JOB/AG/138  
 
11 July 2018  
(18-4362) Page: 1/15 
Committee on Agriculture  
Special Session  Original: English  
 
DOMESTIC SUPPORT IN THE WTO AGREEMENT ON  AGRICULTURE (A OA) 
SUBMISSION FROM CANADA, ARGENTINA , AUSTRALIA , BRAZIL, GUATEMALA,  
NEW ZEALAND, PARAGUA Y, PERU  AND URUGUAY  
The following submission , dated 5 July 2018 , is being circulated at the request of the 
aforementioned Cairns Group Members . 
 
 
_______________  
 
 
1  ADDRESSING DOMESTIC SUPPORT  
1.1.  Global agriculture trade patterns have changed significantly since the launch of the Doha 
Round in 2001.  In the view of many Me mbers, the negotiation of new rules should reflect this 
current situation.  In regard to agriculture domestic support, updated analysis with recent data  can 
help illustrate how distorting domestic support has evolved since 2001 and to inform discussions 
on how disciplines in the AoA should be strengthened  to reflect the current trade reality and 
trends.  This paper aims to contribute to a detailed technical discussion on domestic support by 
reviewing the domestic support categories  in the AoA article by artic le. Specifically , the analysis 
addresses the following questions:  
1) How does Article 6 of the AoA treat and account for domestic support provided by 
Members?  
2) How has support under Article 6 and the Green Box evolved since 2001?  
3) How does Annex 2 of the AoA  (i.e. the Green Box) account for domestic support provided 
by Members?  
1.2.  The analysis in this paper is a first step in examining the existing agriculture domestic 
support categories in the AoA.  A detailed analysis of each domestic support provision to enhan ce 
Members ' understanding is timely, and could inform  the development  of new and effective rules on 
domestic support.  
2  METHODOLOGY  
2.1.  The analysis presented in this paper uses Members ' domestic support notifications from 2001 
to 2014 for selected WTO Members t hat are significant agriculture exporters, importers, or 
producers.  To allow for ease of comparison across this group of Members, notified amounts were 
converted into nominal US dollars.  Value of production (VoP) data is used to provide a comparison 
of sup port relative to the size of Member 's agriculture sector.  Where a Member notified VoP data, 
this was used in the analysis, otherwise VoP data was sourced from the Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO).  
2.2.  One limitation in this analysis is that not all of t he sample group of Members are up to date in 
their domestic support notifications.  Members are encouraged to ensure their notification 
obligations are met on time and are up -to-date. This will help advance our collective understanding 
of the current situat ion with respect to domestic support, and help inform our ongoing 
negotiations.  JOB/AG/138   
 
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  3  PRELIMINARY OBSERVAT IONS  
3.1  Article 6  - Domestic Support Trends  
3.1.  The amount of trade and production distorting domestic support under Article 6 of the AoA  
for some large traders and producers relative to their respective VoP is increasing.  This is the case 
for Members such as China, India, Indonesia and the Russian Federation.  
3.2.  Trade and production distorting support under Article 6 of the AoA relative to VoP is 
decreasing for another group of large traders.  This is the case for Brazil, Canada, the European 
Union (EU) and the United States (US).  
3.3.  Since 2001, in nominal terms, several developing Members such as India, China, Indonesia 
and Brazil recorded large increases in spending in this category, while developed Members such as 
the U S and the EU have significantly reduced their use.  
3.4.  The list of the main users of Article 6 has significantly evolved since 2001. In 2001, the top 
five users were, in order, the EU, the US, India, Japan and Norway. In 2010, the top five largest 
users were, in order, India, China, the EU, Japan and the U S. 
3.2  Article 6.2  - Investment Subsidies or Input Subsidies  
3.5.  While 124 Members  are eligible to provide support under A rticle 6.2, since  2001, only 
52 Members have notified Article 6.2 support.  
3.6.  The total amount of notified Article 6.2 support has increased significantly since 2001, 
however, much of this support is concentrated to only a few Members. While the nominal amount 
of Article 6.2  support has bee n steadily increasing for most M embers covered  in this analysis, as a 
percentage of  VoP it has remained relatively stable.   
3.3  Article 6.3  - Final Bound Total AMS (FBTAMS) and Current Total AMS  (CTAMS)  
3.7.  In general, the level of applied support (i.e. Current Total A ggregate Measurement of 
Support  (AMS)) notified has been declining since 2001. This has generally resulted in increased 
"water " between Current Total AMS notified and Members ' Final Bound Total AMS (FBTAMS) 
Commitment in their schedule s. 
3.8.  For some Members, such as the EU and US, the notified level of Current Total AMS has 
remained relatively constant since 2010.  
3.9.  For some Members, such as Argentina, Japan and Norway, the amount of notified Current 
Total AMS has been relatively unchanged s ince 2001.  
3.4  Article 6.4 - De minimis  
3.10.   Overall, de minimis  support has increased in nominal terms and these entitlements continue 
to increase for most Members as the VoP increases, however, de minimis  support as a percentage 
of the VoP has remained relatively stable since 2001 and generally remains well below de minimis  
levels permitted under the AoA or in acceding Members Protocols of Accession. More analysis is 
needed to determine  if this is the case for product specific  de minimis . Product specific de minimis  
support has significantly increased for some large traders since 2001 such as, China, the E U, 
India, the Russian Federation and  the US. 
3.11.   Non-product specific de minimis  support has increased since 2001 for Brazil, Canada, China, 
the EU, Japan and the Russia n Federation . JOB/AG/138   
 
