agricultural chemicals to agricultural producers at 
subsidized prices. 
Subsidies are paid within the reference limits established by the Ministry of Agriculture for each 
type of fertilizers, seed disinfectants and herbicides. 
The programme does not differentiate subsidies for ag ricultural crops by type of crops.  Therefore, 
such subsidies could not be disaggregated by type of crops. WT/ACC/SPEC/KAZ/6/Rev.11/Add.1 
 
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  - Soft loans for spring- field and harvesting works. 
Under this programme the Government through the "Food Contract Corporation" provides 
preferential loans to agricultural producers for carrying out spring-field and harvesting works. 
Interest rate subsidy was calculated using the difference between average annual interest rate 
applied for loans by commercial banks and preferential interest rate multiplied by the value of 
preferential loan.  
The programme does not differentiate subsidies for agricultural crops by type of crops.  
- Partial compensation of feedstuffs cost 
The Government partially (up to 45%) compensates the cost of compounded feedstuffs, which are 
used to feed cattle, pigs and agricultural birds in  order to stimulate production of meat and meat 
products produced by agricultural producers. 
Such subsidies are provided based on the actual volume of bovine meat, pork and poultry (carcass 
weight bases) sold by agricultural producers.  The reference limits are established by the Ministry of Agriculture.  
The programme does not differentiate subsidies for livestock by type of animal product.  
- Pedigree livestock subsidies The Government partially (up to 50%) compensates the following products sold to agricultural 
producers: 
- pedigree livestock growing;   
- breeding eggs; - semen doses.  
Subsidies are also granted to cover the full cost of the following measures: 
- procurement and maintenance of breeding bulls; 
- procurement, maintenance and utilization of embryos and semen from breeding bulls; 
- procurement of young birds for breeding; 
- procurement and maintenance of stud-rams in the breeding centres; - procurement of compounded feedstuffs for birds in the poultry breeding farms; 
- procurement of special laboratory equipments and special agricultural technology for 
the development of breeding business; 
- procurement, maintenance and training of breeding stallions. 
The programme does not delineate subsidies for pe digree livestock by type of animal product.  
- Elite seed subsidies 
Under this programme, subsidies are granted to partially (up to 40%) reduce the cost of 
production of seeds and seedlings of fruit trees.  Such subsidies are also used to partially reduce 
the cost (up to 40%) of elite seeds purchased by agricultural producers. 
The programme does not delineate subsidies for agricultural crops by type of crops. 
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