WT/MIN(15)/45  
WT/L/980  
 
21 December 2015  
(15-6849)  Page: 1/9  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015    
 
EXPORT COMPETITION 
MINISTERIAL DECISION OF 19 DECEMBER 2015 
The Ministerial Conference , 
 
Having regard to paragraph  1 of Article IX of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the 
World Trade Organization;  
Decides  as follows: 
 General 
1. Members reaffirm their commitment, pursuant to the 2013 Bali Ministerial Declaration 
on Export Competition
1, to exercise utmost restraint with regard to any recourse to all 
forms of export subsidies and all expo rt measures with equivalent effect. 
2. Nothing in this Decision can be construed to give any Member the right to provide, 
directly or indirectly, export subsidies in excess of the commitments specified in Members' Schedules, or to otherwise detract from the obligations of Article 8 of the Agreement on Agriculture. Furthermore, noth ing can be construed to imply any change 
to the obligations and rights under Article 10.1 of the Agreement on Agriculture or to 
diminish in any way existing obligations under other provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture or other WTO Agreements. 
3. Nor can anything in this Decision be construed to diminish in any way the existing 
commitments contained in the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision of April 1994 on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-developed 
and Net Food-importing Developing Countries and the Ministerial Decision of 
14 November 2001 on Implementation-related Issues and Concerns
2 on, inter alia , 
commitment levels of food aid, provision of food aid by donors, technical and financial assistance in the context of aid programmes to improve agricultural productivity and 
infrastructure, and financing normal levels of commercial imports of basic foodstuffs. 
Nor could it be understood to alter the regular review of these decisions by the Ministerial Conference and monitoring  by the Committee on Agriculture. 
4. The Committee on Agriculture shall monitor th e implementation of this Decision by 
Members in accordance with existing notifi cation requirements under the Agreement on 
Agriculture, as complemented by the provisions set out in the Annex to this Decision. 
5. The regular sessions of the Committee on Agriculture shall review every three years the 
disciplines contained in this Decision, with the aim of enhancing disciplines to ensure that no circumvention threatens export subsidy elimination commitments and to prevent non-commercial transactions from being used to circumvent such 
commitments. 
                                               
1 Document WT/MIN(13)/40 and WT/L/915. 
2 Document WT/MIN(01)/17. WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  Export Subsidies 
6. Developed Members shall immediately eliminate their remaining scheduled export 
subsidy entitlements as of the date of adoption of this Decision.3,4 
7. Developing country Members shall eliminate their export subsidy entitlements by the 
end of 2018.5 
8. Developing country Members shall continue to benefit from the provisions of Article 9.4 
of the Agreement on Agriculture until the end of 2023, i.e. five years after the end-date 
for elimination of all forms of export subsidies. Least developed countries and net 
food-importing developing countries listed in G/AG/5/Rev.10 shall continue to benefit from the provisions of Article 9.4 of the Ag reement on Agriculture until the end of 2030. 
9. Members shall not apply export subsidies in a manner that circumvents the requirement 
to reduce and eliminate all export subsidies. 
10. Members shall seek not to raise their export subsidies beyond the average level of the 
past five years on a product basis.  
11. Members shall ensure that any export subsidies have at most minimal trade distorting 
effects and do not displace or impede the exports of another Member. To that effect, Members using export subsidies shall give due consideration to the effects of any such 
export subsidies on other Members, and shall consult, upon request, with any other 
Member having a substantial interest as an exporter with respect to any matter related to the export subsidies in question. The Me mber applying such export subsidies shall 
provide, upon request, such a Member with necessary information. 
Cotton 
12. With regard to cotton, the disciplines and commitments contained in this Decision shall 
be immediately implemented as of the date of adoption of this Decision by developed 
country Members, and not later than 1 Janua ry 2017 by developing country Members. 
                                               
