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G/AG/W/99 
19 September 2012 
 (12-5042) 
Committee on Agriculture Original:   English 
 
 
FORMAT SUGGESTIONS FOR SIGNIF ICANT EXPORTERS DISCUSSION 
 
Communication from Australia and the United States 
  1. Two separate and specific Members’ proposals addressed possible format changes to ES:1 
and ES:2 notifications as possible contributions to updating the Committee’s 1995 decision on 
Significant Exporters.  These two proposals were in itially and independently discussed in late 2011 
during informal Committee sessions.  This paper hi ghlights the format changes and specific scope 
impacts in terms of which Members would be requi red to notify which tables as well as the scope of 
the data to be provided in the ES:1 and ES:2 tables.  
2. Australia’s  informal proposal suggests:  
 Formatting changes 
o One additional column (8) is proposed for the ES:1 table  
o No changes in ES:2 
 Member-related scope changes 
o No change in ES:1 
o Reduction in ES:2 scope – only signif icant exporters would complete  
 Data-related scope changes 
o New column in ES:1 (Total exports in quantity terms) is essentially transferred from 
the existing obligation in ES:2 for this sub-set of Members; Fuller transparency 
guidance would be added, but as per curre nt guidance no unified set of data is 
envisioned;   
o Parallel with above, fuller transparency gu idance would be added, but no unified set 
of data is envisioned.   
3. United States’  informal proposal suggests:  
 Formatting changes 
o No changes in ES:1  
o Four column changes in ES:2  
 Member-related scope changes 
o No change in ES:1 
o No change in ES:2  
 Data-related scope changes 
o ES:1 remains the same G/AG/W/99 
Page 2  
 
  o ES:2 adds the units for the reported qua ntities (3); adds two new columns for 
Members with bound commitments so that to tal exports (5) can be easily equated to 
the subsidized exports (as in ES:1 Column 4)  by repeating this quantity in a new 
column (4);  the revised column (6) sets forth a common definition for all reporting 
Members to use for total exports in ES:2. 
 
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   G/AG/W/99
 Page 3Comparison of the Existing Committee Gu idance for ES:1 and ES:2 Notifications 
Table ES:1   G/AG/2 Guidance           
EXPORT SUBSIDIES:    name of Member 
REPORTING PERIOD:    calendar year, marketing year, etc.  
Export Subsidies:    Budgetary Outlay and Quantity Reduction Commitments  
Description of products Calendar / marketing year 
  beginning . . . .  Subsidized Exports Food Aid Annual commitment levels 
Outlays Quantity   Outlays Quantity 
(from Section II of Part IV) (from Section II of Part IV)       (from Section II of Part IV) 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
Scope of Members Using:  Only Members with bound export subsidy commitments 
Table ES:2   G/AG/2 Guidance           
EXPORT SUBSIDIES:    name of Member 
REPORTING PERIOD:    calendar year, marketing year, etc.  
Export Subsidies:  Notification of Total Exports  
  
Description of Products Calendar / marketing year 
  beginning . . . .  Quantity of Total 
Exports 
  
1 2 3   
Scope of Members Using:  Both sets - i.e., Members with boun d export subsidy commitments and significant exporting Members desi gnated per criteria in G/AG/2 
and subsequent updates 
  
  G/AG/W/99 
Page 4  
Australia's Suggested Format for ES:1 and ES:2 Notifications
Table ES:1   Australian Suggestion   
 
EXPORT SUBSIDIES:    name of Member 
REPORTING PERIOD:    calendar year, marketing year, etc.  
Export Subsidies:    Budgetary Outlay and Quantity Reduction Commitments 
  
Description of products Calendar / marketing year 
beginning . . . . Subsidized Exports Food Aid Annual commitment levels Quantity of total 
exports 
Outlays Quantity  
Outlays Quantity (tonnes) 
(from Section II of Part IV) (from Section II of Part IV)    (from Section II of Part IV)  
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
  
Scope of Members Using:  Only Members with bound export subsidy commitments 
 
Scope of total exports:   This quantity would be self-defined and documented by the notifying Member  
Table ES:2   Australian Suggestion   
 
EXPORT SUBSIDIES:    name of Member 
REPORTING PERIOD:    calenda r year, marketing year, etc. 
Export Subsidies:  Notification of Total Exports   
Description of Products Calendar / marketing year 
beginning . . . . Quantity of Total 
Exports   
1 2 3  
  
Scope of Members Using:  Only significant exporting Members designated per criteria in G/AG/2 and subsequent update.    
   G/AG/W/99
 Page 5 
United States' Suggested Format for ES:1 and ES:2 Notifications 
Table ES:1   US Suggestion       
EXPORT SUBISDIES:    name of Member 
REPORTING PERIOD:    calendar year, marketing year, etc.  
Export Subsidies:    Budgetary Outlay and Quantity Reduction Commitments  
Description of products Calendar / marketing year 
  beginning . . . .  Subsidized Exports Food Aid Annual commitment levels 
Outlays Quantity   Outlays Quantity 
(from Section II of Part IV) (from Section II of Part IV)       (from Section II of Part IV) 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
Scope of Members Using:  Only Members with bound export subsidy commitments 
Table ES:2   US Suggestion                  
EXPORT SUBSIDIES:    name of Member 
REPORTING PERIOD:    calendar year, marketing year, etc.  
Export Subsidies:  Notification of Total Exports    
Description of Products Calendar / marketing year 
  beginning . . . .  Unit Quantity 
Applied Export 
Subsidies 
(bound) Quantity 
Total Exports of 
bound Export 
Subsidy lines  Quantity 
 
Total Exports 
(per G/AG/2)   
1 2 3 4 5 6   
Scope of Members Using:  Split usage in the table - Significant exporting Members designated per criteria in G/AG/2 and subsequ ent update would fill in columns 1, 
2, 3 and 6;   Members with bound export subs idy commitments would complete all 6 columns. 
 
Scope of total exports:    This format defines two distinct ty pes of total exports;  Columns 4 and 5 apply only to Members with  bound export subsidy commitments 
and enables a direct comparison of the subsidized quantity of exports for a product to be compared with the total exports for t he same bound lines (can be different 
code levels);  Column 6 applies to both sets of Members and enab les a comparison between Members of the total exports based on the HS codes defining who is a 
significant exporter (to be found presumably in an updated version of G/AG/2). 
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