Domestic Support

G/AG/NG/S/1
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World Trade
Organization
G/AG/NG/S/1
13 April 2000
(00-1502)
Committee on Agriculture
Special Session

DOMESTIC SUPPORT

Background Paper by the Secretariat

At the first Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture which took place on 2324March 2000, it was agreed that the Secretariat would prepare a background paper on domestic support based on the notifications in this area (G/AG/NG/1, paragraph 7(a) refers). The present note is a first contribution in this regard. It revises and further updates the information compiled from Members' schedules and notifications first provided within the framework of the Process of Analysis and Information Exchange as documents AIE/S2 dated 28October 1997, AIE/S2/Rev.1 dated 27May1999 and AIE/S2/Rev.2 dated 23 September 1999. The paper takes into account the notifications by Members circulated by the Secretariat up to 31 March 2000.
The paper presents domestic support (Total Aggregate Measurement of Support) commitment levels by Member and their use for the implementation years 1995 to 1999.[1] It also shows compliance with notification obligations in the Table DS:1 series under the Committee's "Notification requirements and formats" (G/AG/2 and Add.1). In addition, there is an Attachment summarising the information provided by Members in their notifications. The Attachment gives a broader picture of trends in domestic support than the Total AMS tables which cover only those measures of support subject to reduction commitments.

Total AMS commitments

Of the current 136 Members, 30 have, in Section I of Part IV of their Schedules, Total AMS reduction commitments.[2] These Members are listed in Table 1 along with the relevant Total AMS commitment levels and notified Current Total AMS levels for 1995 to 1999. In this table "n.r." is used to indicate that a notification was not required because the country concerned was not a Member in the period in question. A blank indicates a notification is still to be received by the Secretariat. It should be noted that a blank in Table 1 does not necessarily imply an outstanding notification, as for many Members the 1999 implementation year, or the allowable delay for the submission of TableDS:1 notifications, is still underway hence notifications for 1999 are not yet required. However, for the 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 implementation years a blank in Table 1 indicates that the relevant notification is overdue. It is evident from Table 1, that all notification requirements have been met for 1995 but that there are outstanding notifications for the following years.

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Table 1 - Total Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) commitments by Member, 1995-99

Member / Currency / 1995 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 1999
Total AMS commitment level / Current Total
AMS / Total AMS commitment level / Current Total AMS / Total AMS commitment level / Current Total
AMS / Total AMS commitment level / Current Total
AMS / Total AMS commitment level / Current Total
AMS
Argentina / US$ / 85378903.34 / 122779312 / 84228057.68 / 84142109 / 83077212.01 / 81926366.35 / 80775520.7
Australia / $A million / 570.16 / 151.72 / 550.5 / 144.19 / 530.84 / 131.62 / 511.18 / 119.71 / 491.52
Brazil / US$ '000 / 1039125.79 / 295032.98 / 1025012.39 / 363284.3 / 1010898.98 / 306844.7 / 996785.58 / 982672.17
Bulgaria / ECU million / n.r. / n.r. / 650 / n.r. / 635 / 520 / 520
Canada / Can$ million / 5197 / 777 / 5017 / 618.7 / 4838 / 4659 / 4480
Colombia / US$ '000 / 392465 / 58109 / 387165 / 3961 / 381858 / 14393 / 376555 / 371251
Costa Rica / US$ '000 / 18153 / 0 / 17908 / 0 / 17663 / 0 / 17417 / 17172
Cyprus / £C million / 57.6 / 36.5 / 56.8 / 35.5 / 56.1 / 25.5 / 55.3 / 21.8 / 54.5
Czech Republic / Kč million / 16446.97 / 1152.49 / 15879.84 / 1688.74 / 15312.71 / 1053.86 / 14745.58 / 1012.98 / 14178.45
EC / ECU billion / 78.67 / 50.03 / 76.37 / 51 / 74.07 / 71.76 / 69.46
Hungary / Ft million / 40851 / 20949 / 39443 / 38034 / 36625 / 35217
Iceland / SDR million / 157.2 / 123.69 / 151.8 / 108.1 / 146.4 / 108.6 / 140.9 / 250.3 / 135.5
Israel / US$ '000 / 645490 / 461385 / 636996 / 501273 / 628494 / 524226 / 619992 / 611490
Japan / ¥ billion / 4800.6 / 3507.5 / 4635 / 3329.7 / 4469.5 / 3170.8 / 4304 / 4138.4
Jordan / Jordanian Dinar / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Korea / W billion / 2182.55 / 2075.44 / 2105.6 / 1967.36 / 2028.65 / 1936.95 / 1951.70 / 1562.77 / 1874.75
Mexico / Mex$ 1991 million / 28622.3 / 1364.66 / 28237.8 / 27853.2 / 27468.6 / 27084
Morocco / DH million / 779 / 94 / 769 / 250 / 758 / 91 / 748 / 737
New Zealand / NZ$ million / 348.30 / 0 / 336.29 / 0 / 324.28 / 0 / 312.27 / 0 / 300.26
Norway / NOK million / 13834 / 9786 / 13357 / 10529 / 12880 / 10526 / 12403 / 10886 / 11926
Papua New Guinea / US$ million / 38.7 / n.r. / 38.2 / 37.7 / 37.2 / 36.7
Poland / US$ million / 4022 / 254.5 / 3883 / 226.5 / 3745 / 295.8 / 3606 / 300.6 / 3457
Slovak Republic / Sk million / 12252.5 / 7110.5 / 11830 / 6981.8 / 11407.5 / 8290.4 / 10985 / 7710 / 10562.5
Slovenia / ECU '000 / 74730.18 / 69921.08 / 72153.28 / 69239.13 / 69576.38 / 69086.07 / 66999.48 / 65990.79 / 64422.58
South Africa / R million / 2435.3 / 1640.33 / 2351.3 / 1938.2 / 2267.4 / 2198.3 / 2183.4 / 2099.4
Switzerland-Liecht. / Sw F million / 5143 / 4286.6 / 4966 / 3663.1 / 4789 / 3445.1 / 4611 / 3273 / 4434
Thailand / B million / 21816.41 / 15773.25 / 21506.64 / 12932.47 / 21196.87 / 16756.58 / 20887.10 / 16402.10 / 20577.33
Tunisia / D million / 67.49 / 58.6 / 66.58 / 51 / 65.67 / 53.3 / 64.76 / 61.1 / 63.85
United States / US$ million / 23083.14 / 6213.86 / 22287.17 / 5897.66 / 21491.2 / 6238.4 / 20695.2 / 19899.3
Venezuela / US$ '000 / 1287221 / 541784.05 / 1269826 / 331261 / 1252431 / 456549 / 1235036 / 1217642
Notes: With respect to Argentina's Current Total AMS figure of 1995 see G/AG/N/ARG/4 and WT/Let/292.
With respect to Iceland's Current Total AMS figure for 1998 see G/AG/N/ISL/14 regarding the unadjusted and adjusted Current Total AMS for 1998. The above figure represents the unadjusted Current Total AMS.