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  3.5  Article 6.5 - Production -Limiting Programmes (Blue Box)  
3.12.   Blue Box support has been provided by a few Members, with significant amounts of nominal 
Blue Box support being  provided by the EU, Japan and Norway. Nonethele ss, overall Blue Box 
support in both nominal and percentage terms have been decreasing over time.   
3.6  Annex 2 - Green Box  
3.13.   Domestic support notified under Annex 2 of the AoA (Green Box) has increased since 2001 
for some large traders and producers including th e EU, the US, China and India.  
3.14.   The type of Green Box support provided varies by Member.  Depending on the Member , 
support is focused on General Services (e.g. Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan) , 
direct payments (e.g. EU, Mexico and Norway), domestic food aid, (e.g. US, Indonesia), or public 
stockholding (e.g. India) . 
3.15.   Except for China and Japan, all Members in the analysis reported an increase in Green Box 
support relative to their V oP between 200 1 and 2010. However, since 2010  support in Green Box 
relative to VoP has generally been decreasing.  
4  ARTICLE 6 AND A NNEX 2 OF THE AOA AN D CURRENT TRENDS IN LEVELS OF SUPPORT  
4.1.  Article 6 of the AoA outlines all types of domestic support that do not meet the cr iteria of 
Annex 2, AoA (i.e. Green Box).  This includes distorting forms of support that are limited, as well as 
others that are exempted from any quantitative limit.  Some Members are limited in the amount of 
AMS that is fixed in monetary terms in Members ' schedules and referred to in Article 6.3 of the 
AoA, and the majority of Members are limited in the amount of distorting support they can provide 
relative to a Members VoP (i.e. de minimis  support outlined in Article  6.4). Some distorting support 
that woul d otherwise be included in the calculation of current total AMS commitment, is exempt 
from these limits if certain criteria are met (e.g. Article  6.2 program mes or production -limiting 
support in Article 6.5 "Blue Box ").  
4.2.  Tables 1 and 2 below show  a selecti on of WTO Members1 notified Article 6 support 
between  2001 and 2014.  Table 1 shows nominal support converted to US dollars and Table 2 
shows support  as a percentage of VoP.   
                                                
1 This group of M embers is either in the top 10 in global agriculture exports or imports (or both) in 2016 
according to the World Trade Statistical Review for 2017.   
  JOB/AG/138  
 
- 4 - Table 1 - Article 6 Support in Millions of USD  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  48 63 76 74 75 79 80 82 96 109 115 104 93 N/A 
Australia  166 127 137 161 169 159 297 136 47 77 251 284 215 307 
Brazil  1,307  1,408  1,813  1,524  2,005  2,415  2,891  3,638  3,241  5,131  5,381  3,648  3,500  4,545  
Canada  1,990  2,440  2,145  2,448  2,158  1,962  2,876  3,231  2,639  3,017  3,100  2,989  2,662  1,945  
China  307 182 314 745 568 2,046  5,552  13,762  15,896  18,170  N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  57,225  52,013  65,038  75,112  53,628  42,880  27,249  26,703  23,942  14,382  15,073  13,406  14,122  15,064  
India  8,254  7,341  9,026  10,690  12,318  15,536  22,744  32,760  31,588  33,892  28,502  27,568  25,257  27,880  
Indonesia  0 0 93 140 276 360 737 1,667  1,918  2,265  1,874  N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  6,500  6,860  6,426  6,625  6,350  5,838  4,791  6,830  8,119  11,112  11,414  12,334  9,837  8,512  
Mexico  1,217  4,557  1,333  1,293  1,491  1,682  1,787  2,524  2,019  2,592  2,737  2,058  2,337  2,220  
Norway  2,005  2,252  2,569  2,694  2,338  2,297  2,447  2,787  2,320  2,365  2,614  2,670  2,574  2,428  
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 6,902  6,892  5,008  
United States  21,534  16,328  10,187  18,087  18,923  11,343  8,520  15,637  12,202  10,113  14,398  15,016  14,268  13,598  
 