3 This paragraph shall not cover quantities count ed against export subsid y reduction commitments 
found to exist by the Dispute Settle ment Body in its recommendations and rulings adopted in disputes DS265, 
DS266, and DS283, with respect to the existing programme, which expires on 30 September 2017, for the product concerned by those disputes. 
4 This paragraph shall not cover processed products , dairy products, and swine meat of a developed 
Member that agrees to eliminate as of 1 January 2016 all export subsidies on products destined for least developed countries, and that has notifi ed export subsidies for such products  or categories of products in one 
of its three latest export subsidy notifications examined  by the Committee on Agriculture before the date of 
adoption of this Decision. For these products, scheduled export subsidies shall be eliminated by the end of 
2020, and quantity commitment levels shall be applie d as a standstill until the end of 2020 at the actual 
average of quantity levels of the 2003-05 base period. Furthermore, there shall be no export subsidies applied either to new markets or to new products. 
5 Notwithstanding this paragraph, a developing country Member shall eliminate its export subsidy 
entitlements by the end of 2022 for products or groups of products for which it has notified export subsidies in 
in one of its three latest export subsidy notifications ex amined by the Committee on Agriculture before the date 
of adoption of this Decision. 
 WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  Export Credits, Export Credit Gu arantees or Insurance Programmes 
Definition 
13. In addition to complying with all other export subsidy obligations under the Agreement 
on Agriculture and any other covered Agreements6, Members undertake not to provide 
export credits7, export credit guarantees or insurance programmes for exports of 
products listed in Annex 1 of the Agreement on Agriculture (hereafter "agricultural products") other than in conformity with this Decision. These export credits, export 
credit guarantees and insurance programmes (hereafter "export financing support") 
comprise: 
(a) direct financing support, comprising direct credits/financing, refinancing, and 
interest rate support; 
(b) risk cover, comprising export credit insurance or reinsurance and export credit 
guarantees; 
(c) government-to-government credit agreements covering the imports of agricultural 
products from the creditor country under which some or all of the risk is 
undertaken by the government of the exporting country; and 
(d) any other form of governmental export credit support, direct or indirect, including 
deferred invoicing and foreign exchange risk hedging. 
14. The provisions of this Decision shall apply to export financing support as defined in 
paragraph 13 provided by a government or any public body as referred to in Article 1.1(a)1 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.  
Terms and Conditions 
15. Export financing support shall be provided in  conformity with the terms and conditions 
set out below: 
(a) Maximum repayment term:  the maximum repayment term for export financing 
support under this Decision, this being the period beginning at the starting point of credit
8 and ending on the contractual date of the final payment, shall be no more 
than 18 months. For developed Members, this shall apply from the last day of 
2017. Existing contracts which have been entered into prior to the adoption of this Decision, are still in place, and are operating on a longer timeframe than that defined in the preceding sentence, shall run their course until the end of their 
contractual date, provided that they are notified to the Committee on Agriculture 
and are not modified; 
(b) Self-financing:  Export credit guarantee, insurance and reinsurance programmes 
and other risk cover programmes included within sub-paragraphs 13(b), (c) and 
(d) above shall be self-financing and cover the long-term operating costs and losses of a programme in the sense of item (j) of the Illustrative List of Annex I of 
the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. For the operations 
covered in the previous sentence, premiums shall be charged and be risk-based. 
                                               
6 However, the second paragraph of item (k) of  Annex I to the Agreement on Subsidies and 
Countervailing Measures (hereafter "Illustrative List") shall not be applicable in the case of agricultural 
products. 
7 The export credits defined in this paragraph do no t include working capital financing to the suppliers. 
8 The "starting point of credit" shall be no later than the weighted mean date or actual date of the 
arrival of the goods in the recipient country for a cont ract under which shipments ar e made in any consecutive 
six-month period. WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  Special and Differential Treatment 
16. Developing country Member providers of export financing support shall be eligible to 
benefit from the following:  
Maximum repayment terms : the developing country Members concerned shall have 
a phase-in period of four years after the first day of the implementation period9 by the 
end of which to fully implement the maximu m repayment term of 18 months. This shall 
be achieved as follows: 
(a) on the first day of implementation, the maximum repayment term for any new 
support entered into shall be 36 months; 
(b) two years after implementation, the maximum repayment term for any new 
support to be entered into shall be 27 months; 
(c) four years after implementation, the maximum repayment term of 18 months shall 
apply. 
It is understood that where there are, after any of the relevant dates, pre-existing 
support arrangements entered into under the limits established in the sub-
paragraphs (a)-(c) above, they shall run their original term. 
17. Notwithstanding the terms of paragraphs 15(a) and 16 above, least-developed and net 
food-importing developing countries listed in G/AG/5/Rev.10 shall be accorded 
differential and more favourable treatment comprising allowance for a repayment term in respect of them of between 36 and 54 months, for the acquisition of basic 
foodstuffs.
10 Should one of these Members face exceptional circumstances which still 
preclude financing normal levels of commercial imports of basic foodstuffs and/or in 
accessing loans granted by multilateral and/or regional financial institutions within these timeframes, it shall have an extension of such a time-frame. The standard 
monitoring and surveillance provisions, as resulting from this Decision, shall apply to 
these cases.
11 
                                               
