CELEX: 21986A0717(03)
Language: en
Date: 1986-03-13 00:00:00
Title: International Wheat Agreement, 1986: Food Aid Convention, 1986

No L 195 / 16                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                       17 . 7 . 86
                                                FOOD AID CONVENTION , 1986
                                                                PART I
                                                   OBJECTIVE AND DEFINITIONS
                            Article I                                 (e) 'grain' or 'grains' means wheat, barley, maize, millet,
                                                                             oats , rye, sorghum and rice, and any other type of grain
                           Objective                                         suitable for human consumption that the committee
                                                                             may decide , or products derived therefrom , including
The objective of this Convention is to secure , through a joint              products of secondary processing, as defined in the
effort by the international community, the achievement of                    Rules of Procedure , subject to the provisions of
the World Food Conference target of at least 10 million                      paragraph 1 of Article III ;
tonnes of food aid annually to developing countries in the            ( f) 'fob' means free on board ;
form of grain suitable for human consumption , and as
determined by the provisions of this Convention .                     (g) 'cif means cost, insurance and freight;
                                                                       ( h ) 'tonne' means 1 000 kilogrammes;
                                                                       ( i ) 'year' means the period from 1 July to 30 June , unless
                            Article II
                                                                             otherwise stated .
                           Definitions                                 2.      Any reference in this Convention to a 'Government' or
                                                                      'Governments' shall be construed as including a reference to
1.      For the purposes of this Convention :                         the European Economic Community (hereinafter referred to
                                                                       as the EEC ). Accordingly, any reference in this Convention
( a ) 'committee' means the Food Aid Committee referred to             to 'signature' or to the 'deposit of instruments of ratification ,
      in Article IX ;                                                  acceptance or approval' or 'an instrument of accession' or to
(b ) 'member' means a party to this Convention ;
                                                                       a 'declaration of provisional application' by a Government
                                                                       shall , in the case of the EEC , be construed as including
(d) 'executive director' means the Executive Director of the           signature or declaration of provisional application on behalf
      International Wheat Council ;                                    of the EEC by its competent authority, and the deposit of the
                                                                       instrument required by the institutional procedures of the
(d) 'Secretariat' means the secretariat of the International           EEC to be deposited for the conclusion of an international
      Wheat Council ;                                                  agreement .
                                                                PART II
                                                         MAIN PROVISIONS
                           Article III                                 3.      The     minimum     annual    contribution ,  in   wheat
                                                                       equivalent, of each member towards the achievement of the
                   Contributions of members                            objective of Article I is as follows :
                                                                       Member                                                     Tonnes
 1.     The members of this Convention agree to contribute                                                                       35   000
                                                                       Argentina
to developing countries grains as food aid , as defined in             Australia                                                400   000
Article II , paragraph 1 (e), suitable for human consumption           Austria                                                   20   000
and of an acceptable type and quality , or the cash equivalent         Canada                                                   600   000
thereof, in the minimum annual amounts specified in
                                                                       European Economic Community
paragraph 3 below.                                                     and its member States                                 1 670    000
                                                                       Finland                                                   25   000
 2.     To the maximum extent possible, contributions shall            Japan                                                    300   000
be made by members on a forward planning basis , so that               Norway                                                    30   000
 recipient countries may be able to take account , in their            Sweden                                                    40   000
 development programmes, of the likely flow of food aid                 Switzerland                                              27   000
 they will receive during each year of this Convention .                United States of America                             4 470    000
 Furthermore , members should , to the extent possible,
 indicate the amount of their contributions to be made in the          4.       For the purposes of the operation of this Convention ,
 form of gifts, and the grant element of any aid which is not in        any member which has acceded to this Convention pursuant
 the form of gifts.                                                     to paragraph 2 of Article XX shall be deemed to be listed
 ---pagebreak--- 17 . 7 . 86                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No L 195 / 17
in paragraph 3 of this Article together with its minimum                   (c) sales on credit , with payment to be made in reasonable
contribution as determined under the provisions of Article                       annual amounts over periods of 20 years or more and
XX .                                                                             with interest at rates which are below commercial rates
                                                                                 prevailing in world markets ( 2 );
5.       In .the case of the inability of a member to fulfil its
obligations under this Convention in any one year, the                     on the understanding that such aid shall be supplied to the
obligations of that member shall be increased in the following             maximum extent possible by way of gifts , especially in the
year by the residual amount remaining from the preceding                   case of least developed countries , low per capita income
year .