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4. Table 2 indicates the distribution of notified Current Total AMSs as a percentage of the relevant commitment levels for 1995 to 1999. As the number of notifications received by the Secretariat differs from implementation year to implementation year, the figures in Table 2 are not directly comparable over time. Nevertheless, it is evident that throughout the period 1995 to 1998, in many cases domestic support levels as notified by Members were well below commitment levels.

Table 2 - Ranges of notified Current Total AMS levels, 1995-99

Implementation year / Current Total AMS as a percentage of Total AMS
commitment levels (number of notifications) / Total number of notifications
(out of 29 as of 1996)
0-20% / 21-40% / 41-60% / 61-80% / 81 and over
1995 / 7 / 2 / 4 / 8 / 6 / 27
1996 / 6 / 5 / 2 / 8 / 4 / 25
1997 / 5 / 5 / 1 / 5 / 6 / 22
1998 / 3 / 2 / 0 / 4 / 4 / 13
1999

5. Table 3 provides, for the period under review, a break-down of the use of Total AMS commitments by Member, again measured as notified Current Total AMS as a percentage of the relevant Total AMS commitment level. In 1995, the first implementation year, the usage figures ranged from 0 for New Zealand to 144 per cent for Argentina (see also the note to Table 3). For 1998, the corresponding figures are 0 (New Zealand) and 178 per cent (Iceland – see also the note to Table3).

Table 3 - Use of Total Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) commitments by Member, 1995-99 (per cent)

Member / 1995 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 1999
Argentina / 144 / 100
Australia / 27 / 26 / 25 / 23
Brazil / 28 / 35 / 30
Bulgaria / n.r. / n.r.
Canada / 15 / 12
Colombia / 15 / 1 / 4
Costa Rica / 0 / 0 / 0
Cyprus / 63 / 62 / 45 / 39
Czech Republic / 7 / 11 / 7 / 7
EC / 64 / 67
Hungary / 51
Iceland / 79 / 71 / 74 / 178
Israel / 72 / 79 / 83
Japan / 73 / 72 / 71
Jordan / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Korea / 95 / 91 / 95 / 80
Mexico / 5
Morocco / 12 / 32 / 12
New Zealand / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Norway / 71 / 79 / 82 / 88
Papua New Guinea / n.r.
Poland / 6 / 6 / 8 / 8
Slovak Republic / 58 / 59 / 73 / 70
Slovenia / 94 / 96 / 99 / 98
South Africa / 67 / 82 / 97
Switzerland-Liecht / 83 / 74 / 72 / 71
Thailand / 72 / 60 / 79 / 78
Tunisia / 87 / 77 / 81 / 94
United States / 27 / 26 / 29
Venezuela / 42 / 26 / 36
Notes: The figures in this table represent notified Current Total AMSs as a percentage of the Total AMS commitment levels for the respective implementation years.
With respect to Argentina's percentage figure in 1995 see G/AG/N/ARG/4 and WT/Let/292.
With respect to Iceland's percentage figure in 1998 see G/AG/N/ISL/14.

