TN/AG/GEN/36  
 
28 July 2015  
(15-3877)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Agriculture 
Special Session  Original: English  
 
 RENEWING DEVELOPMENT THROUG H THE SPECIAL PRODUCTS  
AND SPECIAL SAFEGUARD MECHANISM 
A JOINT SUBMISSION BY THE G-33, SM ALL VULNERABLE ECONOMIES (SVES), 
 THE AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC (ACP) GROUP, AND  
THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU 
1.  This submission seeks to strongly renew th e long-standing calls of developing Members for 
global trade reforms that address inequities and imbalances in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) so that all WTO Members would be governed by a multilateral trading system 
(MTS) under the WTO which is not only open, tr ansparent, and market-oriented but also, more 
importantly, development-oriented, fair and provides a level playing field. 
2.  Developed Members have expansive flexibilities in the AOA which make their farmers and 
exporters highly and artificially competitive. Thes e flexibilities include, amongst others, huge and 
high ceilings in trade-distorting subsidies in both production and exports; non-transparent and complex TRQ and tariff systems including tariff peaks and escalations; as well as the highest 
entitlements to the special safeguard provisions ( SSG). Clearly, developing Members' tariffs – as 
their main policy instrument – could not match that of the wide-ranging flexibilities enjoyed by developed Members. 
3.  Developing Members have some pockets of real competitiveness, but the unbridled and 
extensive subsidization by developed Members ha s either prevented their full potential from 
materializing or rendered them uncompetitive in their domestic and international markets. 
4.  In order to address the inequities and imbala nces and to continue the fundamental reform in 
agriculture, our Ministers in the Uruguay Round inscribed the "built-in" agenda under Article 20 of 
the AOA. The agenda has been carried through and further reinforced by the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in 2001 (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1) which puts  "development" and special and differential 
treatment (S&DT) for developing Members at its core. Paragraph 13 of the DDA states: "…We 
agree that special and differential treatment for develo ping countries shall be an integral part of all 
elements of the negotiations and shall be em bodied in the schedules of concessions and 
commitments and as appropriate in the rules and disciplines to be negotiated, so as to be 
operationally effective and to enable developing countries to effectively take account of their 
development needs, including food security and rural development." 
5.  As part of the balancing and S&DT instruments, developing Members have long been calling for 
meaningful Special Products (SP) and an accessible and effective Special Safeguard Mechanism 
(SSM). These tools are needed for sustaining investments in agriculture, as well as addressing the destabilizing and crippling effects of import surges and downward price swings in the increasingly 
volatile global agricultural markets.  
6.  The WTO Members through the "July Framework" in 2004 (WT/L/579) and our Ministers 
through the Hong Kong Declaration in 2005 (WT/MIN/(05)/DEC) unequivocally endorsed SP and SSM as critical S&DT instruments. These clear-cut mandates have been elaborated in the 2008 
Draft Agriculture Modalities contained in document TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4 of December 2008 ("Rev.4"). 
Under this draft, SP has been considered "stabili zed" while some elements of SSM have remained 
outstanding. TN/AG/GEN/36 
 
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  7.  Unfortunately, however, some  Members nowadays have argued that SP and SSM are no longer 
needed in the name of "simplification", "recalibration" and "lowering of ambition" in market access, domestic support, and export competition. This ca ll and assertion is not only a clear disregard of 
the July Framework and the Hong Kong Mandate, but more so is unwarranted given that 
the inequalities and imbalances including extensive subsidization by developed Members stand to 
continue.  
8.  It should be clear to all that the G-33, si nce the beginning of its existence, has deemed and 
proposed that SP or SSM should be stand-alone elements of the market access pillar and they 
should neither be linked with any tariff reduction formula nor with a level of ambition. Thus, the G-33, SVEs, ACP, and the Separate Cu stoms Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and 
Matsu deem SP and SSM as "must haves" for a successful outcome in MC10.  
9.  Finally, we strongly urge Members to respect the development and S&DT mandates under 
the DDA, July Framework, and Hong Kong Declar ation, and for the Membership to continue 
intensive and dedicated consultations on SP an d SSM based on the directions and elements 
contained in the G-33 submission under TN/AG/GEN/35/Rev.1 dated 20 March 2015, with a view 
to finally accord developing Me mbers with meaningful SP and an accessible and effective SSM. 
 
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