The need for Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanisms for agriculture in the WTO: a situational analysis

This paper argues that developing countries need to identify the areas in multilateral trade rules that are required to facilitate the achievement of goals in food security, livelihoods and rural development needs. In particular, the 1 August Decision at the Doha negotiations introduced Special Products (SP) and a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) which are tools that appear to be limited to market access commitments, but is left for further negotiations. The author argues that, if developing countries are to take advantage of these, then they need to work out how SP and SSM might support their food security and rural livelihood policies.The paper is divided into two main sections:identifying a framework showing the characteristics of a country that might make it vulnerable to changes in the WTO:transmission of effects. WTO change may impinge on food security and livelihoods either: directly, by establishing new rules on the legality of food security policies currently in place or recommended in vulnerable developing countries; or indirectly, by altering absolute and relative agricultural prices which will, in turn, change entitlementsrelevant indicators. There are two possibly overlapping categories of countries that might be affected in different ways by change to the three principal elements of the current Agreement on Agriculture. These are: countries aiming to boost domestic agricultural production that may wish to increase incentives to farmers by keeping import prices high and increasing domestic subsidies. This task that might be made more difficult by tighter new rules on import controls or domestic subsidies; food importing states with weak trade entitlements that may be concerned about their capacity to import sufficient food in future. These countries would be vulnerable to sudden increases in world prices.The design of SP and SSM measures: which discuss ways that provisions on Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanisms could deal with the wide ranging features of agricultural and other policies that may be involved in the promotion of food security and rural livelihoods.