                                                                           countries and other developing countries in serious economic
                                                                           difficulties .
6.       Contributions in the form of grains shall be placed in a
fob forward position by members. However , donors are                                                   Article V
encouraged , as appropriate , to bear the costs of transporting
their grain contributions under this Convention beyond the
fob stage, especially in emergency situations or in the case                                  Channelling of contributions
of shipments to low-income , food deficit countries. Due
                                                                           1.      Members may , in respect of their contributions under
reference to the payment of such contributions shall be made
in any reviews of the performance of members under this                    this Convention , specify a recipient country or countries .
Convention .
                                                                           2.      Members may make their contributions bilaterally or
                                                                           through intergovernmental organizations and / or non­
7.       Grain purchases under paragraph 1 (a) of Article IV               governmental organizations .
shall be made from members of the Food Aid Convention
1986 , and the Wheat Trade Convention in force, with                       3.      Members shall give full consideration to the
preference accorded to developing members of both                          advantages of directing a greater proportion of food aid
Conventions , with a view to facilitating exports of, or                   through multilateral channels , in particular the World Food
processing by , developing members of both Conventions . In                Programme.
making purchases it shall be the general aim that the major
part of such purchases shall come from developing countries,
with priority being given to developing members of the Food                                             Article VI
Aid Convention . These provisions shall not , however,
exclude the purchase of grain from a developing country,                                            Wheat equivalents
not a member of this Convention or the Wheat Trade
Convention. In all purchases under this paragraph , special                1.       The committee shall establish rules of procedure for
regard shall be given to the quality, the cif price advantages             the purposes of evaluating a member's contribution shipped
and the possibilities of speedy delivery to the recipient                  in grain other than wheat, or in grain products , taking into
country and the specific requirements of the recipient                     account, where appropriate, the grain content of products
countries themselves. Cash contributions shall not normally                and the commercial value of the grain or product relative to
be used in any year to purchase grain from a country which is              wheat .
the same type of grain as that country has received as bilateral
or multilateral food aid during the same year, or during                   2.       For the purposes of evaluating a member's
previous years, if the grain so provided is still being used .             contribution , cash provided for the purchase of grain shall be
                                                                           evaluated at prevailing international market prices for
                                                                           wheat . For the purposes of this paragraph , the committee
                                                                           shall annually determine the prevailing international market
                               Article IV
                                                                           price for the following year on the basis of the average
                                                                           monthly price of wheat for the preceding calendar year . The
                  Terms of food aid contributions                          committee shall establish a rule of procedure for the
                                                                           determination of the average monthly price of wheat .
Food aid under this Convention may be supplied on any of
the following terms:                                                       3.       In determining the prevailing international market
                                                                           price under paragraph 2 of this Article , the committee shall
( a) gifts of grain or gifts of cash to be used to purchase grain          pay due consideration to any significant increase or decrease
      for the recipient country,                                           in the annual average price . A significant increase or decrease
                                                                           shall be considered to have taken place when the annual
( b) sales for the currency of the recipient country which is not          average price referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article rises
      transferable and is not convertible into currency or goods           more than 20 % above , or falls more than 20 % below , that
      and services for use by the donor member ( x );                      of the previous calendar year, respectively. In that regard , the
                                                                           prevailing international market price actually used to
( 1 ) Under exceptional circumstances an exemption of not more than        evaluate a member's contribution shall not be more than
      10 % may be granted. This limitation may be waived for               20 % above nor more than 20 % below that of the previous
      transactions which are to be used for the expansion of economic      year .
      development activity in the recipient country , provided that
      the currency of the recipient country is not transferable or         ( 2 ) The credit sales agreement may provide tor payment or up to
      convertible in less than 10 years.                                         15 % of principal upon delivery of the grain .
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                            Article VII                                   (d ) exchange information on a regular basis on the
                                                                               functioning of the food aid arrangements under this
Impact on trade and agricultural production and conduct of                     Convention .