Table 2 - Article 6 Support  as a Percent age of VoP 
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  0.2 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 N/A 
Australia  0.8 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.6 
Brazil  3.4 3.8 4.0 2.8 3.9 4.2 3.9 3.8 3.9 5.0 4.6 3.6 2.0 2.5 
Canada  9.0 11.5 9.1 9.7 7.8 6.2 7.3 7.4 7.3 6.8 6.1 5.4 4.8 3.8 
China  0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.4 1.0 1.8 2.0 2.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  22.0 19.6 20.5 20.6 15.1 11.6 6.1 5.3 5.7 3.3 2.9 2.8 2.8 3.0 
India  8.1 7.5 7.7 8.0 8.1 8.9 9.2 13.1 12.9 10.2 7.6 7.6 7.7 7.9 
Indonesia  0.0 0.0 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.7 1.2 2.3 2.6 2.3 1.3 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  8.9 9.6 8.4 8.2 8.2 8.2 6.7 8.1 9.2 11.7 10.8 11.3 11.1 10.5 
Mexico  3.6 14.0 4.2 3.8 4.3 4.4 4.2 5.2 5.1 5.6 5.5 3.9 4.2 3.8 
Norway  82.5 81.3 80.7 81.4 66.0 63.9 59.2 61.5 56.3 53.0 53.7 53.2 50.2 46.6 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 6.4 5.9 4.4 
United States  10.8 8.4 4.7 7.7 8.0 4.6 2.8 4.9 4.3 3.0 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.4 JOB/AG/138   
 
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  4.1  Article 6.2 of the AoA  
4.3.  Article 6.2 in the AoA, sometimes referred to as the "Development Box", allows most 
developing country Members2 to exempt certain types of domestic support that would otherwise be 
included in the calculation of a Member 's Current Total AMS.  There is no limit on the amount of 
Article 6.2 support, provided the support meets  one of the following criteria:  
 Certain investment subsidies , that are  generally available to agriculture . 
 Certain input subsidies , that are  generally available to low -income or resource -poor 
producers . 
 Support for diversification from illicit narcotic crops . 
 
4.4.  The majority of developing country Memb ers have not notified support under Article 6.2.  
Fifty-two (52) developing country Members have notified domestic support under Article 6.2 for at 
least one year between 2001 and 2014.  
 
 
                                                
2 As part of its Protocol of Accession, China could provide support through government measures of the 
types described in Article 6.2, the amount of such support would be included in China's calculation of its 
Aggre gate Measurement of Support ("AMS"). A similar provision was maintained in Kazakhstan' s Protocol of 
Accession regarding support provided under Article 6.2.   
  JOB/AG/138  
 
- 6 - Table 3 - Article 6.2 S upport  in Millions of USD  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Brazil  332 393 495 394 626 765 643 900 871 1,651  1,739  1,040  1,070  1,875  
Colombia  54 31 35 72 50 88 194 366 318 339 348 518 581 491 
Egypt  N/A N/A N/A N/A 27 36 39 39 42 44 35 52 49 50 
India  8,254  7,341  9,026  10,689  12,316  15,536  22,312  31,459  29,857  31,610  25,405  24,173  22,828  24,836  
Indonesia  0 0 93 140 276 360 737 1,667  1,918  2,265  1,874  N/A N/A N/A 
Korea, Rep. of  51 46 50 47 53 51 51 4 1 1 1 N/A N/A N/A 
Mexico  394 3,865  627 606 723 843 751 1,131  926 1,225  1,189  1,118  1,027  1,076  
Morocco  134 130 113 123 142 159 228 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
Philippines  77 57 53 51 47 51 72 107 308 162 169 247 290 284 
Sri Lanka  42 28 28 38 65 96 141 409 291 228 283 338 176 N/A 
Thailand  84 2 74 15 0 3 0 0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 1,218  
Viet Nam  - - - - - - 760 497 178 212 301 289 212 N/A 
 
