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- AITIC
Flash Meeting on Agricultural Safeguards: “Make-or-Break” Issues
in the Doha negotiations?
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3
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- Tariff-only regime (Art. 4.2)
- Nothing other than ordinary customs duties
- No quantitative import restrictions, variable import levies, minimum
import prices, etc
- instrument: Bindings – tariffication/ceiling bindings and tariff cuts
- Two fears:
- not much access – prohibitive tariffs
- too much access – dismantling of NTBs
- Minimum access: offensive concerns
- rationale: ensure some trade takes place
- instrument: TRQ - limited volume at low minimal tariff
- Special Safeguard (SSG): defensive concerns
- rationale: avoid surge of imports/ depressed import prices
- instrument: extra tariff on rising volumes/ falling prices
- eligibility: only for products in tariffication + SSG in Schedule
- cannot apply to in-quota imports
- temporary measure, for a limited duration
- until the end of calendar year and shipment basis
- Timely Notification
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- Experience (1995-2006):
- Price SSG
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- Experience (1995-2006):
- Volume SSG
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- Some issues raised at the CoA
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- Limited use compared to potential
- P-SSG: 13 countries out of 39 (V-SSG: 11)
- 6% for P-SSG (dev’g much less)
- BUT for 3 countries 25-30%
- 3% for V-SSG (dev’g barely any)
- countries that used SSG most had little “water” in bound tariffs
- Highly concentrated use
- 4 Members
- 87% of P-SSG (USA, Poland, Ch Taipei, EC-15)
- 93% of V-SSG (EC-15, Ch Taipei, Japan, Korea)
- 4 commodities
- 77% of P-SSG (dairy, meats, sugar, cereals)
- 92% of V-SSG (fruits&veg, meats, dairy, cereals)
- No trend over time but variable
- variations partly explained by commodity prices (P-SSG)
- CoA monitoring
- several compliance issues
- repetition + general lack of precision in responses
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- SSG: how relevant as a model for SSM?
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- Logic sound
- remedy = f (P depression)
- Formula complex
- Trigger price
- base-year(s) specific - can become obsolete/ biased
- several Members triggered P-SSG every year for several commodities
- Remedy
- small offset of price depression
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- Overall logic sound
- certain volume increase before triggering SSG
- Formula complex and biased
- Trigger Volume high when
- low import dependence
- rising consumption
- limited consumption data
- Biased against poorer countries
- Remedy
- 1/3 of applied rate too small
- if price also depressed and bound tariff low
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- When is safeguard really necessary?
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Notes
