For domestic support policy, subject to reduction commitments, total support granted in 1986-88, as measured by the total level of support (Total AmS), should be reduced by 20% in industrialized countries (13.3% in developing countries). Reduction commitments refer to the total amount of aid and not to individual raw materials. Policies equivalent to domestic support under product-specific and non-product-specific categories, i.e. less than 5 per cent of the value of production for industrialized countries and less than 10 per cent for developing countries, are also excluded from any reduction commitment. Policies that have little or no trade-distorting effect on production are excluded from any reduction commitment (“Green Box” – Annex 2 of the Agreement on Agriculture www.wto.org. The list of excluded Green Box policies includes policies that provide services or benefits to agriculture or the rural community, public stocks for food security purposes, national food aid and certain decoupled payments to producers, including direct payments to programmes limiting production, provided certain conditions are met. At the 2013 WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia, ministers also agreed on a range of agriculture-related issues. WTO members have taken steps to reform the agricultural sector and address significant subsidies and trade barriers that distort trade in agricultural products. The overall goal is to create a more equitable trading system that improves market access and improves the livelihoods of farmers around the world. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture, which entered into force in 1995, represents an important step towards reforming agricultural trade and making it fairer and more competitive. The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development monitors the implementation of the agreement. WTO members have taken steps to reform the agricultural sector and tackle high subsidies and trade barriers that distort trade in agricultural products. The overall goal is to establish a more equitable trading system that improves market access and improves the livelihoods of farmers around the world.

The WTO Agreement on Agriculture, which entered into force in 1995, is an important step towards agricultural trade reform and towards fairer and more competitive development. The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development monitors the implementation of the agreement. The Member Transparency Toolkit contains information on reporting formats and a reporting manual, as well as links to membership lists with commitments and other resources to support member transparency in the agricultural sector. This new edition contains an introduction to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, which sets out the main principles, the work of the Committee on Agriculture and the interpretation of WTO agricultural legislation through disputes. The publication contains the full text of . With regard to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) signed in Geneva in 1947 and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement signed in Marrakesh in 1994. The European Union and its Member States shall act in accordance with Article 207 (common commercial policy) and Articles 217 and 218 (international agreements) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (5.2.2). This fully revised and updated edition provides an overview of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the full legal text of the Agreement and the decisions and recommendations adopted by the Committee on Agriculture since 1 January 1995. This is the last title in the WTO series of agreements, which aims to promote public understanding of the WTO Agreements. Domestic support arrangements for agriculture are governed by the Agreement on Agriculture, which entered into force in 1995 and was negotiated in the Uruguay Round (1986-1994). The long-term objective of the AoA is to establish a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system and to initiate a reform process by negotiating promised commitments and guarantees and defining more efficient and operationally efficient rules and disciplines. News on agricultural negotiations View news on cotton WTO agreements are the legal basis for the international trading system used by most of the world`s trading nations.

This series provides a series of practical reference brochures on selected agreements. Each volume contains the text of an agreement, an explanation designed to help the user understand the text and, in some cases, additional documents. They are intended to be an essential tool for understanding agreements, but due to the legal complexity of agreements, introductions cannot be considered legal interpretations of agreements. Products falling within the scope of this Agreement shall normally be considered as part of agriculture, with the exception of fishery and forestry products, as well as rubber, jute, sisal, abaca and coconut. The exact coverage of the product can be found in the legal text of the agreement on the www.wto.org website. After more than 7 years of negotiations, the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations were concluded on 15 December 1993 and officially ratified in Marrakesh, Morocco, in April 1994. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture was one of many agreements negotiated during the Uruguay Round. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture contains provisions in 3 main areas of agricultural and trade policy: market access, domestic support and export subsidies The Members` Transparency Toolkit contains information on notification formats and a manual on notification obligations, as well as links to Members` schedules of commitments and other resources to support Members` transparency in agriculture. WTO members took important decisions on agriculture at the 2015 WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. These include the obligation to eliminate agricultural export subsidies, as well as decisions on public stocks for food security reasons, a special protection mechanism for developing countries and cotton trade rules. Agriculture is therefore special because the sector has its own agreement, the provisions of which prevail.

This new edition contains an introduction to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, which sets out the main principles, the work of the Committee on Agriculture and the interpretation of WTO agricultural legislation through disputes. The publication contains the full text of the Agreement on Agriculture as well as the decisions of the Bali Ministerial Conference in 2013 and the Nairobi Ministerial Conference on Agriculture in 2015, including the decision in principle to abolish agricultural export subsidies. This is the latest title in the WTO series of agreements, which aims to promote understanding of WTO agreements. These agreements provide flexibility in implementation by developing countries, as well as for WTO Members (special and differential treatment) and least developed countries (LDCs) and net food-importing developing countries (special provisions). WTO information on agriculture, including notifications from WTO Members Video: How to use the AGIMS WTO Agreements constitute the legal basis of the international trading system used by many countries around the world. This series provides a series of practical reference brochures on selected agreements. Special and differentiated treatment provisions also apply to developing countries that are members. This includes purchases and sales of food security stocks at administered prices, provided that the subsidy to producers is included in the calculation of the AMS. Developing countries are allowed to distribute subsidized, non-targeted food to meet the needs of the urban and rural poor.

Also excluded for developing countries are investment subsidies, which are generally available for agriculture, and agricultural input subsidies, which are generally available to low-income and resource-poor farmers in these countries. These include fares, tariff reductions and access options. Tariff classification means that all non-tariff barriers to trade such as quotas, variable levies, minimum import prices, discretionary licensing, state trade measures, voluntary restraint agreements, etc. must be abolished and converted into an equivalent tariff. Ordinary tariffs, including those resulting from their classification, should be reduced by an average of 36 %, with the minimum reduction rate for each tariff item being at least 15 % over a period of 6 years. Developing countries have had to reduce their tariffs by 24 per cent in 10 years. Developing countries that maintained quantitative restrictions due to balance of payments problems were allowed to offer maximum liabilities instead of tariffs. This new edition provides an introduction to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture and describes its main principles, the work of the Committee on Agriculture and the interpretation of WTO law on agriculture through disputes.

The publication contains the full text of the Agreement on Agriculture, as well as decisions on agriculture taken at the Bali Ministerial Conference in 2013 and the Nairobi Ministerial Conference in 2015, including the historic decision to abolish agricultural export subsidies. .