Special Differential treatment in the WTO Doha Development Agenda: Special Products and SSM

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Special Differential treatment in the WTO Doha
Development AgendaSpecial Products and SSM

• Daneswar Poonyth
• Trade and Markets Division
• FAO Regional Office for Africa, Accra, Ghana
• Daneswar.Poonyth_at_fao.org
• Ad-hoc Expert Group meeting on sensitive and
  Special Product in Trade Negotiations 3 4 May
  2007
• Benin

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Outline

• SPs - How do we identify them ?
• - Conceptual Approach
• - Analytical Framework
• - Case Study Application
• Swaziland,
• Zimbabwe,
• Botswana

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Special Product Flexibility WHY ?

• From a strict multilateral negotiations
  perspective - purpose of SPs
• To provide flexibility( less cuts) for some
  products in order to achieve greater ambition on
  all products.

From a strict development perspective purpose
of SPs To provide flexibility (policy
space) to promote development goals and
mitigate negative impacts of greater ambition.
(Stiglitz governments and markets are not
substitutes, complements)
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Why SPs are Required by Developing Countries in
the WTO?

• Post-Uruguay Round Experience for many
  developing countries trade performance is below
  expectations
• Critical Products for developing countries are
  vulnerable to unfair competition
• Bound tariffs are already approaching low applied
  tariffs for SPs and hence policy anticipated
  flexibility is likely to be lost
• Increased market access is not always increased
  food security (supply-side constraint will need
  to be enhanced for SPs)
• Changing market structures increases small farmer
  vulnerability
• Well functioning domestic markets are the
  fundamental growth areas for the Poor
• Results from model projections not very
  encouraging to poor countries--most of the gains
  from these models accrue only to the developed or
  very large developing countries.
• Many African have little other mean for product
  diversification

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Why SSM is Required by Developing Countries in
the WTO?

• Same reasons as those of SP SSM should a
  complementary instrument to support a product SP
  status
• Access to SSMs would give African countries the
  option to impose measures either as an additional
  duty or quantitative restrictions for certain
  identified products in case of imports surges
  beyond a certain volume (volume trigger) or price
  of the product falling below a threshold level
  (price trigger to counter
• To avoid being out manoeuvred as it happened in
  the Uruguay Round (where many Africa Countries
  largely failed, to take advantage of the
  possibilities to register possible AMS SSGs)

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Conceptual Approach to Identification of Special
Products
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Food Security Indicators

• Contribution of Product to Nutrition
• Product contribution to calories per capita per
  day / total calories
• per capita per day)
• Import dependency and/or self sufficiency in the
  product
• Total of product (X) imported / total of product
  (X) consumed
• Total of product (X) consumed/ total of product
  (X) produced
• Stability in access of the product
• Standard deviation or coefficient of variation of
  production and price
• of product X
• Product in Food Expenditure
• Cost of individual food basket item / Total cost
  of food basket

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Livelihood Security Indicators

• Level of Employment in product/sector
• Labour force employed in product industry/total
  area labour force
• Share of employment of the product in total
  agricultural/rural labour force
• Gender/Age distribution of labour force employed
  by the product
• Income from Product
• Income from product industry/ total household
  income
• Agricultural land/holdings product share
• Land acreage planted with product/total land
  under cultivation
• Farm holdings growing the products/total number
  of farm holdings
• Incidence of Surge/displacement by imports
• Correlation between imports and domestic
  production of product
• Growth rate of import substitutes/growth rate of
  competing domestic product

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Rural Development Indicators

• Importance of Product in national/rural
  agricultural economy
• Product economic activity/total agricultural
  output
• Product and Rural area growth
• Product growth rates relative to rural area
  growth rates
• Product Production System Profile
• Product share produced on small and medium sized
  farms/ total production
• Trends in entry/exit into/from product activity
• Domestic Value-added potential of product
• Degree to which the product can be transformed
  into other
• products/uses
• Tariff revenue from product import/export
• Tariff revenue generated by the product

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Case studies

• Africa (FAO/UNDP Partnership)
• Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Egypt
  (completed)
• Malawi, Zambia, Uganda (on going partnership with
  UNDP-Southern Africa)
• Caribbean
• Belize, St.Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad
  and Tobago (on going)
• Pacific Islands (on going)
• Samoa, Fiji, Tonga

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Special Product evaluation results
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Possible SP groups, main qualifying criteria and
total number of tariff lines (CCP/07/9)R.D
Rural Development, Food security, and LS
Livelihood Security
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Possible SP groups, main qualifying criteria and
total number of tariff lines (CCP/07/9)
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Possible SP groups, main qualifying criteria and
total number of tariff lines (CCP/07/9)
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Challenges in SP Implementation

• Issues Related to
• Data Availability
• Beneficiaries and Disaggregation
• Product Choice and Indicator
• Product Treatment and Need
• Ranking and Grouping
• Countries who members to Custom Union with a CET

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Challenges in SP Implementation

• Countries members to Custom Union with a CET
  should they declare a common SP?
• Countries belonging to different RTA increases
  the complexity?
• Many Africa countries belong multiple REC/RTA

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Thank You