REPORT (2017) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

Report by the Chairperson

1.1.  The present draft report is being circulated by the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture on his own responsibility. This report provides a summary of the activities of the Committee on Agriculture ("the Committee") during 2017.

1.2.  The Committee held three formal meetings in 2017 on 27-28 March, 7-8 June, and 17‑18 October.^[1] An informal meeting was held on 17 October. Garth Ehrhardt was the Chairperson for the March meeting of the Committee. The Committee elected Mr Alf Vederhus of Norway as the new Chairperson for 2017‑2018 beginning with the June meeting.

1.3.  In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agreement on Agriculture ("the Agreement") at each of its meetings the Committee reviewed progress in the implementation of Members' commitments. This review process is undertaken on the basis of notifications submitted by Members in the areas of market access, domestic support, export competition, export prohibitions and restrictions as well as under the follow-up to the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on NFIDCs. Between 1 January and 31 October 2017, 182 agriculture notifications of all types were circulated.

1.4.  In 2017, Members posed 200 questions on 67 notifications during the Committee's review process. These questions were distributed as follows: 86% related to domestic support issues, 9% to market access, and 5% to export competition.^[2] Specific concerns were also raised regarding the outstanding notifications that some Members had yet to submit to the Committee.^[3]

1.5.  A wide range of matters relevant to the implementation of commitments was also raised independently of notifications under the provisions of Article 18.6 of the Agreement. A total of 54 implementation-related issues were raised by 14 Members during 2017.^[4] Out of these, 40 issues were discussed for the first time in 2017. The remaining issues were discussed one or more times in previous years either under the review of notifications or under matters raised under Article 18.6. In 2017 a large number of the new issues related to the areas of domestic support and market access.

1.6.  At each meeting the Committee reviewed the current status of Members' compliance with their notification obligations under the Agreement. A document summarizing the current status of compliance with notification requirements was circulated at each Committee meeting.^[5] While a significant proportion of notifications are still outstanding (about 26% of all notifications from 1995 ‑ 2015), Members have increased their efforts to bring their notification record up to date by submitting notifications covering multiple reporting periods. Since 2009, the average number of years reported per notification has been close to three.