                         aid transactions
                                                                      2 . ( a) The committee shall seek from the Secretariats of the
1.      All aid transactions under this Convention shall be                    International Wheat Council and other appropriate
                                                                               organizations the information required to enable
carried out in a way consistent with the concerns expressed in
                                                                               members to discharge their obligations in the most
the current FAO principles of surplus disposal and guiding                     effective way . The information shall cover, in
lines . Members undertake to conduct all aid transactions
                                                                               particular:
under this Convention in such a way as to avoid harmful
interference with normal patterns of production and                               ( i ) details of production and requirements in
international commercial trade .                                                        low-income developing countries needed for the
                                                                                        purposes of Article VIII;
2.      Members shall , as appropriate , act in accordance with                 ( ii) possibilities of using grain surpluses in developing
the guidelines and criteria for food aid approved by the                                countries for transactions under paragraph 7 of
Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes of the                                    Article III , and
World Food Programme.                                                          ( iii ) possible effects of food aid on grain production
                                                                                        and consumption in recipient countries.
                                                                          ( b) The committee may also receive information from
                            Article VIII                                       recipient countries and consult with them .
              Special provision for emergency needs                   3 . The committee shall issue reports as necessary.
                                                                      4 . The committee shall establish such rules of procedure as
If in any year there is a substantial food grain production               are necessary to carry out the provisions of. this
shortfall in low-income developing countries in a particular              Convention .
region or regions, the chairman of the committee , after
considering information received from the executive                   5 . In addition to the powers and functions specified in this
director, may call a session of the committee to consider the             Article , the committee shall have such other powers and
seriousness of the production shortfall . The committee may               perform such other functions as are necessary to carry out
recommend that members should respond to the situation by                 the provisions of this Convention.
increasing the amount of food aid available.
                                                                                                        Article XI
                            Article IX
                                                                                              Seat, sessions and quorum
                       Food Aid Committee                             1.      The seat of the, committee shall be in London.
There shall be established a Food Aid Committee whose                 2.      The committee shall meet at least twice a year in
membership shall consist of all parties to this Convention .          conjunction with the statutory sessions of the International
The committee shall appoint a chairman and a                          Wheat Council . The committee shall meet also at such other
vice-chairman.                                                        times as the chairman shall decide; or at the request of three
                                                                      members ; or as otherwise required by this Convention .
                                                                      3.      The presence of delegates representing two thirds of
                             Article X                                the membership of the committee shall be necessary to
                                                                      constitute a quorum at any session of the committee.
             Powers and functions of the committee
                                                                                                        Article XII
 1 . The committee shall :
                                                                                                         Decisions
     (a) receive from members, and members shall provide,
          regular reports on the amount, content, channelling
          and   terms   of   their  contributions    under  this      The decisions of the committee shall be reached by
                                                                      consensus .
          Convention ;
     (b ) keep under review the purchase of grains financed by
          cash contributions with particular reference to                                               Article XIII
          purchases of grain from developing countries under
          paragraph 7 of Article III ;                                                          Admission of observers
     (c) examine the way in which the obligations undertaken          The committee may, when appropriate, invite
          under this Convention have been fulfilled; and              representatives from other international organizations ,
 ---pagebreak--- 17 . 7 . 86                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No L 195 / 19
whose membership is limited to Governments that are                   may request, including the processing and distribution of
members of the United Nations , or its specialized agencies , to      documentation and reports .
attend its open meetings as observers .
                                                                                               Article XV
                          Article XIV
                                                                                          Defaults and disputes                     t
                  Administrative provisions                           In the case of a dispute concerning the interpretation or
                                                                      application of this Convention , or of a default in obligations
The committee shall use the services of the Secretariat for the       under this Convention , the committee shall meet and take
performance of such administrative duties as the committee            appropriate action .
                                                               PART III
                                                        FINAL PROVISIONS
                          Article XVI                                                          Article XX
                          Depositary                                                            Accession
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is hereby                 1.     This Convention shall be open for accession by any
designated as the depositary of this Convention .                     Government referred to in paragraph 3 of Article III that has
                                                                      not signed this Convention. Instruments of accession shall be
                                                                      deposited with the depositary not later than 30 June 1986 ,
                                                                      except that the committee may grant one ore more extensions
                         Article XVII
                                                                      of time to any Government that has not deposited its
                                                                      instrument of accession by that date .
                           Signature
                                                                      2.     Once this Convention has entered into force in
This Convention shall be open for signature at United                 accordance with Article XXI , it shall be open for accession by
Nations headquarters from 1 May 1986 until and including              any Government other than those referred to in paragraph 3
30 June 1986 by the Governments referred to in paragraph 3            of Article III, upon such conditions as the committee
of Article III .                                                      considers appropriate. Instruments of accession shall be
                                                                      deposited with the depositary.
