G/L/1126  
 
23 October 2015  
(15-5609)  Page: 1/3  
   
 
 REPORT (2015) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON 
1.1.  The present report is being circulated by the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture on 
his own responsibility. This report provides a summary of the activities of the Committee on Agriculture ("the Committee") during 2015. 
1.2.  The Committee held three meetings in 2015 on 4 March, 4 June and 25 September.
1 
Mrs Miriam Chaves of Argentina was the chairper son for the March meeting of the Committee. The 
Committee elected Mr Michael Wamai (Uganda) as the new chairperson for 2015-2016 at the June meeting. 
1.3.  In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agr eement 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 
well as under the follow-up to the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on NFIDCs. Between 1 January and 13 October 2015, 136 agriculture notifications of all types were circulated. 
1.4.  In total 58 notifications were subject to review in 2015. Overall in the Committee meetings 
that took place in March, June and September 2015 Members posed 201 questions in connection with specific notifications. These questions were distributed as follows: 72% related to domestic support issues, 16% to market access, and 12% to export subsidies.
2 Specific concerns were also 
raised regarding the outstanding notifications that some Members had yet to submit to the 
Committee.3 
1.5.  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 
34 implementation-related issues were raised by ten Members during 2015.4 Out of these, 
19 issues were discussed for the first time in 2015. These included questions on Angola's Joint 
Executive Decree on import regulation, Argentina's domestic support notifications, Egypt's 
domestic support notifications, European Union's dairy policies, India's cotton policies, India's export assistance programmes, India's export of cereals and rice, India's importation of apples, India's minimum indicative export quotas for sugar, India's support price for wheat, Indonesia's 
regulation on importation of meat, Indonesia's restrictions on importation of sugar, Korea's rice 
imports, Pakistan's wheat export subsidies, Ru ssia's wheat export tax, Russia's grain exports, 
Switzerland's export subsidy budget, Thailand's sugar policies, and the U.S. Export Credit 
Guarantee Program. 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. In 2015 a large number of the new issues related to area of export competition, such as the request for 
confirmation and clarification on the use of export subsidies and other export measures with 
equivalent effect. 
                                               
1 The summary reports of these meetings are cont ained in documents G/AG /R/77, G/AG/R/78, and 
G/AG/R/79 (to be issued). 
2 See G/AG/W/142, section 2.1-2.5; G/AG/W/145, section 2.1-2.5; and G/AG/W/146, section 2.1-2.4. 
3 See for example G/AG/R/76, paras. 1.10-1.12. 
4 See G/AG/W/142, G/AG/W/145 and G/AG/W/146. G/L/1126 
 
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  1.6.  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 27%), Members have increased 
their efforts to bring their notification record up to date by submitting notifications covering 
multiple reporting periods. Since 2009 onwards, the average number of years reported per notification has been close to three. 
1.7.  In March 2015, the Committee continued its discussions in an informal setting on the issue of 
implementation of notifications in the area of export restrictions based on a written submission from Japan.
6 The discussions were primarily limited to the issue of the definition of 'foodstuffs'.7 
1.8.  With respect to the work of the Committ ee related specifically to NFIDCs, the WTO list of 
NFIDCs8 remained unchanged as no new applications had been received since 2012. 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) which is 
normally monitored in the Committee's November meeting will take place in the first meeting of 
the Committee in 2016. As is normal practice, the monitoring exercise will be undertaken on the basis of, inter alia, Table NF:1 notifications by donor Members, contributions by Members and 
observer organizations, as well as a background note prepared by the Secretariat.
9 The 
consultations under Article 18.5 of the Agreement that are conducted annually in the November meetings of the Committee will also be held in th e first meeting of the Committee in 2016. Like in 
previous years, a secretariat background note
10 will be circulated prior to the Committee meeting 
in order to facilitate the consultations.  
1.9.  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 Concerns11, as well as in the framework of issues and 
proposals referred to it by the General Council.  
1.10.  The Committee also discussed in formal settings follow-up to the Bali Ministerial decisions 
related to (i) the Understanding on Tariff Rate Quota Administration Provisions of Agricultural 
Products, as defined in Article 2 of the Agreement on Agriculture; and (ii) the Bali Ministerial Declaration on Export Competition. With respect to the Understanding on TRQ administration, following Committee discussions in 2014 regarding the best practice for notifying TRQ fill rates, 
many Members who had submitted Table MA:2 notifications began providing data on in-quota 
imports using the proposed format.
12 
1.11.  With respect to the follow-up on the Declaration on Export Competition, the second annual 
dedicated discussion on export competition occurred during the June 2015 meeting. The 
discussions were held on the basis of the Secretariat's background document based on the answers to the questionnaire sent to Members on 26 November 2014, and relevant information 
coming from Table ES:1 and ES:3 notifications and notifications to the Working Party on State 
Trading Enterprises. Following the meeting, a revised Secretariat's background document compiling all the information received by the Secretariat was circulated on 27 July 2015
13 
concluding the second annual examination process.  
1.12.  The WTO's Agriculture and Commodities Division delivered the seventh Geneva-based 
workshop on agriculture notifications on 6-9 July  2015. It was organised in collaboration with the 
Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation with the purpose of facilitating the preparation and 
review of agriculture notifications. A total of 20 participants from developing country capitals were 
funded by the WTO, and 5 participants came on  a self-funded basis. The workshop included 
practical exercises related to the review process of the Committee on Agriculture. It also provided 
                                               
5 G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.20-22. 
6 G/AG/W/140. 
7 G/AG/R/77, paras. 2.10-2.12. 
8 G/AG/5/Rev.10. 
9 In the G/AG/W/42/series. 
10 In the G/AG/W/32/series. 
11 WT/MIN(01)/17, para. 2. 
12 See G/AG/W/137. 
13 G/AG/W/125/Rev.3, addenda and corrigenda. G/L/1126 
 
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  hands-on training on the Agriculture Information Management System (AG-IMS) to empower 
participants to make full use of existing information tools. As in previous editions, the last day of the 2015 workshop was entirely devoted to individu al sessions with AGCD st aff, with a view to 
offer the participants the opportunity to consult on unfulfilled notification obligations. In addition to 
the workshop, the Secretariat conducted in 2015 two national seminars on agriculture notifications 
in Colombia, and Saint Lucia. 
1.13.  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 Cooperation (IICA) contin ued to benefit from ad hoc observer status. No 
consensus has been reached as regards requests for observer status by eleven other international 
organizations. 
1.14.  The Committee agreed to hold regular meetings on 9-10 March, 7-8 June, 14-15 September 
and 9-10 November in 2016. 
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