G/L/1283  
30 November 2018  
(18-7574) Page: 1/4 
    
 
REPORT (2018) ON THE  ACTIVITIES OF THE C OMMITTEE ON AGRICULT URE 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRP ERSON  
1.1.  The present draft report is being circulated by the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture 
on her own responsibility. This report provides a summary of the activities of the Committee on 
Agriculture ("the Committee") during 201 8. 
1.2.  The Committee held four formal meetings in 201 8 on 20 -21 February, 11 -12 June, 
25-26 September and 26 -27 November .1 Informa l meetings were held on 20  February, 11  June, 
25 September and 26 November. Alf Vederhus of Norway  was the Chairperson for the February 
meeting of the Committee. The Committee elected Ms Débora Cumes  of Guatemala  as the new 
Chairperson for 201 8-2019 beginn ing with the June meeting.  
1.3.  In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agreement 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 bas is of notifications submitted by Members in the areas 
of market access, domestic support, export competition, export prohibitions and restrictions as well 
as under the follow -up to the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on NFIDCs. Between 1  January and 
27 Novem ber 2018 , 248 agriculture notifications of all types were circulated.  
1.4.  In 201 8, Members posed 242 questions on 104 notifications during the Committee's review 
process. These questions were distributed as follows: 80% related  to domestic support issues,  
15% to market access, and 5% to export competition.2 Specific concerns were also raised regarding 
the outstanding notifications that some Members had yet to submit to the Committee.  
1.5.  For the first time since the Committee's inception, there were three coun ter-notifications 
submitted as per Article 18.7 of the Agreement. The United States and Australia submitted 
counter -notifications pertaining market price support measures undertaken  by India  regarding rice, 
wheat, cotton and sugarcane.3     
1.6.  Members also raised a  wide range of matters relevant to the implementation of commitments 
independently of notifications under the provisions of Article 18.6 of the Agreement. A total of 
54 implementation -related issues were raised by 13 Members during 2018. Out of the se, 36 issues  
were discussed for the first time in 201 8. 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.  
1.7.  In response to the observed steady increa se over the last years in the number of outstanding 
responses to questions raised during the Review, the chairperson requested that the Secretariat 
circulate  a list of outstanding responses under the CoA review process from 2012 till 2017.4 The 
chair encou raged Members to submit their response at their earliest convenience. Members 
responded by submitting 11 responses , which represented  a 15% improvement in  outstanding 
responses for that period.  
                                                
1 The summary reports of these meetings are contained in documents G/AG/R/8 7, G/AG/R/8 8, 
G/AG/R/8 9 and G/AG/R/90  (to be issued).  
2 See G/AG/W/172, G/AG/W/178, G/AG/W/178/Corr.1 , G/AG/W/184 , G/AG/W/190  and 
G/AG/W/190/Corr.1 . 
3 G/AG/W/174, G/AG/W/188 and G/AG/W/189.  
4 G/AG/W/177 and G/AG/W/177/Rev.1 . G/L/1283  
 
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  1.8.  At each meeting the Committee reviewed the status of Members'  compliance with their 
notification obligations under the Agreement. A document summarizing the status of compliance 
with notification requirements was circulated at each Committee meeting.5 While a significant 
proportion of notifications are still outstanding (about 26% of all notifications from 1995 -2016), 
Members continue to make efforts to bring their notification record up to date by submitting 
notifications covering multiple reporting p eriods.  
1.9.  With respect to the work of the Committee related specifically to NFIDCs, the WTO list of 
NFIDCs6 remained unchanged. The Committee discussed f ollow-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) twice in 2018, in the February and November 
meetings, because the NFIDC follow -up discussion which was expected to take place in 2017 was 
postponed to February 2018. Under the follow -up to the NFIDC Decisions , Members continued to 
reflect on the international food aid review process mandated by the Nairobi Decision  on Export 
Competition in its paragraph 32.7  
1.10.   The Committee maintained a standing item on its agenda relating to im plementation issues, 
both in the framework of its follow -up to the Decision by the Doha Ministerial Conference on 
Implementation -Related Issues and Concerns8, as well as in the framework of issues and proposals 
referred to it by the General Council. No Mem ber comm ented under this agenda item in 2018 
meetings.  
1.11.   The Committee also discussed follow -up to the Ministerial Outcomes, specifically 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 Nairobi Ministerial Decision on 
Export Competition. No information was provided by Members in the context of the monitoring 
foreseen under the Bali Decision on Public Stockholding for Food Security pu rposes.  
1.12.   Review of the Bali Decision on TRQ administration called for in that Decision.9 According to 
that Decision, the objective of the review is to promote a continuing process of improvement in the 
utilization of tariff rate quotas and the General Council shall take decisions on the  recommendations 
arising from  the review no later than 31 December 2019. The review was conducted through 
open-ended informal meetings of the Committee as per the agreed process and timelines.10 Written 
submiss ions from Australia11, the Cairns Group12 and the EU13 were circulated to assist discussions 
related to the review. The Secretariat circulated a background document on TRQ administration and 
fill rates to assist the review discussions.14 Members had principall y identified the following themes 
in the review discussions: the need for effective implementation and follow -up of the substantive 
obligations arising out of the Bali TRQ Decision, the need to have timely and complete 
TRQ notifications, including consiste nt reporting of fill -rates; and the need to have a better 
appreciation of the causes of TRQ unde rfill and to have recourse to the  underfill mechanism to 
address cases of chronic underfill.  Members expressed differing views on  possible modification to  
the D ecision that would provide for a uniform application of the underfill mechanism by all Members . 
To promote sharing of experiences on these issues , Members had thematic discussions on 
TRQ administration and underfill at the informal committee meeting in November where industry 
representatives shared their perspective and experience of TRQ administration .   
1.13.   The follow -up to the Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Export Competition covered three  main 
items: the annual dedicated discussion, Members' update on their efforts to modify export subsidy 
schedules and the first triennial Review of the Nairobi Decision. The dedicated discussion on export 
competition occurred during the June 2018 meeting. The discussions were held on the basis of the 
Secretariat's background document. Following the meeting, a revised background document 
                                                
