TARIFF QUOTAs: ADMINISTRATION METHODS, FILL
RATES
and notification practices
2015-2023
Background Paper by the Secretariat[1]
Revision
1.1. At the Ninth Session of the Ministerial Conference, Ministers
adopted the Decision on "Understanding on Tariff Rate Quota Administration
Provisions of Agricultural Products, as defined in Article 2 of the
Agreement on Agriculture" (_WT/MIN(13)/39-WT/L/914), hereafter referred to as the "Bali
Decision". Paragraph 13 of the Bali Decision mandated a review of the
operation of this Decision no later than four years following its adoption. The
Review discussions commenced at the October 2017 meeting of the Committee.[2]
After two years of detailed deliberations, the Committee adopted the report[3]
of the Review and the associated recommendations at its
31 October 2019 meeting, for transmission to the General Council. The
General Council considered the report at its December 2019 meeting and
approved the recommendations contained in Annex 2 thereto.[4]
The agreed recommendations contain several measures and processes aimed at
enhancing transparency and improving TRQ notification practices.
1.2. The original background paper on "Tariff quota Administration
Methods and Fill rates, 2007‑2016" in _G/AG/W/183
of 31 July 2018 was prepared by the Secretariat in order to facilitate the
Review discussions. The agreed recommendations[5]
of the Review require the Secretariat to 'regularly
update the information on tariff quota administration and fill rates as
included in the _G/AG/W/183 as well as the updated information on which Members have notified fill
rates and on questions raised in the Committee concerning fill rates'.
The agreed recommendations also require this Secretariat background note to
include 'a list of TRQs where no Table MA:2
notification has been submitted or where the fill rate is below 65%'
as well as 'a list of existing TRQ
notification practices of Members including in cases where a scheduled TRQ was
not opened'.
1.3. Paragraph 3 of the agreed recommendations of the 2017-19 Review
provided for the Committee to undertake regular triennial reviews of the
operation of the Bali Decision. The Committee concluded the first such
triennial review at its meeting on 27-28 June 2023.[6]
During the first triennial review, the Committee emphasized the 'importance of timeliness and completeness of MA:1
And MA:2 notifications and the need to implement the recommendations of the
2019 review exercise as contained in Annex 2 to _G/AG/29'.[7]
The Committee also encouraged Members implementing country-specific TRQ
allocations, as inscribed in the schedule, to present imports data in their
annual MA:2 notifications disaggregated by quota-holder supplying countries,
along with total in-quota imports.[8]
1.4. The revised paper updates the information contained in the previous
version of the background paper in _G/AG/W/183/Rev.2
dated 7 September 2022, while also taking into account the discussions in
the Committee on the follow-up of the Bali Decision, including during the first
triennial review. The revision updates: i) the list of all TRQs where the fill
rate during the covered period remained below 65%; ii) the section that
presents information on Members' TRQ notification practices including in cases
where a scheduled TRQ was not opened; and iii) the tabular summary of questions
raised in the Committee after the adoption of the Bali Decision concerning TRQ
fill rates included in a separate annex to this paper. The revision includes a
new attachment (number 3) on Members' MA:1 notifications issued since 1995,
showing their composition in terms of the reported TRQs, along with associated
administration arrangements and subsequent changes thereto. The information in
the revised note covers the period from 2015 to 2023. As in the original
background paper and its first two revisions, the information in this revised paper
has been compiled mainly from Members' Schedules[9],
Tables MA:1 and MA:2 notifications and the record of the discussions in the Committee
on Agriculture.
1.5. The revised paper is organized as follows: section two describes the
core data on scheduled agricultural tariff quotas. The third section defines
the various tariff quota administration categories and identifies those tariff
quotas that were not opened during the period under review. Section four
summarizes information on tariff quota imports, administration methods as well
as country-specific quota allocations and fill rates. Section five provides
information on Members' notification of fill rates and their practices
regarding Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) notifications, particularly in cases where a
scheduled tariff quota was not opened. It also covers details of Members'
notification practices regarding TRQ administration arrangements. Annex A
presents the simple average fill rates by Member and by administration method
for the period 2015-2023. A list of questions concerning TRQ fill rates
raised in Committee meetings for the period following the adoption of the Bali
Decision is contained in Annex B. Annex C incorporates specific technical
notes, organized by Member and tariff quota identifier (TQ ID).
