RESTRICTED  
  
G/AG/R/71  
 
7 August 2013  
(13-4216)  Page: 1/5  
Committee on Agriculture    
 
 SUMMARY REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 13 JUNE 2013 
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT1 
The Committee on Agriculture held its seventieth (70th) regular meeting on 13 June 2013 under 
the Chairmanship of Mr Guilherme Marquardt Bayer from Brazil. 
The agenda of the meeting as set out in WTO/AIR/4137 was adopted with the following 
modifications: 
 Part 1 (Review Process): 
 withdrawal of question from the United States with respect to Moldova's 
DS:1 notification (G/AG/N/MOL/4); 
 withdrawal of question from Switzerland with respect to European Union's subsidy 
programme for Swedish dairy cattle.  
 Part 2 (Other Matters within the Purview of the Committee): 
 merging items 2.b (Chair's report on informal consultations on the review of the 
list of "significant exporters" for the purpose of the table ES:2 notification 
requirement) and 2.c (reflection and exchan ge of views on the functioning of the 
Committee on Agriculture) into a single item covering the Chair's report on three 
issues discussed during informal consultations; 
 addition of an item under agenda item 2.d (other business) to provide 
information on the Agriculture Information Management System by the Chairperson; 
 addition of an item under agenda item 2.d (other business) to provide 
information on the agriculture notification workshop by the Secretariat. 
1  THE REVIEW PROCESS 1.1  Matters relevant to the implementa tion of commitments under the Reform 
Programme: article 18.6 
1.1.  The nine implementation-related issues raised as well as the responses provided and 
follow-up exchanges are compiled in section 1 of document G/AG/W/111. These relate to: 
a. Brazil's domestic support programmes (raised by the United States); 
b. Brazil's trade and industry policy (raised by Canada); 
c. Canada's dairy policies (raised by New Zealand); 
                                               
1 This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice to 
the positions of Members or to their rights or obligations under the WTO. G/AG/R/71 
 
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  d. Costa Rica's elimination of the price support mechanism for rice (information from Costa 
Rica); 
e. Costa Rica's compliance with AMS commitments (raised by the United States) 
f. Indonesia's quantitative and other import restrictions on certain food products (raised by 
the United States); 
g. Philippine's continuous use of reference pric es applied to import (raised by the United 
States); 
h. Sri Lanka's milk powder tariff and compliance with WTO binding (raised by New 
Zealand); 
i. Thailand's paddy pledging scheme (raised by Canada and the United States). 
1.2  Review of Notifications 
1.2.  The Chairperson informed Members that since the March 2013 meeting the Committee had 
received 31 notifications which had been distributed electronically to all delegations.  
1.2.1  Notifications in respect of which ques tions have been raised in advance of the 
issuance of the convening airgram 
1.3.  Section 2 of document G/AG/W/111 reflects the questions raised, responses provided, and 
Members' follow-up comments in connection with the 23 notifications on which questions had been 
raised in advance of the issuance of the convening airgram2. 
1.2.2  Notifications subject to review in resp ect of which no questions have been raised 
in advance of the issuance of the convening airgram 
1.4.  The Committee took note of the 35 notifications circulated before 3 June 2013, including 
notifications carried over from the March 2013 meet ing but in respect of which no questions had 
been raised by that date under the Committee's working procedures.3  
1.2.3  Notifications circulated or made av ailable after the issuance of the convening 
airgram 
1.5.  Five notifications had been circulated after the issuance of the convening airgram on 
3 June 2013: 
Annual summary of special safeguard actions taken (Table MA:5) 
 European Union (2011): G/AG/N/EU/13 
 
Domestic Support Commitments (Table DS:1) 
 Chile (2011): G/AG/N/CHK/40 
 
New or modified domestic support measures exempt from reduction (Table DS:2) 
 Uruguay(2012): G/AG/N/URY/52 
 
Export Subsidy Commitments (Table ES:1 and ES:2) 
 European Union (2010): G/AG/N/EU/14 
 Israel (2010-2012): G/AG/N/ISR/52 
 
