Doha Development Agenda: Texts and explanations
Draft Modalities for Agriculture
On 8 February 2008, Ambassador Crawford Falconer, chairperson of the agriculture negotiations, circulated his latest revised draft “modalities” containing formulas for cutting tariffs and trade-distorting subsidies, and related provisions.
The draft is a revision of the previous version circulated in July and August 2007 and the chair’s 16 working documents circulated since then. It is the result of around 150 hours of negotiations from September to January, the most intensive phase in the Doha Round since it began in 2001 and since the agriculture negotiations began in March 2000.
(The 8 February 2008 release was coordinated with Ambassador Don Stephenson, chairperson of the non-agricultural market access negotiations, who also circulated his revised draft “modalities” paper.)
Draft Modalities: Non Agricultural Market Access
The chair of the Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) negotiating group, ambassador Don Stephenson, released on 8 February 2008 the revised draft negotiating text to focus further discussions towards modalities in this area of the DDA.
The new text is the product of his bilateral and plurilateral consultations of the last few weeks and builds upon the past years of negotiation, his July 2006 text “Towards NAMA modalities”, and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. This revised text is another step in the process and might be subjected to further revision. Delegations will meet shortly to give their initial consideration to the text to improve it where necessary.
July 2004 Package
The text of the General Council’s decision on the Doha Agenda work programme (the “July package”), agreed on 1 August 2004, containing frameworks and other agreements designed to focus the negotiations and raise them to a new level.
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Declarations and Decisions of the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference (Doha, 9-14 November 2001)
The Fourth Session of the biennial mandated WTO Conference at the Ministerial level took place in Doha, Qatar on 9-14 November 2001. The Ministerial Conference is the organization's highest-level decision-making body and it meets "at least once every two years", as required by the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. The outcome of the 4th Ministerial Conference comprises several declarations and Decisions as set out below.
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Areas under negotiation
What follows is an overview of the negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda based on material found in the WTO website. In each of the areas of the DDA, the material below is organised in terms of the mandate contained in the related paragraphs of the Doha Declaration, an explanation on what it implies and related deadlines, and developments in the negotiations.
Implementation-related issues and concerns
Mandate (par 12) and Implementation Decision
Explanation
Developments
Agriculture negotiations
(see also main FAO page under Negotiations on Agriculture)
Mandate (par 13, 14)
Explanation Developments
Services negotiations
Mandate (par 15) Explanation Developments
Market access for non-agricultural products negotiations
Mandate (par 16) Explanation Developments
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) negotiations and other work
Mandate (pars 17-19) Explanation Developments
Relationship between trade and investment, preparations for negotiations
Mandate (pars 20-22) Explanation Developments
Interaction between trade and competition policy, preparations for negotiations
Mandate (pars 23-25) Explanation Developments
Transparency in government procurement, preparations for negotiations
Mandate (par 26) Explanation Developments
Trade facilitation, preparations for negotiations
Mandate (par 27) Explanation Developments
WTO rules: anti-dumping and subsidies negotiations
Mandate (par 28) Explanation Developments
WTO rules: regional trade agreements negotiations
Mandate (par 29) Explanation Developments
Dispute Settlement Understanding negotiations
Mandate (par 30) Explanation Developments
Trade and environment negotiations and other work
Mandate (pars 31-33) Explanation Developments
Electronic commerce, General Council work
Mandate (par 34) Explanation Developments Small economies, General Council work
Mandate (par 35) Explanation Developments
Trade, debt and finance, new working group
Mandate (par 36) Explanation Developments
Trade and transfer of technology, new working group (par 37)
Mandate (par 37) Explanation Developments
Technical cooperation and capacity building, General Council and Secretariat work
Mandate (pars 38-41) Explanation Developments
Least-developed countries, work in various bodies
Mandate (pars 42, 43)
Explanation Developments
Special and differential treatment, work in various bodies
Mandate (par 44)
Explanation Developments
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Relevance to Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
The Fourth Session of the biennial mandated WTO Conference at the Ministerial level took place in Doha, Qatar on 9-14 November 2001. The broad and comprehensive Doha Development Agenda (DDA) embodied in the Ministerial Declaration is to be completed as a "single undertaking" by January 1, 2005. Elements of the negotiations of the DDA that are particularly relevant to agriculture, fisheries and forestry are summarized below.
Agriculture (par 13, 14): The WTO Members recognized the work already undertaken in the negotiations that began in March 2000 under Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture. They agreed to undertake "comprehensive negotiations aimed at: substantial improvements in market access; reductions of, with a view of phasing out, all forms of export subsidies; and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support." Special and differential treatment is to be provided for developing countries to enable them to take account effectively of their development needs, including food security and rural development. Non-trade concerns is to be taken into account. Modalities for the further commitments are to be established no later than 31 March 2003 and comprehensive draft Schedules of commitments based on these modalities submitted no later than the date of the Fifth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference (which must be held before the end of 2003). The negotiations on agriculture will be concluded as part and at the date of conclusion of the negotiating agenda of the round as a whole.
Market Access for non-agricultural products (par 16):
Negotiations in this area will aim, by modalities to be agreed upon, to reduce or eliminate tariffs including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers. Product coverage shall be comprehensive and without a priori exclusions. Fishery and forestry products and agricultural products that were excluded from the Agreement on Agriculture such as rubber and hard fibres will be covered under the new round.
TRIPS (pars 17-19): It was agreed to negotiate the establishment of a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wine and spirits. Issues related to the extension of the protection of geographical indications to products other than wine and spirits will be addressed in the Council for TRIPS. The WTO Committee for TRIPS was further instructed to examine inter alia the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity and the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore.
Subsides and Countervailing Measures (par 28): Negotiations will aim at clarifying and improving disciplines under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. The Conference agreed specifically that the negotiations would "aim to clarify and improve WTO disciplines on fishery subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries." Trade and Environment (pars 31-33): The Ministerial Declaration, for the first time, recognized the right of each country to take measures to protect the environment "at the levels it considers appropriate" on the same basis as measures taken for the protection of human, animal and plant life or health, i.e. provided such measures are not applied in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner or as a disguised restriction on trade and that they are in compliance with other WTO provisions. It was agreed that there would be negotiations on the relationship between existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set out in multilateral environmental agreements and on the reduction of or elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services.
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