RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/AG/W/13
15November 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3571)
Committee onAgriculture
NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS INRESPECT OFSUBSIDIES UNDER
THE AGREEMENT ONSUBSIDIES AND COUNTERVAILING MEASURES
AND UNDER THE AGREEMENT ONAGRICULTURE
Note bytheSecretariat
1. Asrequested attheSeptember meeting oftheCommittee onAgriculture, thisSecretariat note
aimsatcomparing thenotification requirements oftheCommittee onAgriculture (formats assetout
inG/AG/2) andthose oftheCommittee onSubsidies andCountervailing Measures (format assetout
inG/SCM/6).
2. Theattached table setsouttomatch eachelement oftheannual agricultural notification
requirements foreachtypeofsubsidy measure withtherequirements intheSCM area(numbered as
intheInformation tobeProvided section ofG/SCM/6). Elements withnocorresponding requirements
arealsoindicated. Thetablealsoshows some more general aspects suchasthetiming ofnotifications
andcoverstheadhocArticle18:3requirementfornewormodified"exempt"domesticsupportmeasures.
Commentary
3. While itisdifficult tojudge thesimilarity ofnotifications before being abletoexamine arange
ofactual notifications fromMembers (anumber ofnotifications havebeenmade totheSCM Committee
butonlytwoMembers havenotified subsidies -or"nilreturns" -totheCommittee onAgriculture)
afewgeneral comments canbemade:
(i) Coverage ofnotifications :While "domestic support" isnotdefined intheAgreement
onAgriculture, inthisarea(especially withrespect tothose measures excluded from the
Aggregate Measurement ofSupport), thecoverage ofmeasures islikely tobewider in
agricultural notifications thaninSCM notifications. Thisisbecause some measures covered
bySupporting Tables DS:1 toDS:3 inG/AG/2 maynotbe"specific" norbeconsidered to
operate directly orindirectly toaffect trade hence maynotbecovered bytheformat in
G/SCM/6. Ontheotherhand, agricultural export subsidies thatarenotcovered bythedefinition
inArticle 9:1oftheAgreement onAgriculture arenotsystematically required tobenotified
totheCommittee onAgriculture (although theAgreement covers these measures andG/AG/2
requires anotification insome instances). While generally prohibited under theSCM
Agreement, suchmeasures arespecific subsidies thatmustbenotified pursuant toArticle 25:2.
Finally, itshould benoted thattheAgreement onAgriculture commitments apply to"domestic
support measures infavour ofagricultural producers" -anydomestic support measures for
thebenefit ofagricultural processors willpresumably benotified totheSCM Committee.
(ii) Timing ofnotifications :Asagricultural notifications aredependent onthecalendar
(ormarketing, fiscal, etc.)yearinquestion, theywillveryrarely coincide withtherequirement
inG/SCM/6 tonotify by30Juneofeachyear. Inthedomestic support area, there isalsoG/AG/W/13
Page2
provision forsome annual requirements tobewaived fordeveloping country Members, and
least-developedcountryMembersareonlyrequiredtonotifyeverysecondyear.Theagricultural
notification requirements arethesame foranyyear, butinthecaseoftheSCM notification
requirements, a"full" notification isonlyrequired onceevery three years. With respect to
newormodified "exempt" domestic support measures, thereisaparticular adhocnotification
requirement (Article 18:3oftheAgreement onAgriculture andTable DS:2 inG/AG/2) -no
similar requirement exists intheSCM area.
