WTO: Comprehensive Specific Drafting Input: Norway

10 February 2003

Committee on Agriculture
Special Session

Comprehensive Specific Drafting Input: Norway
Quantitative proposals

  1. In light of the current standing of the WTO agricultural negotiations and the work programme adopted by the Specal Session of the Committee on Agriculture on 26 March 2002, Norway would like to supplement Norway’s Comprehensive Drafting Input of December 15 2002 (JOB(02)/165) by providing the following quantitative details on market access, export competition and domestic support.
  2. The proposal will contribute to the long term objective of establishing a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system, and at the same time enable Members, according to mutually agreed rules, to foster domestic agricultural production necessary to address non-trade concerns (NTCs).

Market Access

Based on the Uruguay Round Formula,

  • an average tariff reduction of 36% from the final bound rates;
  • a minimum tariff reduction of 10% for each tariff line.

Domestic Support

Further AMS reduction commitments should be differentiated according to export orientation. The home market oriented AMS should be subject to a reduction of 20%, while the export oriented AMS should be subject to a reduction of 60%, based on available production and export statistics of a given year.

Export Competition Measures

An average reduction of the budgetary outlays of export subsidies of 60%, provided that flexibility is given in dealing with the different products. All forms of export competition measures should be subject to the same degree of discipline.