Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 8 • Number 38 • 10th November 2004
Rules Group Discusses Next Steps To Curb Fisheries Subsidies
At an informal meeting of the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules on 3 November, Members discussed a new proposal by Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, New Zealand, the Philippines and Peru on a comprehensive approach to disciplining fisheries subsidies. The proposal stirred some debate, with the EC and US generally supporting the comprehensive approach, while Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei favoured a bottom-up approach that would allow all subsidies with the exception of specifically prohibited ones.
Chile presents framework for negotiations
Chile, speaking for the group that made the latest proposal on disciplining fisheries subsidies, presented the ideas behind it (TN/RL/W/166). The proposal discusses the benefits of a comprehensive approach to the creation of new disciplines on fisheries subsidies over a more piecemeal bottom-up approach, as proposed by Japan at the last rules meeting (see BRIDGES Weekly, 6 October 2004). It notes that the Japanese approach, which would entail defining a set of subsidy programmes to be prohibited or permitted, would take Members into areas foreign to the WTO, such as defining what constitutes a "properly managed" fishery. Instead, the submission advocates a broader prohibition of fisheries subsidies, and notes commonalities between proposals submitted by different Members for such an approach.
Specifically, the submission spells out an approach that would be based on a prohibition on all subsidies that benefit the fishing industry. Members would then negotiate exceptions to this rule. The benefits of this approach, according to the proponents, are its simplicity, enforceability, transparency and flexibility. In terms of next steps in the negotiating process, the submission notes as the next logical step the identification of subsidies that would not be prohibited. The submission provides an indicative list in this regard, including expenditures related to: fisheries management; general infrastructure; social insurance programmes; and decommissioning. The submission also notes the need for special and differential treatment for developing countries.
Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei speak out against the submission
In their reactions to the new proposal, Japan, Korea, and Chinese Taipei said they disagreed with the approach. Japan strongly favoured the bottom-up approach, and felt that negotiating a general prohibition would go beyond the mandate for the Doha Round. Korea felt it would undermine the subsidies agreement, and reminded Members that efforts at the OECD to negotiate such an agreement to discipline steel subsidies had ended in deadlock because participants were not able to agree on the exceptions.
The US, on the other hand, supported the transparency benefits it saw in the approach proposed in the submission, and felt it could help move the negotiations forward. The EC, Norway and Australia also supported the submission. Several developing countries highlighted the importance of including provisions on special and differential treatment, and India and Pakistan not that "artisanal fishing" should not be covered by disciplines.
UN report highlights threats to artisanal fisheries
In related news, a recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights notes that the right to food of poor fishing communities worldwide is being jeopardised. Among the reasons listed are subsidies to the fishing industry, greater privatisation and export orientation of the fishing industry. These factors are leading to the loss of livelihoods and access to food of poor fishing communities, according to the report. Developed country subsidies to their fishing fleets and fishing industry — estimated to be at least US$15 billion annually — lead them to demand greater access rights in developing countries, resulting in control over former traditional fishing grounds. Also, the report suggests that inequities in bilateral fishing negotiations can lead to the neglect of equity concerns and potential impacts on poor fishing communities, artisanal fishers and small-scale fisheries. Poorer countries also have less capacity to monitor their fisheries, and government budgets in this area may be constrained by "globalised economic policy".
The next meeting of the Negotiating Group on Rules is scheduled for 14-17 December.
To access the Interim report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to food see Internet.
ICTSD reporting; "Rights And Resources Of Artisanal Fishing Communities Should Be Respected, Says UN Report," SUBLEGALS, Vol. 10, No. 13, 29 October 2004; "The Right To Food," UN, Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, September 2004; "Sri Lanka: Deep Sea Fishing Policy Threatens The Livelihood Of One Million Fisher Folk," FIAN, 9 October 2004.