                         Article XVIII                                3.     Any Government acceding to this Convention under
                                                                      paragraph 1 or 2 of this Article may deposit with the
                                                                      depositary a declaration of provisional application of this
             Ratification, acceptance or approval                     Convention pending the deposit of its instrument of
                                                                      accession . Any such Government shall provisionally apply
This Convention shall be subject to ratification , acceptance         this Convention and be provisionally regarded as a party
or approval by each signatory Government in accordance                thereto .
with its constitutional procedures. Instruments of
ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with
the depositary not later than 30 June 1986 , except that the
                                                                                               Article XXI
committee may grant one or more extensions of time to any
signatory Government that has not deposited its instrument
of ratification, acceptance or approval by that date .                                       Entry into force
                                                                      1.     This Convention shall enter into force on 1 July 1986 if
                                                                      by 30 June 1986 the Governments referred to in paragraph 3
                          Article XIX                                 of Article III have deposited instruments of ratification ,
                                                                      acceptance , approval or accession , or declarations of
                    Provisional application                           provisional application, and provided that the Wheat Trade
                                                                      Convention , 1986 is in force .
Any signatory Government may deposit with the depositary
a declaration of provisional application of this Convention.          2.     If this Convention does not enter into force in
Any such Government shall provisionally apply this                    accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, the
Convention and be provisionally regarded as a party ,                 Governments which have ' deposited instruments of
thereto .                                                             ratification,   acceptance ,  approval     or   accession ,  or
 ---pagebreak--- No L 195 / 20                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                    17 . 7 . 86
declarations of provisional application , may decide by              the depositary at least 90 days prior to the end of that year,
unanimous consent that it shall enter into force among               but shall not thereby be released from any obligations
themselves provided that the Wheat Trade Convention ,                incurred under this Convention which have not been
1986 , is in force , or may take whatever other action they          discharged by the end of that year. The member shall
consider the situation requires.                                     simultaneously inform the committee of the action it has
                                                                     taken .
                         Article XXII                                2.     Any member which withdraws from this Convention
                                                                     may thereafter rejoin by giving notice to the committee . It
             Duration , extension and termination                    shall be a condition of rejoining the Convention that the
1.     This Convention shall remain in force until and
                                                                     member shall be responsible for fulfilling its full annual
                                                                     obligations with effect from the year in which it rejoins.
including 30 June 1989 , unless extended under paragraph 2
of this Article or terminated earlier under paragraph 4 of this
Article , provided that the Wheat Trade Convention , 1986 ,
or a new Wheat Trade Convention replacing it , remains in                                      Article XXIV
force until and including that date .
2.     The committee may extend the Convention beyond                Relationship of this Convention to the International Wheat
30 June 1989 for successive periods not exceeding two years                                  Agreement 1986
on each occasion , provided always that the Wheat Trade
Convention , 1986 , or a new Wheat Trade Convention                  This Convention shall replace the Food Aid Convention ,
replacing it, remains in force during the period of the              1980 , as extended , and shall be one of the constituent
extension .                                                          instruments of the International Wheat Agreement, 1986 .
3.     If the Convention is extended under paragraph 2 of this
Article , the annual contributions of members under
paragraph 3 of Article III may be subject to review by                                         Article XXV
members before the entry into force of each extension . Their
respective obligations, as reviewed , shall remain unchanged                            Notification by depositary
for the duration of each extension .
                                                                     The Secretary-General of the United Nations as depositary
4.     In the event of this Convention being terminated , the        shall notify all signatory and acceding Governments of each
Committee shall continue in being for such time as may be
                                                                     signature , ratification , acceptance , approval , provisional
required to carry out its liquidation, and shall have such
                                                                     application of, and accession to , this Convention .
powers , and exercise such functions , as may be necessary for
that purpose.
                                                                                               Article XXVI
                         Article XXIII
                                                                                              Authentic texts
                   Withdrawal and rejoining
1.     Any member may withdraw from this Convention at               The texts of this Convention in the English , French , Russian
the end of any year by giving written notice of withdrawal to        and Spanish languages shall all be equally authentic.
               In witness whereof the undersigned , having been duly authorized to this effect by their respective
               Governments or authorities, have signed this Convention on the dates appearing opposite their
               signatures .
               Done at London , this thirteenth day of March , One Thousand , Nine Hundred and Eighty-Six .