(iii) Content ofnotification requirements -quantitative aspects :Thequantitative
information intheagricultural notifications maybequite different andhaveadifferent focus
thanthatinSCM notifications, particularly asconcerns Aggregate Measurement ofSupport
(AMS) domestic support measures. Forthese measures, theinformation ispresented toshow
compliance withCurrent Total AMS ordeminimis commitments andassuchisanamalgam
ofdifferent calculation methods anddifferent types ofsubsidies. Forexample, Annex 3of
theAgreement onAgriculture allows theuseofthe"price gap"approach ofcalculating the
incidence ofsubsidies which could differ significantly from thesubsidy perunitorbudgeted
amount required byG/SCM/6. Ontheother hand, thefocus oftheSCM notifications areon
howthesubsidy mechanism actually operates. Thestatistical datapermitting anassessment
ofthetrade effects ofthesubsidy asinparagraph 9.oftheformat inG/SCM/6 isunlikely
tobeforthcoming intheagricultural notifications.
(iv) Content ofnotification requirements -qualitative aspects :Only inthecaseofthe
description (with respect tocriteria) forexempt domestic support measures isqualitative
information sought byG/AG/2. Ontheother hand, particularly points 3.,4.,6.and8.of
theformat inG/SCM/6 imply quite some qualitative information inorder thatusers ofthe
notification areclear astotheobjectives andmechanisms inherent inanysubsidy measure.
There isnosuchrequirement under theagriculture notifications. Inaddition thegeneral rules
inG/SCM/6 statethatthecontent ofnotifications should besufficiently specific toenable other
Members toevaluate thetrade effects andtounderstand theoperation ofnotified subsidies -
again nosuchcatch-all phrase appears intheagricultural notification requirements.G/AG/W/13
Page3Issue Agreement on Agriculture and G/CPAG/CP/n2 SCM Agreement and G/CPSCM/CP/n6 Comment
Members required to
notifyall Members all Members
Timing of notifications /n3/n0/CP/n6/n0/CP/n9/n0/CP/n1/n2/n0 days following the end of the calendar
/CIor/CM marketing/CM fiscal/CM etc/CO/CJ year in question /CIdepending
on the type of measure/CJ
/CIin the case of domestic support notifications/CM least/CN
developed Members are required to submit notifications
every two years and the Committee may/CM at the
request of a developing country Member/CM set aside the
annual requirement for some of the domestic support
notification requirements for that Member/CJIn accordance with Article /n2/n5/CO/n1 of the SCM Agreement/CM subsidy
notifications shall be submitted no later than /n3/n0 June of each year/COThe dates by which notifications are to
be made in the agricultural area depend
on the specific type of measure /CIe/COg/CO
export versus domestic subsidies/CJ and
may be different for different products
depending on marketing years/CM etc/CO In
the case of SCM notifications/CM a new
and full notification is required each
third year with updating notifications in
the intervening years/CO
Measures required to be notified annually
/CIi/CJ /CCexempt/CC domestic
support measuresmeasures exempt from domestic support reduction
commitments/DK
/CIi/CJ green box
/CIii/CJ special and differential treatment/DK development
programmes
/CIiii/CJ direct payments under production/CNlimiting
programmes/CIi/CJ all specific subsidies/CM as defined in Articles /n1 and /n2 of the
Agreement /CO/CO/CO/DL and
/CIii/CJ all other subsidies/CO/CO/CO/CM which operate directly or indirectly to increase
exports of any product from/CM or to reduce imports of any product into/CM
the territory of the Member granting or maintaining the subsidies/CO/CO/COWhile the term /CCdomestic support/CC is
not defined/CM the coverage under the
Agreement on Agriculture notification
requirements in the domestic support
area could be wider than those under
the SCM Agreement as some exempt
measures may not be specific or may
have no impact on trade/CO
/CIii/CJ other domestic
support measuresother domestic support measures /CICurrent Total