1.6.  These notifications would be reverted to for substantive review during the next regular 
meeting, in accordance with paragraph 9 of the working procedures. 
                                               
2 WTO/AIR/4137, Attachment Section B. 
3 WTO/AIR/4137, Attachment Section C. G/AG/R/71 
 
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  1.2.4  Points concerning notificati ons raised at previous meetings 
1.7.  There were no requests for the floor under this agenda item. 1.2.5  Counter-notifications (Article 18.7 of the Agreement on Agriculture) 
1.8.  There were no requests for the floor under this agenda item. 
1.2.6  Deferred replies to questions raised under the review process 
1.9.  The Chairperson noted that a total of 11 dele gations had outstanding replies in the context of 
the review of notifications. The Chairperson stro ngly advised them to submit the replies to the 
Secretariat in order to enhance the efficiency of the review process. There were no requests for 
the floor. 
1.2.7  Overdue notifications 1.10.  The Committee took note of document G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.14 dated 3 June 2013 reflecting 
the current status of Members' compliance with notification obligations. 
1.11.  The Chairperson highlighted  a few numbers with respect to the outstanding notifications. 
For the period 1995 to 2011: 
 11% (64) of notifications in the MA:2 series, 
 11% (61) of notifications in the MA:5 series, 
 41% (708) of notifications in the DS:1 series, 
 38% (745) of notifications in the ES:1 series, and  
 13% (58) of notifications in the ES:2 series remain outstanding. 
 
1.12.  Under this agenda item, the European Unio n requested that Turkey provide information on 
when Turkey intended to submit its outstanding notifications for review. The details of this 
question and the respective answer can be found on page 37 of document G/AG/W/111. 
1.13.  The Philippines informed the Committee that  the notifications related to the imports under 
tariff and other quota commitments (Table MA:2) for the years 2005-2010 would be submitted 
shortly. 
2  PART 2: OTHER MATTERS WITH IN THE PURVIEW OF THE COMMITTEE 
2.1  Implementation-related Issues and Concerns (G/AG/16 and Add.1; G/AG/22) 
2.1.  The Chairperson noted that the situation had not changed since the circulation of the 2003 
and 2006 reports to the General Council.
4 
2.2.  Argentina, with the support of Australia,  Brazil and the Philippines, stated that without 
prejudice to the provisions of Article 10.1 of th e Agreement on Agriculture, the establishment of 
additional and specific disciplines on export cr edits, export credit guarantees and insurance 
programmes remained an outstanding implementation issue resulting from the Uruguay Round 
Agreement on Agriculture. Argentina requested that  this item be retained on the agenda of the 
Committee on Agriculture. 
2.2  Chair's report on informal consultations  
2.3.  The Chairperson reported on the informal consultations held in the morning of 13 June 2013. 
During these consultations Members had exchanged vi ews on three topics: the review of the list of 
significant exporters, the functioning of the Comm ittee on Agriculture, and improving the situation 
related to the submission of agriculture notifications.  
                                               
