WTO Ministerial Section • Volume 7 • Number 12 • 2nd April 2003

Agriculture Modalities: Deadlines Missed, Eyes Now on Cancun

Do More

Subscribe to Bridges

* required

Email Address: *

Country: *
Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua And Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas, The Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democractic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia (Hrvatska) Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Islands Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia, The Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong S.A.R. Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Korea, North Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau S.A.R. Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, The New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua new Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Island Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts And Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent And The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad And Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks And Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State (Holy See) Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (US) Wallis And Futuna Islands Yemen Yugoslavia Zambia Zimbabwe

Employment Sector: *

First Name:

Last Name:

Organisation:

Enter the letters shown above:*

See also

During a 31 March wrap-up meeting of the WTO Committee on Agriculture (CoA), Chair Stuart Harbinson formally declared that Members’ efforts to agree on agricultural modalities by the end-March deadline had failed. The meeting concluded the last special (negotiating) session of the CoA within the official modalities phase of the Doha round negotiations. Nevertheless, Harbinson said he would continue consultations on technical issues such as tariff formulas and Strategic Products (SPs) for developing countries after the mid-April Easter break, and that further CoA special sessions had been scheduled for June and July. He urged Members to "continue working together towards completing the job given to us by Ministers in Doha as soon as possible". While Harbinson and WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi overtly expressed their disappointment over Members’ disability to agree on the modalities — or formulas for negotiations — for an agricultural framework accord, officials from key Members, such as the US and the EU were keen to downplay the failure. These Members justified their stance by referring to other deadlines, such as those on special and differential treatment for developing countries and on access to inexpensive, generic essential medicines, which have been missed as wellin the course of the negotiations since November 2001.

The modalities still to be agreed are to set out the scope of the agriculture negotiations, the methodology to be followed during the actual process, and the end-results expected in the agriculture negotiations. Trade ministers had agreed in Doha to establish modalities by 31 March 2003. At the forthcoming fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, to be held from 10 to 14 September in Cancun, Mexico, Members are supposed to submit their draft country-specific offers for further farm trade liberalisation, which would be based on the modalities agreed. According to the Doha work programme, the agriculture talks, as well as all other negotiations within the ’single undertaking’, are to be concluded by 1 January 2005.

Harbinson disappointed, but committed to continue work

In his opening remarks to the 31 March formal session, the CoA Chair confirmed an earlier conclusion given at a 28 March informal plenary session that had followed a last set of negotiations beginning on 25 March (see BRIDGES Weekly, 26 March 2003). He indicated that the modalities could not be established by the agreed deadline, and that he would not be able to produce a second modalities draft (see BRIDGES Weekly, 20 March 2003). "This is, of course, a very serious matter. We must all be disappointed that all our efforts have not come to fruition," Harbinson said in his address to the formal plenary on 31 March. Nevertheless, he pointed to some positive aspects of the process, especially the "considerable progress made on a number of technical issues". He further said that he had "a strong sense from all sides of a continuing commitment" to continue the work underway so as to establish "modalities for further reform… as soon as possible".

In this context, however, Harbinson made clear that Members would have to work even harder in the coming period to develop the basis and framework for the necessary compromises. "To achieve this will require greater appreciation by all sides of the sensitivities and expectations of others," he added. At a news conference following the formal plenary session, Harbinson further declared that the "ball is clearly in Members’ court now," as he felt that he had done all he could in terms of hammering out a draft compromise text for possible modalities. "I need a clearer signal from Members that they are in a more receptive mood to have another look at a new piece of paper," he added.

The road to Cancun

In terms of managing the crisis between now and the forthcoming Cancun Ministerial, the CoA special session Chair announced on 31 March that, after the Easter break, he would continue informal consultations on technical issues, including tariff reduction formulas, tariff rate quotas (TRQs), Strategic Products (SPs) for developing countries, a new special safeguard mechanism for developing countries, domestic support, preferential trade schemes, export credits, food aid, state trading enterprises, and geographical indications. Moreover, he earmarked further negotiating sessions to be held on 26 to 27 June and 1 July, as well as on 16 to 17 July.

Trade sources further indicated that they interpreted Harbinson’s outline as a sign that he would now take a more integrated approach to the modalities negotiations, which would comprise numbers and targets, as well as rules-based elements. In his modalities drafts submitted earlier, he had suggested agreeing on reduction modalities first, while deciding on disciplines at a later stage, sources said. It was further stated that Harbinson would try to get more capital-based officials involved in the consultations, and that he would schedule future meetings at times convenient for non-Geneva negotiators. All in all, Harbinson reportedly is hoping to have the modalities established before the Cancun meeting, as Members would need sufficient time to prepare their individual offers to be tabled at the Ministerial Conference. However, some sources noted that it is more than unlikely that modalities could be agreed before trade ministers meet in Mexico.

The blame game

In an official statement, the US said Members such as the EU and Japan were responsible for the failure to adopt modalities within the agreed timeframe. Hinting at the internal EU mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) starting in June this year, the statement called on EU member states to endorse the CAP reform proposals presented last year by EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 July 2002) so as to "give the [European] Commission more flexibility to meet the mandate of the ‘Doha Development Round’". Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile also lashed out at the EU, blaming it for "continuing to oppose efforts to bring about genuine reform of agricultural trade". Vaile further added that "The European Union’s game appears to be to make the world wait until it is able to finalise the review of its Common Agricultural Policy and present the results of that process as a fait accompli in Geneva".

The EU, however, countered in a press release that the EU had done its homework with regard to moving the WTO agriculture talks. "The EU modalities proposal represents a middle way between extreme positions," Fischler said. Fischler also defended the EU’s major use of export subsidies, stating that "bogus food aid," export credits (both mainly used by the US), and the pricing practices of certain state trading enterprises" (as in the case of Australia) also would have trade- distorting effects.

Notably, on 31 March the EU officially announced its decision to initiate dispute settlement proceedings against Australia to challenge its strict quarantine system. The system "flagrantly breaches WTO rules, despite Australia’s constant claims to be the only beacon of free agricultural trade," EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy commented.

ICTSD reporting; "Agriculture: trade diplomats downplay impact of missed deadline in WTO agriculture negotiations," WTO REPORTER, 1 April 2003; "Australia blames EU, Japan for missed WTO farm deadline," DOW JONES, 1 April 2003; "WTO farm talks: ‘We will plough on’, Fischler says," EU PRESS RELEASE; "European Union to challenge Australia’s protectionist food import regime at WTO," EU PRESS RELEASE.