9 For the purposes of this paragraph, implementation period shall be defined as  the period commencing 
in the year 2016 and ending on 31 December 2020. 
10 Belize, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Papua New 
Guinea and Suriname shall also ha ve access to this provision. 
11 In the event that Cuba is a recipient Member in this situation, the time-frame can be greater than 
54 months and any such monitoring and surveillance sha ll not apply without the prio r express consent of Cuba. 
 WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  Agricultural Exporting State Trading Enterprises 
18. Members shall ensure that agricultural exporting state trading enterprises are operated 
in conformity with the provisions specified in paragraphs 20 and 21, in accordance with Article XVII, the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XVII and other relevant 
provisions of GATT 1994, the Agreement on  Agriculture and other WTO Agreements. 
19. For the purpose of the disciplines set out hereunder in this Decision, an agricultural 
exporting state trading enterprise shall be any enterprise which meets the working 
definition provided for in the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XVII of the 
GATT 1994 and is engaged in exports of prod ucts listed in Annex 1 of the Agreement on 
Agriculture.
12 
20. Members shall ensure that agricultural exporting state trading enterprises do not 
operate in a manner that circumvents any other disciplines contained in this Decision.  
21. Members shall make their best efforts to ensure that the use of export monopoly 
powers by agricultural exporting state trading enterprises is exercised in a manner that 
minimizes trade distorting effects and does not result in displacing or impeding the 
exports of another Member. 
                                               
12 "Governmental and non-governmental enterprises,  including marketing bo ards, which have been 
granted exclusive or special rights or privileges, includ ing statutory or constitutional powers, in the exercise 
of which they influence through their purchases or sales the level or direct ion of imports or exports." It is 
understood that where there is reference to the "rights an d privileges" that "influence … the level or direction 
of imports" in the preceding sentence, this matter of im ports is not per se a matter falling under the disciplines 
of this Decision which relates, rather, solely to the matter of exports under that working definition. WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  International Food Aid  
22. Members reaffirm their commitment to maintain an adequate level of international food 
aid, to take account of the interests of food aid recipients and to ensure that the disciplines contained hereafter do not unintentionally impede the delivery of food aid 
provided to deal with emergency situations. To meet the objective of preventing or 
minimizing commercial displacement, Members shall ensure that international food aid i s  p r o v i d e d  i n  f u l l  c o n f o r m i t y  w i t h  t h e  d i sciplines specified in paragraphs 23 to 32, 
thereby contributing to the objective of preventing commercial displacement. 
23. Members shall ensure that all international food aid is: 
a. needs-driven;  
b. in fully grant form; 
c. not tied directly or indirectly to commercial exports of agricultural products or 
other goods and services; 
d. not linked to the market development objectives of donor Members;  
and that 
e. agricultural products provided as international food aid shall not be re-exported in 
any form, except where the agricultural products were not permitted entry into the 
recipient country, the agricultural products were determined inappropriate or no 
longer needed for the purpose for which they were received in the recipient country, or re-exportation is necessary for logistical reasons to expedite the provision of food aid for another country in an emergency situation. Any re-
exportation in accordance with this subparagraph shall be conducted in a manner 
that does not unduly impact established, functioning commercial markets of agricultural commodities in the countries to which the food aid is re-exported. 
24. The provision of food aid shall take into account local market conditions of the same or 
substitute products. Members shall refrain from providing in-kind international food aid in situations where this would be reasonably foreseen to cause an adverse effect on 
local
13 or regional production of the same or substitute products. In addition, Members 
shall ensure that international food aid does not unduly impact established, functioning commercial markets of agricultural commodities. 
25. Where Members provide exclusively cash-bas ed food aid, they are encouraged to 
continue to do so. Other Members are encouraged to provide cash-based or in-kind 
international food aid in emergency situatio ns, protracted crises (as defined by the 
FAO
14), or non-emergency development/capacity building food assistance environments 
where recipient countries or recognized inte rnational humanitarian/food entities, such 
as the United Nations, have requested food assistance. 
26. Members are also encouraged to seek to increasingly procure international food aid 
from local or regional sources to the extent possible, provided that the availability and 
prices of basic foodstuffs in these markets are not unduly compromised. 
27. Members shall monetize international food aid only where there is a demonstrable need 
for monetization for the purpose of transport and delivery of the food assistance, or the 
monetization of international food aid is used to redress short and/or long term food 
deficit requirements or insufficient agricultural production situations which give rise to 
                                               