Aggregate Measurement of Support/CJ/DK
/CIi/CJ aggregate measurements of support
/CIii/CJ equivalent measurements of support/CIi/CJ all specific subsidies/CM as defined in Articles /n1 and /n2 of the
Agreement /CO/CO/CO/DL and
/CIii/CJ all other subsidies/CO/CO/CO/CM which operate directly or indirectly to increase
exports of any product from/CM or to reduce imports of any product into/CM
the territory of the Member granting or maintaining the subsidies/CO/CO/CO
/CIiii/CJ Article /n9/DK/n1 export
subsidiesArticle /n9/DK/n1 export subsidies /CIi/CJ all specific subsidies/CM as defined in Articles /n1 and /n2 of the
Agreement /CO/CO/CO/DLWhile such measures /CIand other export
subsidies/CJ are prohibited in most cases
for non/CNagricultural products/CM those
subject to transition periods are
notifiable under the SCM requirements/CO
/CIiv/CJ other /CInon/CNArticle
/n9/DK/n1/CJ export subsidies/CN/CN /CIi/CJ all specific subsidies/CM as defined in Articles /n1 and /n2 of the
Agreement /CO/CO/CO/DLIn this area/CM there is no systematic
requirement to notify the use of such
subsidies to the Committee on
Agriculture although the Agreement and
notification requirements require a
notification in certain cases/COG/AG/W/13
Page4Issue Agreement on Agriculture and G/CPAG/CP/n2 SCM Agreement and G/CPSCM/CP/n6 Comment
Measures required to
be notified on an ad
hoc basis/CO/CO/COany new domestic support measure/CM or modification
of an existing measure/CM for which exemption from
reduction is claimed shall be notified promptly/CO/CO/CO/CN/CN In the case of SCM notification
requirements/CM new measures would only
be notified in one of the regular
notifications/CM i/COe/CO by /n3/n0 June following
the introduction of the measure/CO
Members with no
measures to notifyWhere no support exists/CM a statement to this effect
should be made /CIdomestic support/CJ
/CO/CO/COan annual notification /CO/CO/CO should be made /CO/CO/CO in the
form of a statement confirming that no export
subsidies exist /CIexport subsidies/CJAny Member considering that there are no measures in its territory
requiring notification under the SCM Agreement and Article XVI of
GATT /n1/n9/n9/n4 shall so inform the Secretariat in writing/COG/AG/W/13
Page5Issue Agreement on Agriculture and G/CPAG/CP/n2 SCM Agreement and G/CPSCM/CP/n6 Comment
Content of notification requirements
/CIi/CJ /CCexempt/CC domestic
support measures/CIi/CJ calendar year/CM marketing year/CM etc/CO
/CIii/CJ measure type
/CIiii/CJ name and description of measure with reference to
criteria in Annex /n2 /CIor Article /n6/DK/n2/CM Article /n6/DK/n5/CJ
/CIiv/CJ monetary value of measure in year in question
/CIv/CJ data sources
/CN/CN/n2/CO Period covered by the notification/CO
/n1/CO Title of the subsidy programme/CM if relevant/CM or brief description or
identification of the subsidy/CO
/n5/CO Form of the subsidy /CIi/COe/CO/CM grant/CM loan/CM tax concession/CM etc/CO/CJ/CO
/n6/CO To whom and how the subsidy is provided /CIwhether to producers/CM to
exporters/CM or others/DL through what mechanism/DL whether a fixed or
fluctuating amount per unit/DL if the latter/CM how determined/CJ/CO
/n7/CO Subsidy per unit/CM or in cases where this is not possible/CM the total
amount or the annual amount budgeted for that subsidy /CIindicating/CM if
possible/CM the average subsidy per unit in the previous year/CJ/CO Where
provision of per unit subsidy information /CIfor the year covered by the
notification/CM for the previous year/CM or both/CJ is not possible/CM a full
explanation/CO
/CN/CN
/n3/CO Policy objective and/CPor purpose of the subsidy/CO
/n4/CO Background and authority for the subsidy /CIincluding identification of
the legislation under which it is granted/CJ/CO
/n8/CO Duration of the subsidy and/CPor any other time limits attached to it/CM
including date of inception/CPcommencement/CO
/n9/CO Statistical data permitting an assessment of the trade effects of the
subsidy/CO The specific nature and scope of such statistics is left to the