Table 4  - Article 6.2 S upport  as a Percentage of VoP 
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Brazil  0.9 1.1 1.1 0.7 1.2 1.3 0.9 0.9 1.1 1.6 1.5 1.0 0.6 1.0 
Colombia  0.6 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.4 0.7 1.2 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 2.1 2.5 2.0 
Egypt  N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 
India  8.1 7.5 7.7 8.0 8.1 8.9 9.0 12.5 12.2 9.6 6.8 6.7 6.9 7.1 
Indonesia  0.0 0.0 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.7 1.2 2.3 2.6 2.3 1.3 N/A N/A N/A 
Korea, Rep. of  0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 N/A N/A N/A 
Mexico  1.2 11.9 2.0 1.8 2.1 2.2 1.7 2.3 2.4 2.7 2.4 2.1 1.8 1.8 
Morocco  2.5 2.1 1.4 1.4 1.7 1.5 2.1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
Philippines  0.7 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 1.3 0.6 0.5 0.8 0.9 0.8 
Sri Lanka  2.9 1.7 1.8 2.4 3.4 4.8 6.2 11.5 9.2 6.1 7.1 9.3 4.0 N/A 
Thailand  0.7 0.0 0.5 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 2.9 
Viet Nam  - - - - - - 4.2 2.4 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.6 N/A 
 
 
4.2  Article 6.3 and Members WTO Schedules  - Final Bound Total Aggregate Measurement of Support (FBTAMS)  
4.5.  Thirty -two (32) Members have a FBTAMS commitment greater than zero in their WTO Schedules. This includes 15  developed and 17 developing Members 
with the FBTAMS ranging from USD 0.4 million to USD 105 billion. In order to comply with Article 6.3, a Member 's Current Total AMS (i.e. actual applied 
support) must be equal to or lower than the scheduled FBTAMS commit ment.   
  JOB/AG/138  
 
- 7 - Table 5 - Current T otal AMS in Millions of USD  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  48 63 76 74 75 75 75 74 74 74 74 72 74 N/A 
Australia  160 116 135 152 158 156 173 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Brazil  0 0 0 0 117 0 342 520 293 269 214 8 0 0 
Canada  1,838  2,198  1,260  1,044  655 526 787 1,578  1,220  478 528 837 485 534 
Colombia  0 9 0 0 31 18 25 18 25 26 0 32 20 20 
European Union  35,249  26,914  34,864  38,758  35,352  33,410  16,909  17,278  15,119  8,611  9,535  7,580  7,929  8,813  
Japan  5,486  5,822  5,536  5,618  5,383  4,911  3,540  5,035  6,036  6,572  7,006  7,631  6,079  5,669  
Mexico  520 342 301 232 458 151 324 328 334 379 386 188 354 115 
Norway  1,190  1,303  1,530  1,582  1,696  1,679  1,781  2,049  1,627  1,596  1,756  1,801  1,681  1,551  
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 5,800  65 53 
United States  14,482  9,637  6,950  11,629  12,943  7,742  6,260  9,183  6,548  5,161  7,067  6,860  6,892  3,810  
 
Table 6 - Percent age of FBTAMS Commitment Used 
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  61 82 100 99 100 100 100 99 99 99 99 97 99 N/A 
Australia  65 45 44 44 44 44 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Brazil  0 0 0 0 13 0 37 57 32 29 23 1 0 0 
Canada  66 80 41 32 18 14 20 39 32 11 12 19 12 14 
Colombia  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
European Union  55 40 43 43 39 37 17 16 15 9 9 8 8 9 
Japan  17 18 16 15 15 14 10 13 14 15 14 15 15 15 
Mexico  19 13 13 10 20 7 14 15 18 19 19 10 18 6 
Norway  93 91 95 93 95 94 91 101 89 84 86 91 86 85 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 64 1 1 
United States  76 50 36 61 68 41 33 48 34 27 37 36 36 20 
 
4.3  Article 6.4  - De minimis  
4.6.  For the majority of Members, the amount of AMS support they can provide is limited by their de minimis  entitlement. Amounts of domestic support that 
do not exceed a given percentage of a product 's total VoP, or where total non -product specific support does  not exceed the agriculture sector 's total VoP , are 
exempt from a Member 's Current Total AMS. The de minimis percentage for developed country Members is 5 % while developing country Members generally 
have a 10 % de minimis . A small number of Members that acceded to the WTO since it was established have a de minimis  percentage of 8.5 %. 
  
