Special and differential treatment in the WTO agricultural negotiations

This paper examines the case for special and differential (S&D) treatment for developing countries within the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and the particular instruments or exemptions which such a treatment should contain.It highlights that experience to date with the implementation of the AoA has revealed a number of major shortcomings:the huge imbalance in the amount of trade-distorting support provided to developed country farmers leaves many developing countries fearful that further liberalisation of their agricultural policies will leave their farmers exposed to unfair competitionthere is a general concern across many developing countries that poor farmers in these countries are much less capable of dealing with the consequences of world market price volatility and deserve some special protection against this volatility some countries which believe that food self-sufficiency is importantand those which have bound their tariffs on food staples at relatively low levels are concerned at the possible consequences for food security of further tariff reductions other countries are concerned that their ability to pursue growth promoting agricultural policies may be limited because they will come up against the low ceiling limits for domestic support.This paper highlights where changes in the treatment of developing countries in the AoA would be desirable in the areas of tariffs, safeguards and domestic supports:in the case of tariffs, a lower rate of tariff reduction for a limited number of food security products, with a minimum threshold below which countries would not be required to go, at least until there had been a much more significant dismantling of agricultural protection in developed countries, would be justified a special agricultural safeguard measure on a permanent basis for developing countries is justified, particularly in the case of food security products. Technical discussions will be needed on the design of this mechanism with respect to trigger levels, duration and the level of additional duties which would be permitted. on domestic support, the exemptions under Article 6.2 should be maintained and, if necessary, broadened. With a sufficiently generous interpretation of permitted support measures, then the current de minimis percentages for developing countries should be maintained, but not increased.