WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/894 
9 October 2009 
 (09-4923) 
  
 
 
 
REPORT (2009) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE (REGULAR SESSION)  
 
Report by the Chairperson  
 
 
 The present report on the regular meetings of the Committee on Agriculture held in 2009 is 
submitted on the responsibility of the Chairperson, Ms . Valeria Csukasi of Uruguay, as agreed by the 
Committee at its meeting on 24 September 2009.  
_______________ 
 
 
1. The Committee on Agriculture held three regular meetings on 12 March, 2 July and 
24 September 2009.
1  A further regular meeting is scheduled for 19 November 2009. 
2. In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agreemen t on Agriculture ("the Agreement"), at each 
of its meetings, the Committee reviewed progress in the implementation of Members' commitments.  
This Review Process was undertaken on the basis of notifications submitted by Members in the areas 
of market access, domestic support and export competiti on.  In total, 169 notifications were subject to 
review.  At each of its meetings, the Committee also reviewed the overall position with respect to 
Members' compliance with their notification ob ligations under Article 18. 2 and other relevant 
provisions of the Agreement.  Specific concerns we re raised regarding the outstanding notifications 
that a number of Members have yet to submit to the Committee.2  As requested by the Committee at 
its September meeting, a document showing the cu rrent status of compliance with notification 
requirements was circulated as G/AG/GEN/86. 
3. In light of the significant number of overdue no tifications, and spurred by the request by the 
Chairman of the General Council to the Chairpers ons of all WTO Councils an d Committees to consult 
on ways to improve the timeliness and completeness  of notifications and other information flows on 
trade measures, the Committee on Agriculture intensif ied its notification-related work, in both formal 
and informal mode.  
4. As a first step, a questionnaire-based surv ey was conducted to better understand the 
difficulties Members faced in preparing, submitti ng and analyzing notifications and to identify 
possible solutions to address them.3  Following the release of the survey results4, the Committee 
considered a Work Programme elaborated by the Secretariat with a view to setting out possible 
elements for action/discussion on practical so lutions to the problems identified.   
                                                      
1 The summary reports of these meetings are cont ained in documents G/AG/R/54, 55 and 56 (to be 
issued). 
2  See, for example, paragraphs 50-70 of G/AG/R/54. 
3  G/AG/GEN/83 refers. 
4  G/AG/GEN/85 refers. G/L/894 
Page 2  
 
  5. As part of this Work Programme, the Comm ittee focused on priority items, such as:  
(a) technical assistance and training activities with a view to enhancing institutional 
capacity to prepare and analyze notifications .  In this context, the Agriculture and 
Commodities Division organized a Workshop on Agriculture Notifications. This event was held in Geneva, from 22 to 24 September 2009, back-to-back with the 56
th 
regular session of the Committee on Agriculture with a view to enabling Members to 
fulfill their notification obligations.  The sessions, some of which were attended by 
over 200 capital- and Geneva-based participan ts, focussed on agriculture notification 
requirements and formats and the availability of existing tools.  Members were given 
an opportunity to share their own experiences in preparing and analyzing notifications 
as well as in participating in the Review Process;  and 
(b) improved access to Committee-related documentation, notably through the electronic 
dissemination of notifications, circulation of  some of the room documents as official 
and unrestricted WTO documents, and the redesigning of the public and Members' web sites. 
6. The Committee also addressed a wide range of general and specific matters relevant to the 
implementation of commitments that were raised independently of notifications under the provisions 
of Article 18.6 of the Agreement.   
7. Pursuant to Article 18.5 of the Agreement, th e Committee will hold its annual consultation on 
Members' participation in the normal growth of world trade in agricultural products within the 
framework of the export subsidy disciplines during the forthcoming November 2009 meeting.   
8. The follow-up to the Decision on Measures C oncerning the Possible Negative Effects of the 
Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net Food-Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs) 
will be monitored by the Committee at its forthcoming November meeting.  As is customary, that monitoring exercise will be undertaken on the basis of, inter alia , Table NF:1 notifications by donor 
Members, contributions by the observer organizati ons, as well as a background note to be prepared by 
the Secretariat.  The WTO list of NFIDCs
5 remained unchanged as no new application has been 
received since 2005.  In this regard, the delegation of  Swaziland indicated that it was in the process of 
collating the statistical data necessary to be consid ered for inclusion in the WTO list of NFIDCs and 
that it intended to submit these data for Members' consideration in 2010.6 
9. The Committee maintained a standing item on its agenda relating to implementation issues, 
both in the framework of its follow-up to the Decision by the Doha Ministerial Conference on 
Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns7, as well as in the framework of issues and proposals 
referred to it by the General Council.8  Further to formal and informal consultations, a Compendium of 
Documents on Implementation-Related Issues  was circulated on 16 March 2009.  The Compendium 
consolidates information with resp ect to the work in the area of implementation and will be updated 
as may be required.9 
                                                      
5  G/AG/5/Rev.8 refers. 
6  Paragraph 3 of G/AG/3 refers. 
7  Paragraph 2 of WT/MIN(01)/17 refers. 
8  G/AG/16, G/AG/16/Add.1 and G/AG/22 refer. 
9  G/AG/W/70, Add.1 and Add.2 refer.  G/L/894 
 Page 3 
 
 
  10. On 24 September 2009, the Committee held its  eighth Transitional Review under paragraph 
18 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of China10, as well as the multilateral 
review of the implementation of Korea's minimum market access commitments for rice under paragraph 2 of Schedule LX – Republic of Korea.
11 
11. The following international intergovernmental or ganizations have regular observer status in 
the Committee:  the FAO, the IM F, the International Grains Council, the OECD, UNCTAD, the 
World Food Programme and the World Bank.  At pr esent, no consensus has be en reached as regards 
requests for observer status by twelve other international intergovernmental organizations.12  
12. The Committee adopted the following schedule for the Committee's regular meetings in 2010: 
11-12 March, 10-11 June, 16-17 Se ptember and 18-19 November. 
 
__________  
                                                      
10 G/AG/26  refers. 
11 The results of the negotiations held by Korea with  interested Members pursuant to paragraph 8 of 
Annex 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture were notified in G/MA/TAR/RS/98 and subsequently certified by the Director General  (see WT/Let/492 and WT/Let/504).  See also the report by Korea to the Committee on 
Agriculture in document G/AG/W/71. 
12 G/AG/W/29/Rev.6 refers.