Implications of the Chair’s May 2008 Draft Modalities for Agricultural Special Products
Information Note Series • Information Note 7
Recent research on special products (SPs) has focused mainly on developing acceptable indicators for food security, livelihood security and rural development, which are the agreed criteria for designating SPs. However, equally important is the question of what treatment should be accorded to these products. Central to this discussion is the debate on whether or not special products should be excluded from tariff reductions.
The G-33 developing country group maintains that some SPs must be exempt from tariff cuts in order to ensure that the outcome of the negotiations is faithful to the mandate of the Doha Development Agenda. Conversely, countries such as the US, Malaysia and Thailand argue that special products should not be exempt from tariff reductions. These countries propose that flexibilities for special products be limited to smaller tariff cuts and lesser tariff rate quota (TRQ) expansion than would be accorded otherwise.
To assess the need for market access flexibility, this information note summarizes key findings on the difference between applied and bound duties, or tariff overhang, for 16 ‘proxy’ special products - those most commonly identified as special in the 19 country studies conducted by ICTSD. These are used to examine the effectiveness of the tariff structures for 30 developing country members of the G-33, excluding least-developed countries (LDCs). It complements an earlier ICTSD/FAO information note on the selection of special products.