judgement of the notifying Member/CO To the extent possible/CM relevant
and/CPor determinable/CM however/CM it is desirable that such information
include statistics of production/CM consumption/CM imports and exports of
the subsidized product/CIs/CJ or sector/CIs/CJ/DK /CIa/CJ for the three most recent
years for which statistics are available/DL /CIb/CJ for a previous
representative year/CM which/CM where possible and meaningful/CM should be
the latest year preceding the introduction of the subsidy or preceding
the last major change in the subsidy/COWhile the information provided under
the format for the Agreement on
Agriculture could be similar to that
under the SCM notification/CM the SCM
notification is likely to have a broader
qualitative content/CM especially with
respect to the scope and operation of
the subsidy/CO
For most exempt domestic support
measures/CM it is likely that only an
annual amount budgeted would be
available for the SCM notification
because of the non/CNspecific nature of
most measures/CO
While some of this information could be
provided in the column of the
agricultural notification concerning the
description of the measure/CM it is unlikely
to be provided comprehensively or in
detail/CO Only point /n9/CO is required to be
notified annually under the SCM
requirements /CIas opposed to the /CCfull/CC
notification once every /n3 years/CJ unless
changes are made to the measures
concerned/COG/AG/W/13
Page6Issue Agreement on Agriculture and G/CPAG/CP/n2 SCM Agreement and G/CPSCM/CP/n6 Comment
Content of notification requirements
/CIii/CJ other domestic
support measures
/CImeasure subject to
reduction or de
minimis/CJ/CIi/CJ calendar year/CM marketing year/CM etc/CO
/CIii/CJ Current Total Aggregate Measurement of Support
including/DK description of basic products/DL measure
type/CIs/CJ/DL applied administered price/DL external reference
price/DL eligible production/DL associated fees/CPlevies/DL total
price/CNrelated direct payments/DL other non/CNexempt direct
payments/DL other product/CNspecific budgetary outlays/DL
other product specific support /CIand similar parameters
for the equivalent measurement of support calculations
and non/CNproduct/CNspecific support calculations/CJ
/CIiii/CJ data sources
/CN/CN/n2/CO Period covered by the notification/CO
/n1/CO Title of the subsidy programme/CM if relevant/CM or brief description or
identification of the subsidy/CO
/n5/CO Form of the subsidy /CIi/COe/CO/CM grant/CM loan/CM tax concession/CM etc/CO/CJ/CO
/n7/CO Subsidy per unit/CM or in cases where this is not possible/CM the total
amount or the annual amount budgeted for that subsidy /CIindicating/CM if
possible/CM the average subsidy per unit in the previous year/CJ/CO Where
provision of per unit subsidy information /CIfor the year covered by the
notification/CM for the previous year/CM or both/CJ is not possible/CM a full
explanation/CO
/CN/CN
/n3/CO Policy objective and/CPor purpose of the subsidy/CO
/n4/CO Background and authority for the subsidy /CIincluding identification of
the legislation under which it is granted/CJ/CO
/n6/CO To whom and how the subsidy is provided /CIwhether to producers/CM to
exporters/CM or others/DL through what mechanism/DL whether a fixed or
fluctuating amount per unit/DL if the latter/CM how determined/CJ/CO
/n8/CO Duration of the subsidy and/CPor any other time limits attached to it/CM
including date of inception/CPcommencement/CO
/n9/CO Statistical data permitting an assessment of the trade effects of the
subsidy/CO The specific nature and scope of such statistics is left to the
judgement of the notifying Member/CO To the extent possible/CM relevant
and/CPor determinable/CM however/CM it is desirable that such information
include statistics of production/CM consumption/CM imports and exports of
the subsidized product/CIs/CJ or sector/CIs/CJ/DK /CIa/CJ for the three most recent
years for which statistics are available/DL /CIb/CJ for a previous