1.6. Three Attachments (available
separately, with the first two in Excel format and the third in Word format, as
addenda to this document) provide respectively: (i) the yearly data for
notified in‑quota imports, administration methods and fill rates disaggregated
at the tariff quota level, (ii) a list of all tariff quotas where the fill rate
is below 65%,[10]
one of the thresholds to be satisfied in order to trigger the initiation of the
underfill mechanism forming part of the Bali Decision, and (iii) the record of Members'
MA:1 notifications issued since 1995, along with their coverage of scheduled
TRQs and the associated administration arrangements, as well as any reported changes
to administration arrangements of TRQs over time. This third attachment is
organized for all individual Members subject to scheduled TRQ commitments. It
provides information on when and in which Table MA:1 notification the
information on administration arrangement was notified for different tariff
quotas in the schedule. Additionally, the attachment includes details of the
latest administration arrangement for those TRQs, as notified by Members in
their MA:1, and in some cases MA:2, notifications.
2 DATA
2.1. This paper presents data on scheduled agricultural tariff quotas
over a recent nine-year period, i.e. from 2015 to 2023. Each tariff quota is
characterized by the scheduled commitment, the notified annual in-quota imports
and the notified administration method. The tariff quotas set out in Part I,
Section I-B of Members' Schedules (or, in the case of Brazil and the United
States of America, Part I, Section I-A) are used as main points of
reference.
2.2. Table 1 presents the total number of agriculture tariff quotas
included in Members' Schedules organized by year and by Member, except where
zero tariff quota quantity levels were scheduled[11].
Similarly, tariff quotas that are explicitly indicated to have been eliminated
in a Schedule are not counted in the totals from the year they are eliminated. [12]
In the case of the European Union (EU), the certified EU-25 Schedule is
contained in _WT/LET/1220,
effective as of 1 December 2016. For reporting years 2015 to 2020, the EU's
Table MA:1 and MA:2 notifications include modified tariff quota quantities as
well as additional tariff quotas resulting from negotiations under GATT
Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII, pertaining to the accession of Bulgaria,
Croatia and Romania to the EU. Accordingly, the revised note for these years
uses the draft EU-28 Schedule[13]
as the point of reference. The United Kingdom (UK) ceased to be a member State
of the European Union on 1 February 2020. Following the end of the
transition period under the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, the information in the
note for the period starting 1 January 2021 concerning the European Union
covers its current 27 member States and the United Kingdom is treated
separately. Finally, in the paper, "Switzerland" refers to
"Switzerland-Liechtenstein".
[1] This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own
responsibility in response to the request from Members in the context of the
review of the operation of the Bali Decision on TRQ administration and is
without prejudice to the positions of Members or to their rights and
obligations under the WTO.
[2] Section 2.2.1 of _G/AG/R/86
refers.
[4] Paragraphs 3.1 to 3.7 of _WT/GC/M/181
refer. On the mandated issue of the future operation of paragraph 4 of the
underfill mechanism, Members had not reached an agreement during the 2017-19
Review. A decision on this outstanding issue was adopted later by the General
Council on 31 March 2022 (_WT/L/1132
refers) based on the recommendations approved by the Committee on Agriculture
in _G/AG/32/Add.1.
[5] Paragraph 2 of Annex 2 to _G/AG/29
refers.
[6] Report of review in _G/AG/36.
[7] Paragraph 3.1 c) of _G/AG/36.
[8] Paragraph 3.1 d) of _G/AG/36.
[9] Sourced from the Consolidated Tariff Schedules (CTS) database.
[10] There is no implication that elements of tariff quota
administration are necessarily responsible for lower fill rates.
[11] Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of (VENQ028), Morocco (MARQ011,
MARQ013 and MARQ014) and the Russian Federation (RUSQ008).
[12] China (CHNQ005, CHNQ006 and CHNQ007), Korea (KORQ005, KORQ006,
KORQ060), Panama (PANQ016), the Russian Federation (RUSQ003, RUSQ004), and Chinese
Taipei (CHTQ001, CHTQ002, CHTQ003, CHTQ004, CHTQ019).
[13] _G/MA/TAR/RS/506. This is without
prejudice to the pending certification of the draft schedule as well as the
ongoing negotiations under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994.