G/AG/W/175  
 
18 May 2018  
(18-2981) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Agriculture  Original: English  
 
EUROPEAN UNION  SUBMISSION TO COMMIT TEE ON AGRICULTURE O N THE PROCESS  
FOR THE REVIEW OF TH E OPERATION OF THE B ALI DECISION  
ON TARIFF RATE QUOTA  ADMINISTRATION1 
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE EUROPEAN UNION  
The following submission, dated 16 May 2018, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of the European Union . 
 
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1.1.  Following the Committee on Agriculture's meeting of February 2018 where the process for 
the Review was adopted, the European Union  would like to make the following comments and 
suggestions on issues  related to the Review of the Bali Decision on Tariff Rate Quota  (TRQ) 
Administration.  
1.2.  In its document G/AG/W/169 of 10 October 2017 on the monitoring and review of 
Members'  obligations established under the Bali Decision on TRQ  administration, the 
WTO Secretariat presented the list of Members with TRQ commitments and with the related fill 
rates. Some Members have not notified fill rates especially those with o utstanding notif ications. 
The European Union  expects these Members to fulfil their obligations rapidly, including by notifying 
fill rates, so contributing to a comprehensive review of the Bali Decision.  
1.3.  The paper also takes stock of Members' questions raised in the Commit tee's meetings since 
the Bali Ministerial on TRQ fill rates. While the paper shows Members' continuing interest in raising 
questions, it also points out that so far no Member has invoked the specific "underfill" mechanism 
set out in Annex  A to the Bali Dec ision. This did not change in the February 2018 Committee 
meeting.  
1.4.  This could indicate that Members are content with each other's TRQ management methods or 
that Members having real concerns prefer other means to address them. One serious weakness of 
the "u nderfill" mechanism is that it does not apply to all Members2 and not all Members have the 
same obligations3, therefore greatly diminishing its potential effectiveness. Hence, the 
EU considers that making the Bali underfill mechanism applicable to all Memb ers is important.  
1.5.  The stated objective of the review is " to promote a continuing process of improvement in the 
utilisation of tariff rate quotas "4. The EU considers that this objective must not be confused with 
Market Access negotiations that are conducte d in another forum. Therefore, the scope of the 
Review needs to be limited to the management of TRQs.  
1.6.  On the issue of harmonisation of notifications, the EU notes that Members have different 
approaches when it comes to notifying fill rates for TRQs that ar e not opened because better 
market access conditions are granted elsewhere, e.g. through an applied duty less than the bound 
in-quota duty. Also, when additional TRQ volumes are opened autonomously, some Members 
                                               
1 Document G/AG/W/171 of 9 February 2018.  
2 See Annex B of the Understanding On Tariff Rate Quota Administration Provisions Agricultural Products 
(WT/MIN(13)/39 ). 
3 Excerpt from §4 of Annex A of the Understanding: " Developing country Members may choose an 
alternative tariff quota administration method or maintain the current method in place ". 
4 Excerpt from §13 of the Understanding . G/AG/W/175  
 
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  notify a 100% fill rate whilst others indica ting a fill rate above 100%. This is purely technical in its 
essence and per se does not impede the review of Members commitments. However, from a point 
of view of facilitating comparison between notifications, the EU would welcome guidelines aimed at 
harmonising notifications.  
1.7.  The Understanding makes a clear link between the Agreement on Agriculture and the 
Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures, thus questioning whether any potential synergy on 
notifications under the two Agreements is possible. The EU would be willing to look further at any 
such potential synergy. One key element is that redundant or double notifications under both 
Agreements could be avoided.  
 
 
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