representative year/CM which/CM where possible and meaningful/CM should be
the latest year preceding the introduction of the subsidy or preceding
the last major change in the subsidy/COEven a brief description of the measure
is unlikely to be provided in the
agricultural notification/CO While much
quantitative information will be provided
to the Committee on Agriculture/CM per
unit subsidies are not explicitly required
and the methods of measurement of
subsidies that make up the Total AMS
could give different results in value
terms/CO
Most of this information is unlikely to
be provided in detail the agricultural
notification /CIexcept/CM perhaps/CM some of
the quantitative data referred to in
points /n6/CO and /n9/CO/CJ/CO Only point /n9/CO is
required to be notified annually under
the SCM requirements /CIas opposed to
the /CCfull/CC notification once every /n3
years/CJ unless changes are made to the
measures concerned/COG/AG/W/13
Page7Issue Agreement on Agriculture and G/CPAG/CP/n2 SCM Agreement and G/CPSCM/CP/n6 Comment
Content of notification requirements
/CIiii/CJ Article /n9/DK/n1 export
subsidies/CIi/CJ calendar year/CM marketing year/CM etc/CO
/CIii/CJ subsidised exports /CIoutlays and quantity/CJ including/DK
description of products/DL direct export subsidies/DL sales of
stocks/DL producer financed subsidies/DL cost reduction
measures/DL internal transport subsidies/DL total product
specific export subsidies/DL quantity of subsidized exports/DL
and food aid and the quantity of total exports
/CIiii/CJ data source
/CN/CN/n2/CO Period covered by the notification/CO
/n1/CO Title of the subsidy programme/CM if relevant/CM or brief description or
identification of the subsidy/CO
/n5/CO Form of the subsidy /CIi/COe/CO/CM grant/CM loan/CM tax concession/CM etc/CO/CJ/CO
/n7/CO Subsidy per unit/CM or in cases where this is not possible/CM the total
amount or the annual amount budgeted for that subsidy /CIindicating/CM if
possible/CM the average subsidy per unit in the previous year/CJ/CO Where
provision of per unit subsidy information /CIfor the year covered by the
notification/CM for the previous year/CM or both/CJ is not possible/CM a full
explanation/CO
/CN/CN
/n3/CO Policy objective and/CPor purpose of the subsidy/CO
/n4/CO Background and authority for the subsidy /CIincluding identification of
the legislation under which it is granted/CJ/CO
/n6/CO To whom and how the subsidy is provided /CIwhether to producers/CM to
exporters/CM or others/DL through what mechanism/DL whether a fixed or
fluctuating amount per unit/DL if the latter/CM how determined/CJ/CO
/n8/CO Duration of the subsidy and/CPor any other time limits attached to it/CM
including date of inception/CPcommencement/CO
/n9/CO Statistical data permitting an assessment of the trade effects of the
subsidy/CO The specific nature and scope of such statistics is left to the
judgement of the notifying Member/CO To the extent possible/CM relevant
and/CPor determinable/CM however/CM it is desirable that such information
include statistics of production/CM consumption/CM imports and exports of
the subsidized product/CIs/CJ or sector/CIs/CJ/DK /CIa/CJ for the three most recent
years for which statistics are available/DL /CIb/CJ for a previous
representative year/CM which/CM where possible and meaningful/CM should be
the latest year preceding the introduction of the subsidy or preceding
the last major change in the subsidy/COThe identification of the programme will
only be in the form of its categorisation
in Supporting Table ES/DK/n1/CO Not even a
brief description will be provided to the
Committee on Agriculture/CO While per
unit subsidies are not required to be
notified/CM some quantitative subsidy
information and quantities of subsidised
product will be notified to the
Committee on Agriculture /CIalbeit only
for the current period/CJ/CO
Most of this information is unlikely to
be provided in the agricultural
notification /CIexcept/CM perhaps/CM some of