Notification performance

6. Other Members than those identified in Tables 1 and 3 do not have domestic support reduction commitments, but are still required to notify under the domestic support chapeau every year (or every other year in the case of least-developed country Members). Table 4 indicates, for all Members, notifications in the Table DS:1 series circulated as Committee on Agriculture documents. As in the case of Table 1:

(i) "n.r." indicates that a notification was not required for the year in question either because the country was not a Member in that year or it refers to a least-developed country Member which is required to notify only every other year;

(ii) " " (blank) indicates that a notification is still to be issued by the Secretariat. Again a blank does not necessarily imply an outstanding notification because of different implementation years and G/AG/2 notification delays. However, where there are blanks for any of the 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 implementation years, notifications are now outstanding for all countries which were Members during that period.

(iii) "x" indicates that a notification has been circulated as a Committee on Agriculture document.

The information provided in Table 4 indicates that domestic support notifications have been received from 75 per cent of Members required to notify in 1995, from 55 per cent in 1996, from 55per cent in 1997 and from 28per cent for the 1998 implementation year. Four Members have so far notified domestic support for the 1999 implementation year.

Table 4 - Domestic support notifications received, by Member, 1995-99

Member / Table DS:1 1995 / Table DS:1 1996 / Table DS:1 1997 / Table DS:1 1998 / Table DS:1 1999 /
Angola / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Antigua & Barbuda
Argentina / x / x
Australia / x / x / x / x
Bahrain / x
Bangladesh / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Barbados
Belize
Benin / n.r. / n.r. / x / n.r.
Bolivia / x / x / x
Botswana / x
Brazil / x / x / x
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria / n.r. / n.r.
Burkina Faso / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Burundi / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Cameroon / n.r.
Canada / x / x
Central African Rep. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Chad / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Chile / x / x / x / x
Colombia / x / x / x
Congo / n.r. / n.r.
Congo, Dem.Rep.of / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Costa Rica / x / x / x
Côte d'Ivoire
Cuba / x / x / x / x
Cyprus / x / x / x / x
Czech Republic / x / x / x / x
Djibouti / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Dominica
Dominican Republic / x / x / x / x
EC / x / x
Ecuador / n.r. / x
Egypt / x / x / x / x
El Salvador / x / x / x
Estonia / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Fiji / n.r. / x / x
Gabon
Gambia / n.r. / n.r. / x / n.r.
Ghana
Grenada / n.r.
Guatemala / x
Guinea Bissau / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Guinea, Republic of / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Guyana / x
Haiti / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Honduras / x / x / x
Hong Kong, China / x / x / x / x / x
Hungary / x
Iceland / x / x / x / x
India / x
Indonesia / x / x / x / x / x
Israel / x / x / x
Jamaica / x / x / x
Japan / x / x / x
Jordan / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Kenya / x / x
Korea / x / x / x / x
Kuwait
Kyrgyz Republic / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / x
Latvia / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Lesotho / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Macau, China / x / x / x / x / x
Madagascar / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Malawi / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Malaysia / x / x
Maldives / n.r. / x / n.r. / x / n.r.
Mali / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Malta / x / x / x / x
Mauritania / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Mauritius
Mexico / x
Mongolia / n.r. / n.r. / x / x
Morocco / x / x / x
Mozambique / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Myanmar / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Namibia / x / x / x
New Zealand / x / x / x / x
Nicaragua
Niger / n.r. / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Nigeria / x / x / x
Norway / x / x / x / x
Pakistan / x / x / x
Panama / n.r. / n.r.
Papua New Guinea / n.r.
Paraguay / x / x / x / x
Peru / x / x / x
Philippines / x / x / x / x
Poland / x / x / x / x
Qatar / n.r.
Romania / x / x
Rwanda / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Saint Kitts & Nevis / n.r.
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent & Grenadine
Senegal
Sierra Leone / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Singapore / x / x / x / x / x
Slovak Republic / x / x / x / x
Slovenia / x / x / x / x
Solomon Islands / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
South Africa / x / x / x
Sri Lanka / x / x / x
Suriname
Swaziland / .
Switzerland-Liechtenstein / x / x / x / x
Tanzania / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Thailand / x / x / x / x
Togo / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
Trinidad and Tobago / x / x / x
Tunisia / x / x / x / x
Turkey / x / x / x / x
Uganda / n.r. / n.r. / n.r.
United Arab Emirates / n.r.
United States / x / x / x
Uruguay / x / x / x / x
Venezuela / x / x / x
Zambia / n.r. / x / n.r. / x / n.r.
Zimbabwe / x / x / x

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