   JOB/AG/138  
 
- 8 - Table 7 - Total de minimis  Support i n Millions of USD  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  0 0 0 0 0 4 5 7 22 35 41 32 19 N/A 
Australia  6 11 2 9 11 3 124 136 47 77 251 284 215 307 
Brazil  976 1,015  1,319  1,129  1,262  1,651  1,906  2,217  2,078  3,211  3,428  2,601  2,430  2,669  
Canada  152 242 884 1,405  1,502  1,436  2,089  1,653  1,418  2,540  2,572  2,152  2,177  1,411  
China  307 182 314 745 568 2,046  5,552  13,762  15,896  18,170  N/A N/A N/A N/A 
Colombia  35 67 23 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 
European Union  746 1,827  2,205  2,535  1,556  2,324  3,270  1,591  1,428  1,610  1,394  2,288  2,657  2,432  
India  0 0 0 1 2 0 433 1,301  1,730  2,282  3,097  3,395  2,429  3,044  
Indonesia  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  264 348 302 381 375 324 890 1,481  1,850  1,045  2,487  2,757  2,160  2,138  
Mexico  303 351 405 454 309 688 712 1,065  758 988 1,161  752 955 1,029  
Norway  4 7    0 9 34 27 30 33 35 42 61 54 64 66 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 1,102  6,827  4,955  
United States  7,052  6,690  3,237  6,458  5,980  3,601  2,260  6,453  5,654  4,952  7,331  8,156  7,376  9,788  
 
Table 8 - Total Product -Specific de minimis  Support in Millions of USD  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  0 0 0 0 0 4 5 7 22 35 41 32 19 N/A 
Australia  6 10 2 9 10 3 3 1 0 0 13 1 1 0 
Brazil  236 212 250 279 69 308 436 90 170 682 582 237 321 400 
Canada  152 242 75 136 287 301 323 87 53 364 354 131 243 144 
China  216 154 159 507 300 171 1,509  2,413  2,850  3,744  N/A N/A N/A N/A 
Colombia  35 67 23 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 
European Union  232 945 1,017  1,186  238 559 2,104  482 597 682 434 1,267  1,401  1,151  
India  0 0 0 1 2 0 433 1,301  1,730  2,282  2,765  2,973  2,050  2,678  
Indonesia  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  99 185 146 224 210 161 189 149 145 296 199 274 224 175 
Mexico  302 340 392 436 302 676 699 1,026  708 928 997 671 716 822 
Norway  - 10 5 17 10 8 11 11 12 18 34 31 35 41 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 1,102  1,372  1,074  
United States  224 1,590  436 680 118 171 237 2,874  4,405  4,069  5,549  7,846  7,103  4,256   
   JOB/AG/138  
 
- 9 - Table 9 - Total de minimis  Support as a Percentage of VoP 
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 N/A 
Australia  0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.6 
Brazil  2.5 2.7 2.9 2.1 2.5 2.9 2.6 2.3 2.5 3.1 3.0 2.6 1.4 1.5 
Canada  0.7 1.1 3.7 5.5 5.4 4.6 5.3 3.8 3.9 5.7 5.0 3.9 3.9 2.7 
China  0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.4 1.0 1.8 2.0 2.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A 
Colombia  0.4 0.8 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
European Union  0.3 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.5 
India  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.5 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.7 0.9 
Indonesia  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.2 1.8 2.1 1.1 2.3 2.5 2.4 2.6 
Mexico  0.9 1.1 1.3 1.3 0.9 1.8 1.7 2.2 1.9 2.2 2.3 1.4 1.7 1.8 
Norway  0.1 0.2 0.0 0.3 1.0 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.9 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.3 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 1.0 5.9 4.4 
United States  3.6 3.4 1.5 2.7 2.5 1.5 0.7 2.0 2.0 1.5 1.9 2.1 1.9 2.4 
 
