AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE
| Absolute quotas |
a maximum amount
of a good that can enter the United States during a
specific time period (for example one year). |
| Green
Box / Blue Box / Amber Box |
Three
categories of support that are allowed under regulation
of WTO |
| Committee on
Agriculture |
Oversees the implementation
of the Agreement on Agriculture. Meets four times per
year |
| Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) |
the European Union's
farm and agro-industry protection program, which protects
the domestic producers and processors |
| Food Security |
Ensuring that temporary
or protected food deficits arising from adverse climatic
and other conditions can be met from world markets.
Countries grow what they can efficiently do so and import
the rest, using the wealth they've developed form other
areas of their economies so they can buy the food they
need. |
| Most Favored
Nation (MFN) |
equal treatment
between countries |
| Nontariff barriers
to trade |
multilateral agreements
that can be used to distort or restrict trade |
| Self Sufficiency
|
countries try to
produce all their own food themselves, no matter what
the economic or environmental cost |
| Tariff barriers
to trade (TBT) |
duties that are
charged on specific imports |
| Tariff-rate quotas
(TRQ's) |
a two-tiered tariff
allowing a limited volume-the "quota" - to
be imported at a lower rate, with imports above the
quota subject to the higher tariff |
| Trade liberalization |
opening trade between
countries, therefore bringing benefits to both developed
and developing counties |
| The Cairns Group |
formed in 1986 by
18 agricultural exporting countries, is a successful
coalition that negotiates in multilateral trade agreements
(WTO) against increased tariffs, all trade-distorting
domestic subsidies and export subsidies |
| The Cairns Group
Members |
Argentina, Australia,
Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Fiji, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay,
the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay |
| World Trade Organization
(WTO) |
Came into being
in 1995. The WTO, the successor of General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), utilizes the multilateral
trading system established by GATT. However, the WTO
has expanded the scope of GATT's regulation to include
services, intellectual property and agriculture. |
WHERE DID THE AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE COME FROM?
First you'll need to know about the WTO
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),
in 1947, was a simple agreement designed to reduce and bind
(not increase) customs tariffs (border taxes). In the four
decades that followed, the GATT became the spearhead for
international trade liberalization, through its negotiations
to reduce tariffs. Today the scope of the GATT has expanded
dramatically, bringing in agriculture and services for the
first time, and - finally - creating the new and powerful
World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. The WTO is the successor
to GATT. While the WTO is still young, the multilateral
trading system that was originally set up under GATT, is
already 50 years old.
WTO agreements, for example SPS, TRIPS and TBT, allow members
to be part of a non-discriminatory trading system, which
guarantees that exports will be treated fairly and consistently
in other countries' markets. In return, each country must
promise to do the same for imports into its own market.
If a country thinks their rights under WTO are being abused,
the WTO encourages differences to be settled though negotiations.
However, if no settlement can be made, issues are brought
to a panel of specially appointed independent experts who
base conclusions on interpretations of the agreements and
individual countries' commitments.
Today the WTO is comprised of 140 member countries. The
WTO's top-level decision-making body is the Ministerial
Conference, which meets at least once every two years. Below
this is the General Council (normally ambassadors and heads
of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent from
members' capitals), which meets several times a year in
the Geneva headquarters. The WTO is very influential in
world affairs. Unfortunately, it has been suggested that
several of the agreements concluded during the Uruguay Round
show bias towards developed countries and multinational
companies. Therefore, small net-exporting countries need
to, first, be aware of developing WTO agreements, and second,
know how to protest or support agreements in order to avoid
losing essential buyers in the world market.
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