13 The term "local" may be understood to mean  at the national or subnational level. 
14 FAO defines protracted crises as follows: " Protracted crises refer to situ ations in which a significant 
portion of a population is facing a heightened risk of death, disease, and breakdown of their livelihoods ." WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  chronic hunger and malnutrition in least-de veloped and net food-importing developing 
countries.15  
28. Local or regional market analysis shall be completed before monetization occurs for all 
monetized international food aid, including consideration of the recipient country’s 
nutritional needs, local United Nations Agencies' market data and normal import and 
consumption levels of the commodity to be monetized, and consistent with Food Assistance Convention reporting. Independent third party commercial or non-profit 
entities will be employed to monetize in-kind international food aid to ensure open 
market competition for the sale of in-kind international food aid. 
 29. In employing these independent third party commercial or non-profit entities for the 
purposes of the preceding paragraph, Members shall ensure that such entities minimize 
or eliminate disruptions to the local or regional markets, which may include impacts on production, when international food aid is mone tized. They shall ensure that the sale of 
commodities for food assistance purposes is conducted in a transparent, competitive 
and open process and through a public tender.
16  
 
30. Members commit to allowing maximum flexibility to provide for all types of international 
food aid in order to maintain needed levels while making efforts to move toward more untied cash-based international food aid in accordance with the Food Assistance Convention. 
 
31. Members recognize the role of government in decision-making on international food aid 
in their jurisdictions. Members recognize that the government of a recipient country of 
international food aid can opt out of the usage of monetized international food aid. 
 32. Members agree to review the provisions on international food aid contained in the 
preceding paragraphs within the regular Committee on Agriculture monitoring of the 
implementation of the Marrakesh Minister ial Decision of April 1994 on Measures 
Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-developed and net food-importing developing countries.    
                                               
15 Belize, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Papua New 
Guinea and Suriname shall also ha ve access to this provision. 
16 In the instance where it is not feasible to comple te a sale through a public tender, a negotiated sale 
can be used. WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  ANNEX17 
EXPORT SUBSIDIES  
 Consistent with the Bali Ministerial Declaration on Export Competition
18 and in addition to annual 
notifications requirements under the relevant pr ovisions of the Agreement on Agriculture and 
related decisions, Members shall continue to prov ide information on export subsidies within the 
context of an annual examination process, based on the following structure:  
 
1. Provide information on operational changes in measures 
 E
XPORT CREDIT , EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEES OR INSURANCE PROGRAMS (EXPORT FINANCING ) 
 
Consistent with the Bali Ministerial Declaration on Export Competition, Members shall continue to provide information on Export Credit, Export Credit Guarantees or Insurance Programs within the 
context of an annual examination process, based on the following structure: 
 
1. Description of the program (classification within the following categories: direct 
financing support, risk cover, government to government credit agreements or any 
other form of governmental export credit support) and relevant legislation 
2. Description of Export Financing Entity 
3. Total value of export of agricultural products  covered by export credits, export credit 
guarantees or insurance programs and use per program 
4. Annual average premium rates/fees per program 
5. Maximum repayment terms per program 
6. Annual average repayment periods per program 
7. Export destination or group of destinations per program 
8. Program use by product or product group 
 
FOOD AID  
 Consistent with the Bali Ministerial Declaration on Export Competition, Members shall continue to 
provide information on International Food Aid within the context of an annual examination process, 
based on the following structure: 
1. Product description 
2. Quantity and/or value of food aid provided 
3. Description of whether food aid is provided on in-kind, untied cash-based basis and 
whether monetisation was permitted  
4. Description of whether in fully grant form or concessional terms 
5. Description of relevant needs assessment (and by whom) and whether food aid is 
responding to a declaration of emergency or an emergency appeal (and by whom) 
6. Description of whether re-export of food aid is an option under the terms of the 
provision of food aid 
 A
GRICULTURAL EXPORTING STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES  
 
Consistent with the Bali Ministerial Declaration on Export Competition, Members shall continue to provide information on Agricultural Exporting State Trading Enterprises within the context of an 
annual examination process, based on the following structure: 
1. Enumeration of State Trading Enterprises 
 Identification of state trading enterprises 
 Description of products affected (Including tariff item number(s) encompassed in 
product description) 
                                               
17 Notwithstanding paragraph 4 of this Decision, developing country Members, unless they are in a 
position to do so at an earlier date, shall implement th is Annex no later than five years following the date of 
adoption of this Decision. 
18 Decision WT/MIN(13)/40 and WT/L/915. WT/MIN(15)/45 • WT/L/980 
 
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  2. Reason and purpose 
 Reason or purpose for establishing and/or maintaining state trading enterprise 
 Summary of legal basis for granting the relevant exclusive or special rights or 
privileges, including legal provisions and summary of statutory or constitutional 
powers 
3. Description of the functioning of the State Trading Enterprise 
 Summary statement providing overview of operations of the state trading 
enterprise 
 Specification of exclusive or special rights or privileges enjoyed by the state 
trading enterprise 
 
Additional information subject to normal commercial confidentiality considerations 
1.  Exports (value/volume) 
2.  Export prices 
3.  Export destination 
 
__________