Table 10 - Total Amber Box Support in Millions of USD  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  48 63 76 74 75 79 80 82 96 109 115 104 93 N/A 
Australia  166 127 137 161 169 159 297 136 47 77 251 284 215 307 
Brazil  976 1,015  1,319  1,129  1,379  1,651  2,248  2,737  2,371  3,480  3,642  2,609  2,430  2,669  
Canada  1,990  2,441  2,145  2,448  2,158  1,962  2,876  3,231  2,639  3,017  3,100  2,989  2,662  1,945  
China  307 182 314 745 568 2,046  5,552  13,762  15,896  18,170  N/A N/A N/A N/A 
Colombia  35 76 23 32 31 18 25 18 25 26 5 32 20 20 
European Union  35,995  28,742  37,069  41,293  36,908  35,734  20,178  18,870  16,547  10,221  10,929  9,867  10,585  11,244  
India  0 0 0 1 2 0 433 1,301  1,730  2,282  3,097  3,395  2,429  3,044  
Indonesia  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  5,750  6,170  5,838  5,999  5,758  5,236  4,430  6,516  7,886  7,617  9,493  10,388  8,239  7,807  
Mexico  823 692 706 687 767 839 1,036  1,393  1,092  1,368  1,548  940 1,310  1,144  
Norway  1,190  1,309  1,530  1,591  1,730  1,706  1,812  2,081  1,662  1,638  1,817  1,854  1,745  1,617  
Russian  - - - - - - - - - - - 6,902  6,892  5,008  
United States  21,534  16,328  10,187  18,087  18,923  11,343  8,520  15,637  12,202  10,113  14,398  15,016  14,268  13,598  
 
 
 
 
 JOB/AG/138   
 
- 10 - 
 
  4.4  What types of Domestic Support are included in the Current Total AMS and 
Article  6.4 de minimis  (i.e. the Amber Box)?  
4.7.  Support included in the Current Total AMS calculation is support that does not meet the 
criteria of Annex 2 (the  Green Box) of the AoA, or trade and/or production distorting support that 
is not exempted under Article 6.2 or 6.5 of the AoA.  Common types of support that are included in 
AMS include:  
 Produc t specific market price support;  
 Non-exempt direct payments dependent on a price gap ; 
 Non-exempt direct payments based on factors of production other than price ; 
 Input subsidies ; 
 Non-product specific support, including various forms of crop/production insurance . 
4.5  Article 6.5 -  Blue Box  
4.8.  Under Article 6.5 of the AoA,  Members are able to exempt direct payments under "production 
limiting programmes " from their Current Total AMS under three specific circumstances:  
 If the payments are based on fixed production area and yields (AoA 6.5(a) i); 
 If the payments are made on 85%  or less of th e base level of 
production  AoA 6.5(a)ii);  or 
 If livestock payments are made on a fixed number of head (AoA 6.5(a)iii) . 
4.9.  Blue Box programmes differ from Amber Box programmes because they have a "quantitative 
limit" expressed either as area and yield; a base level of production; or livestock numbers.  
Production above that limit does not qualify for additional payments – hence the Agreement 
describes them as "production limiting ". 
4.10.   There is no limit on the amount of support a Member can provide und er Article 6.5. Any 
Member can provide support under the Blue Box.   
  
  JOB/AG/138  
 
- 11 - Table 11 - Blue Box in Millions of USD  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
European Union  21,231  23,271  27,969  33,819  16,720  7,146  7,071  7,834  7,395  4,161  4,144  3,539  3,537  3,819  
Iceland  0 0 0 0 0 1 8 6 4 5 5 5 5 6 
Japan  750 690 588 627 592 603 360 313 233 3,495  1,921  1,945  1,597  705 
Norway  815 943 1,040  1,103  608 592 635 706 658 727 797 815 830 811 
 
Table 12 - Blue Box as a Percentage of VoP 
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
European Union  8 9 9 9 5 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 
Iceland  0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 
Japan  1.0 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.5 0.4 0.3 3.7 1.8 1.8 1.8 0.9 
Norway  34 34 33 33 17 16 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 
 
 
 
 JOB/AG/138   
 
- 12 - 
 
  4.6  AoA Annex 2  - Green Box  
4.11.   A measure that is classified as Green Box must meet the requirement that it has no, or at 
most minimal trade or production distorting effects. As well as policy -specific criteria and 
conditions set out in Annex 2, all Green Box support must meet two criter ia:  
a. The support in question shall be provided through a publicly -funded government 
programme (including government revenue foregone) not involvin g transfers from 
consumers; and  
b. The support in question shall not have the effect of providing price support t o producers.  
4.12.   The policy -specific criteria and conditions are outlined in paragraphs 2 to 13, Annex 2 of the 
AoA, and contain the following categories:  
4.6.1   General Services  
This includes support provided for agriculture research, pest and disease control, tra ining services, 
extension and advisory services, inspection services, marketing and promotion services, and 
infrastructure services.  
 