5 G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.30, G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.31, G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.32 and G/AG/GEN/86/Rev.33.  
6 G/AG/5/Rev.10.  
7 WT/MIN(15)/45, para. 32.  
8 WT/MIN(01)/17, para. 2. 
9 WT/MIN(13)/39, para. 13. 
10 G/AG/W/171  
11 G/AG/W/186.  
12 G/AG/W/179.  
13 G/AG/W/175.  
14 G/AG/W/183 and attachments . G/L/1283  
 
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  compiling all the information received by the Secretariat was circulated on 27 September 201815 
concluding this examination  process. During the Committee Members exchanged questions and 
responses on specific measures in relation to the implementation of the Nairobi Decision.16 The 
Cairns group circulated a paper as an input to the dedicated discussion.17 The paper considered the  
alignment of Members’ reported policies with the Nairobi Decision.  
1.14.   At each Committee meeting in 2018 Members provided information regarding their efforts to 
advance on the modification of their scheduled export subsidy commitments pursuant to the Nairobi  
Decision.  The situation on 28 Novem ber 2018 was as follows: out of the 16 WTO Members with 
export subsidies reduction commitments at the time of the Decision, eight Members had their 
schedule revised pursuant to the Nairobi Decision certified and two other Members had submitted 
their revised draft schedule.   
1.15.   The Nairobi Decision requires that the Committee conduct a review of the Decisions' disciplines 
every three years. The Committee held two informal meetings in 2018 to discuss this review and 
adopted th e Report of the First Triennial Review of the Ministerial Decision of 19 December 2015 on 
Export Competition  at the September 2018 meeting.18 
1.16.   The committee discussed enhancing transparency and the CoA Review process in three  
informal meetings in 2018. The C ommittee meeting discussed possible enhancements to 
the AG-IMS, the system that contains information on all agriculture notifications, as well as all 
questions and responses provided by Members during the CoA Review process. The Committee also 
discussed a proposal circulated by Norway which aimed at improving the notification compliance in 
the CoA, including through the revision of existing notification requirements and deadlines.19 
1.17.   Several database tools support the Committee's monitori ng and transparency f unctions. 
Since  2012 t he AG -IMS platform has facilitated Member submission of questions and responses in 
the context of the Committee's monitoring of implementation of commitments. A new on -line 
function  for agriculture notifications has been developed and  Members will be able to submit 
notifications through this system beginning in 201 9.  
1.18.   The WTO's Agriculture and Commodities Division delivered the ninth Geneva -based workshop 
on agriculture notifications from 24 -27 April. It was organized 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 25 participants from developing country capitals were funded by 
the WTO. The workshop included pr actical exercises related to the review process of the Committee 
on Agriculture and hands -on training on the Agriculture Information Management System (AG -IMS). 
Participants were able to practice the preparation of notifications using the new function for the 
online submission of notifications which is set to go live by the beginning of  2019. As in previous 
activities, the last day of the 2018 workshop was devoted to individual sessions with AGCD staff, 
offering participants the opportunity to consult on un fulfilled notification obligations.  
1.19.   Additionally, t here w ere ten more technical assistance activities carried out in 2018  covering 
the Agreement on Agriculture, including four regional seminars for Arab and Middle East countries, 
the Caribbean, French -speaking Africa and Asia and Pacific; and six national workshops  carried out 
in Bahamas, Bolivia (Plurinational State of ), Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru  and Saint Vincent 
and the Grenadines . Three of these workshops focused specifically on Agriculture not ifications. T he 
Chair reminded Members that they could approach the Secretariat for technical assistance , including 
to request national w orkshop s in their capital to improve the ir notification s.   
                                                
15 G/AG/W/125/Rev.9, G/AG/W/125/Rev.9/Add.1 - G/AG/W/125/Rev.9/Add.4 and 
G/AG/W/125/Rev.9/Add.2/Corr.1.  
16 G/AG/W/1 82. 
17 G/AG/W/180 and G/AG/W/180/Add.1 . 
18 G/AG/28.  
19 G/AG/W/185.  G/L/1283  
 
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  1.20.   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 Programme, and the World B ank. The renewal of ad hoc 
observer status for the Inter -American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA)  for 2019  was 
agreed by the Committee at its  November meeting.  
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