the quantitative data/CM e/COg/CO total exports/CM
referred to in point /n9/CO/CJ/CO Only point /n9/CO
is required to be notified annually under
the SCM requirements /CIas opposed to
the /CCfull/CC notification once every /n3
years/CJ unless changes are made to the
measures concerned/COG/AG/W/13
Page8Issue Agreement on Agriculture and G/CPAG/CP/n2 SCM Agreement and G/CPSCM/CP/n6 Comment
Content of notification requirements
/CIiv/CJ other /CInon/CNArticle
/n9/DK/n1/CJ export subsidies/CN/CN /n1/CO Title of the subsidy programme/CM if relevant/CM or brief description or
identification of the subsidy/CO
/n2/CO Period covered by the notification/CO
/n3/CO Policy objective and/CPor purpose of the subsidy/CO
/n4/CO Background and authority for the subsidy /CIincluding identification of
the legislation under which it is granted/CJ/CO
/n5/CO Form of the subsidy /CIi/COe/CO/CM grant/CM loan/CM tax concession/CM etc/CO/CJ/CO
/n6/CO To whom and how the subsidy is provided /CIwhether to producers/CM to
exporters/CM or others/DL through what mechanism/DL whether a fixed or
fluctuating amount per unit/DL if the latter/CM how determined/CJ/CO
/n7/CO Subsidy per unit/CM or in cases where this is not possible/CM the total
amount or the annual amount budgeted for that subsidy /CIindicating/CM if
possible/CM the average subsidy per unit in the previous year/CJ/CO Where
provision of per unit subsidy information /CIfor the year covered by the
notification/CM for the previous year/CM or both/CJ is not possible/CM a full
explanation/CO
/n8/CO Duration of the subsidy and/CPor any other time limits attached to it/CM
including date of inception/CPcommencement/CO
/n9/CO Statistical data permitting an assessment of the trade effects of the
subsidy/CO The specific nature and scope of such statistics is left to the
judgement of the notifying Member/CO To the extent possible/CM relevant
and/CPor determinable/CM however/CM it is desirable that such information
include statistics of production/CM consumption/CM imports and exports of
the subsidized product/CIs/CJ or sector/CIs/CJ/DK /CIa/CJ for the three most recent
years for which statistics are available/DL /CIb/CJ for a previous
representative year/CM which/CM where possible and meaningful/CM should be
the latest year preceding the introduction of the subsidy or preceding
the last major change in the subsidy/COThere is no systematic notification
requirement for this category of
subsidies under the requirements for the
Committee on Agriculture although in
some cases information may have to be
provided/CO As noted earlier/CM items /n3/CO/CM /n4/CO/CM
/n5/CO/CM /n6/CO/CM and /n8/CO are only required to be
notified under SCM requirements
annually if changes are made to the
measures concerned /CIwith a /CCfull/CC
notification once every /n3 years/CJ/COG/AG/W/13
Page9Issue Agreement on Agriculture and G/CPAG/CP/n2 SCM Agreement and G/CPSCM/CP/n6 Comment
Content of notification requirements
New or modified
domestic support
measures for which
exemption from
reduction is claimed/CIThis notification shall contain details of the new or
modified measure and its conformity with the agreed
criteria as set out either in Article /n6 or in Annex /n2/CJ/CO
/CI/n1/CJ Full title of measure
/CI/n2/CJ Domestic legislation reference
/CI/n3/CJ Detailed description of measure with reference to
criteria/CM i/COe/CO those in/DK Annex /n2 /CIGreen box/DK /CO/CO/CO/CJ/DL Article
/n6/DK/n3 /CIDevelopment programmes/DK /CO/CO/CO/CJ/DL and/CPor Article /n6/DK/n5
/CIExempt direct payments/DK /CO/CO/CO/CJ
/CI/n4/CJ Cost of measure
/CI/n5/CJ Date of entry into effect
/CI/n6/CJ Period of application
/CI/n7/CJ Products to principally benefit /CIif any individual
product/CIs/CJ/CJ/CN/CN There is no ad hoc notification
arrangement under the SCM
requirements/CO Such information would
only be provided as part of the regular
notification following the introduction of
the measure /CIalbeit a /CCfull/CC notification/CJ/CO