4.6.2   Public Stockhol ding for Food Security Purposes  
This includes expenditures in relation to the accumulation and holding of s tocks that are an 
integral part of a food security programme identified in national legislation. Annex 2 stipulates that 
the accumulation of stocks shall correspond to predetermined targets, food purchases must be 
made at current market prices, and sales f rom stocks must be made at no less than current 
domestic market prices. If a Member procures stocks at administered prices, the difference 
between the acquisition price and the external reference price must be accounted for in the AMS.  
 
4.6.3   Domestic Food Aid 
4.13.   This includes expenditures (and revenue foregone) in relation to the provision of domestic 
food aid to sections of the population in need. Food purchases for domestic food aid must be made 
at current market prices.  
4.6.4   Direct Payment to Producers  
4.14.   This category includes a number of payments made to producers and must conform to the 
policy specific criteria applying to the different types of direct payments which include:  
a) Decoupled income support ; 
b) Government financial participation in income insurance a nd income s afety net 
programmes;  
c) Payments made for relief from natural disasters ; 
d) Structural adjustment assistance provided through producer retirement programmes ; 
e) Structural adjustment assistance provided though resource retirement programmes ; 
f) Structural adjustment assistance provided through investment aids ; 
g) Payments under environmental programmes ; 
h) Payments under regional assistance programmes.   
  JOB/AG/138  
 
- 13 - Table 13 - Total Green Box Support in USD Million  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  74 120 135 170 249 339 432 535 831 998 953 1,005  848 N/A 
Australia  728 1,056  1,291  1,342  1,595  1,769  2,320  1,939  1,742  1,703  1,862  1,533  1,397  1,377  
Brazil  1,462  893 820 896 1,920  2,422  2,346  3,297  3,580  4,907  4,945  4,771  6,199  4,295  
Canada  1,108  1,088  2,428  3,152  3,162  2,705  2,964  2,436  2,351  2,771  2,756  2,656  2,318  1,974  
China  29,278  30,460  31,166  37,272  37,778  44,714  60,185  85,342  69,892  78,968  N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  18,489  19,203  24,913  30,287  50,092  70,916  85,693  92,028  88,627  90,129  98,667  91,405  86,335  86,579  
India  4,002  5,237  5,883  6,183  5,907  6,493  9,567  16,927  17,381  19,479  18,695  18,741  18,362  N/A 
Indonesia  241 509 566 1,408  799 857 1,026  1,489  1,625  2,321  3,563  N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  20,957  18,145  17,996  19,356  17,386  15,498  15,984  17,776  19,754  17,349  24,745  23,523  17,035  15,133  
Mexico  2,563  2,632  2,724  2,932  3,105  3,112  3,777  3,355  3,362  3,667  4,991  4,796  5,081  5,721  
Norway  480 543 548 591 910 965 1,146  1,217  1,128  1,197  1,310  1,324  1,334  1,251  
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 1,730  2,923  2,884  
United States  50,672  58,322  64,062  67,425  72,328  76,035  76,162  86,218  100,779  118,957  125,116  127,441  133,311  124,483  
 
Table 14 - Total Green Box  Support  as a Percentage of VoP 
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  0.4 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.4 1.3 1.4 3.0 2.3 1.9 1.8 1.5 N/A 
Australia  3.5 5.8 5.3 5.0 5.4 6.4 6.3 5.5 5.4 3.8 3.8 3.1 2.8 2.8 
Brazil  3.8 2.4 1.8 1.6 3.8 4.2 3.1 3.4 4.4 4.8 4.3 4.7 3.5 2.4 
Canada  5.0 5.1 10.3 12.4 11.4 8.6 7.5 5.5 6.5 6.3 5.4 4.8 4.2 3.8 
China  10.4 10.0 9.7 9.5 8.7 9.7 10.3 11.2 8.7 8.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  7.1 7.2 7.9 8.3 14.1 19.2 19.1 18.2 21.1 20.8 19.1 19.0 17.1 17.2 
India  3.9 5.4 5.0 4.6 3.9 3.7 3.9 6.7 7.1 5.9 5.0 5.2 5.6 5.9 
Indonesia  1.2 1.9 1.8 3.8 2.0 1.7 1.7 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.4 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  28.7 25.5 23.6 24.0 22.5 21.7 22.2 21.1 22.4 18.3 23.4 21.5 19.2 18.7 
Mexico  7.6 8.1 8.5 8.5 8.9 8.1 8.8 6.9 8.5 8.0 10.0 9.1 9.0 9.8 
Norway  19.8 19.6 17.2 17.9 25.7 26.8 27.7 26.8 27.4 26.8 26.9 26.4 26.0 24.0 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 1.6 2.5 2.5 
United States  25.5 30.0 29.6 28.6 30.6 30.9 24.8 27.2 35.4 35.5 32.9 32.1 34.0 30.7  
   JOB/AG/138  
 
