‘Modalities?/p>

The way or method of doing something ?in the Doha Round these are blueprints for the final deal, eg, how to cut tariffs, and reduce agricultural subsidies and support, along with flexibilities to deal with various sensitivities. Once the modalities have been agreed, countries can apply the formulas to tariffs on thousands of products and to various support programmes.

The negotiations aim to reform agricultural trade principally in three areas: market access, domestic support and export subsidies. The modalities spell out how to achieve this.

 

What does this mean for... ?

Market access: tariffs, tariff quotas and safeguards

For wheat, rice, beef, sugar, cheese, potatoes, pineapples, etc - how deep the cuts on tariffs would be for these depends on:

• how high the current tariff is: higher tariffs have higher cuts, ranging from 50% to 66-73% subject to a 54% minimum average for developed countries; 33.3% to 44-48% for developing
    
• whether the product is “sensitive?(all countries) or “special?(developing): sensitive products would have cuts of only 1/3, 1/2 or 2/3 of the normal cut but with a quantity allowed in at a lower quota; special products would also have smaller cuts, and some might be exempt completely
    
• whether the applied tariffs are lower than the bound tariffs. Cuts are made from legally bound rates. Tariffs actually charged can be lower. If a developing country has a bound tariff of 100% but only charges 25%, the bound tariff would be cut by 42.7% ie, cut to 57.3%. That means no change in the 25% tariff actually charged, with room to more than double the tariff.
    
• the country's status: least-developed countries would make no cuts on any products, developing countries in general would make smaller cuts and have more flexibilities than developed, small and vulnerable economies would make even smaller cuts with even more flexibilities, and countries that recently joined the WTO would also have special terms.

 

Support for farmers and for agriculture

Support for prices, or for earnings according to how much is produced or sold, would be substantially cut but not eliminated. Countries providing large amounts of this “distorting?support would cut it the most, many are already reforming their programmes. They and the rest would still be allowed a conceptually small or “de minimis?amount limited to 2.5% of the value of production for developed countries, 6.7% for developing. For individual products this type of support would also be limited to avoid concentration.

But a wide range of support for agriculture as a whole would be allowed without limit under the “Green Box? considered non-trade distorting, i.e., for development, infrastructure, research, agricultural extension, structural adjustment, etc. Conditions would be tightened to prevent direct income supports, etc, from stimulating production.

 

Export subsidies

These would be eliminated by 2013, including subsidies hidden in export credit, disciplines on state trading enterprises and non-emergency food aid.

 

July 2008 negotiations and after

When ministers came to negotiate “modalities?in Geneva in July 2008, Director-General Pascal Lamy said they had agreed tentatively on a number of issues but were stuck on the “special safeguard mechanism?for developing countries. This is described here. Summaries of the July talks (and more) can be found here.

 

Now on the table

Then in December 2008, the chairperson of the agriculture negotiations circulated the latest version of his draft “modalities? This is the version currently on the table.

 

 

Since then ?/h2>

The new agriculture negotiations chairperson, Ambassador David Walker of New Zealand, has been holding talks on unsettled issues arising from the December 2008 draft, and on the technical task of creating “templates?? blank forms prepared for members?“schedules?(or lists) of commitments, and for data used to calculate the commitments, some of the data to be in “supporting tables?attached to the schedules of commitments. The commitments themselves will be prepared after “modalities?are agreed ? the “modalities?contain formulas for calculating the new commitments on tariffs, tariff quotas and support. But the forms and data needs will be identified with the “modalities? which is why the work is being undertaken now.

 

Find out more ?/h2>

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