4 G/AG/16/Add.1 and G/AG/22. G/AG/R/71 
 
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  2.4.  During the informal meeting, it was noted that the Committee had discussed the issue of 
reviewing the list of significant exporters since 200 9. While the issue was on the agenda of all the 
Committee meetings in 2012 no substantive discussion had occurred within formal meetings. At 
the March 2013 Committee meeting some delegations noted that it would be helpful for the 
Chairperson to take the lead in determining how to structure future discussions, including through 
informal meetings of the Committee on Agriculture.  
2.5.  In response to these comments, the Chair had initiated consultations with Members with a 
view to exploring possible approaches to this issue.  It was suggested to initially focus on achieving 
consensus on the list of relevant products and how information on these products should be captured in notifications. In this context, three main issues had been identified: (i) comparability of ES notifications; (ii) identification of possi ble new products to be added to this list; and 
(iii) potential rationale for product disaggregation. These issues would be considered in small 
group settings, with the outcome of the discussions being reported to the full Membership. Delegations were urged to adopt a pragmatic, straightforward approach to conclude these 
discussions as efficiently as possible. Delegations supported the proposed process outlined by the 
Chair and appreciated efforts to reach an expedited outcome. Delegations also stressed that the objectives of the exercise did not include changing the way scheduled reduction commitments 
would be reported in ES:1 notifications. 
2.6.  Regarding the functioning of the Committee on  Agriculture, there had been a useful exchange 
of views on approaches to strengthen the f unctioning of the Committee during the informal 
consultations. The Chairperson recalled that on the margins of the March 2013 Committee 
meeting, informal consultations had been held as per the request of the United States. The 
purpose of those informal consultations was for Members to reflect on the ministerial guidance from 17 December 2011 contained in document WT/MIN (11)/11 which called for the improvement 
and strengthening of the work of the regular WTO bodies. On 13 June 2013 Members exchanged 
views on approaches to strengthen the functioning of the Committee, particularly its work relating to transparency. Delegations shared experiences regarding alternative information-sharing 
approaches that occurred outside of the Committee meetings and reflected on how this type of 
information-sharing related to the work of the Committee on Agriculture.    
2.7.  On the topic of notification issues, th e Chairperson recalled that in 2011 and 2012 the 
Committee had a series of informal discussions on how to improve the implementation of 
notification requirements. During these discussion s Members had been encouraged to reflect on 
the fundamental role that notifications play in the review process.   
2.8.  In this regard, Argentina had presented a document (RD/AG/17) proposing that the 
Secretariat produce a documentation guide on the work related to the improvement of the 
submission of notifications. At the 13 June 2013 informal consultations, delegations recognized 
that this type of documentation guide could pr ovide useful input into the Committee's discussions 
in the area of notification practices. Based on this positive response the Chairperson requested the 
Secretariat to create this documentation guide taking advantage of resources available through the WTO's docs-on-line system. 
2.3  Other Business 
2.3.1  Information Management System 
2.9.  The Chairperson drew the Committee's attention to the launch of the Agriculture Information 
Management System
5 (AG-IMS) which was available through the WTO agriculture webpage6. The 
system was expected to improve the efficiency of  the operation of the Committee. The Chairperson 
encouraged delegates to take advantage of the system and recalled that the Secretariat was available to provide assistance. 
                                               
5 http://agims.wto.org/ . 
6 http://www.wto.org/english/t ratop_e/agric_e/agric_e.htm . G/AG/R/71 
 
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  2.3.2  Secretariat briefing on upcoming notification workshop 
2.10.  The Secretariat stated that the fifth notifi cation workshop on agriculture notifications would 
take place on 2-5 July 2013. A total of 20 candidat es from developing country capitals had been 
selected. The workshop would also be attended by a number of participants on a self-funded basis. 
The programme of the workshop had been expanded  to include training on the AG-IMS. The first 
part of the workshop would focus on practical exer cises on how to fill out notifications while the 
second part would provide hands-on experience with the AG-IMS in the context of the review 
process of the Committee on Agriculture. 
2.3.3  Date of next regular meetin g and reminder of upcoming agenda 
2.11.  The Chair proposed that the next (71th) regular meeting of the Committee on Agriculture 
would be held on the 26 September 2013. An informal meeting would be scheduled immediately 
prior to the regular meeting on 25 September 2013 to discuss issues relevant to the work of the 
Committee on Agriculture, including the review of th e list of significant exporters. In light of the 
schedule leading up to the Bali Ministerial, th e meeting of the Committee on Agriculture which 
normally would be held in November would be postponed to 2014. The proposed date for this 
meeting was 28 January 2014.  
2.12.  The Committee note that the two agenda items normally covered during the November 
Committee meetings would be included in the agenda of the September meeting :  
 Annual monitoring exercise on the follow-up to the Marrakesh NFIDC decision  
 under Article 16.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture; and   Annual consultation under Article 18.5 of the Agreement on Agriculture, with 
 respect to Members' participation in the normal growth of world trade in  agricultural 
 products within the framework of the commitments on export subsidies) 
 
 
 
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