- 14 - Table 15 - General Services as a Percent age of Green  Box Support  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  83 84 82 84 86 82 83 68 66 66 75 66 71 N/A 
Australia  64 52 54 60 52 45 39 42 50 51 56 66 66 68 
Brazil  66 62 54 53 65 64 55 67 63 48 46 56 61 46 
Canada  80 81 44 43 48 62 65 73 72 71 76 76 78 86 
China  60 60 60 54 56 56 61 60 49 47 N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  27 26 23 23 14 12 11 11 12 12 13 12 13 14 
India  2 2 2 6 8 10 9 5 4 6 23 21 19 18 
Indonesia  2 1 2 61 6 17 15 11 14 16 40 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  82 77 77 79 76 76 68 69 66 61 74 71 66 63 
Mexico  27 27 29 28 34 34 39 29 30 32 31 31 35 27 
Norway  21 19 23 25 10 10 12 12 12 12 12 12 13 13 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 73 41 53 
United States  18 18 17 17 16 14 14 18 11 11 9 8 10 8 
 
Table 16 - Public Stockholding for F ood Security Purposes as a P ercent age of Green Box  Support  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 N/A 
Australia  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
Brazil  4.9 5.0 0.7 7.3 7.7 6.5 7.7 7.1 6.6 13.3 15.1 4.3 5.1 8.7 
Canada  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
China  24.6 21.1 21.1 13.6 14.2 14.1 11.8 9.8 14.6 14.4 N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
India  91.7 95.4 93.1 92.7 88.2 86.9 81.2 56.1 70.7 70.9 76.7 79.0 80.6 82.5 
Indonesia  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.9 13.7 13.1 4.8 8.7 11.4 6.9 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  1.7 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.3 
Mexico  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
Norway  16.6 12.5 13.6 16.8 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 12.9 0.0 0.0 
United States  0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0  
  JOB/AG/138  
 
- 15 - Table 17 - Domestic F ood Aid as a Percentage of Green Box Support  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A 
Australia  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Brazil  29 33 43 39 26 28 33 25 28 35 37 33 27 37 
Canada  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
China  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
India  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Indonesia  98 95 97 38 82 68 70 84 77 72 53 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Mexico  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 22 12 13 
Norway  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 0 0 0 
United States  67 65 66 68 70 71 71 70 78 80 82 84 82 83 
 
Table 19 - Direct Payments to Producers as a Percent age of Green Box Support  
Member  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  
Argentina  17 16 18 16 14 18 17 32 34 34 25 34 29 N/A 
Australia  36 48 46 40 48 55 61 58 50 49 44 34 34 32 
Brazil  0 0 2 1 1 1 4 1 2 4 2 6 7 9 
Canada  20 19 56 57 52 38 35 27 28 29 24 24 22 14 
China  15 19 19 33 30 30 27 30 37 39 N/A N/A N/A N/A 
European Union  71 73 76 75 85 87 88 88 87 86 86 86 86 85 
India  6 3 5 2 4 3 10 39 25 23 0 0 0 0 
Indonesia  0 4 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 N/A N/A N/A 
Japan  16 22 21 20 22 22 31 29 33 37 25 27 32 36 
Mexico  73 73 71 72 66 66 61 71 70 68 57 47 53 61 
Norway  63 69 64 58 90 90 88 88 88 87 88 87 87 87 
Russian Federation  - - - - - - - - - - - 14 59 47 
United States  15 17 17 15 14 15 14 12 10 9 9 8 8 9 
 
 
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