NOTIFICATION

The following submission, dated 22 March 2025, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Australia. The notification concerns new or modified domestic support measures exempt from reduction (Table DS:2).

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Table DS:2

DOMESTIC SUPPORT: AUSTRALIA

Notification under Article 18:3 of the Agreement:
New or modified domestic support measures exempt from reduction

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(1) Full title of measure:

Bolstering Australia's Biosecurity System – National Livestock Traceability Reform to Enhance Agricultural Biosecurity

(2) Domestic legislation reference:

No relevant domestic legislation. The measure was first announced in the Commonwealth October 2022 Budget. 

(3) Detailed description of measure with reference to criteria:

Funding to enhance Australia's livestock traceability arrangements which will support upgrades to and enhancement of the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database and associated systems. Funding is provided to Integrity Systems Company Ltd. (administrator of the NLIS), for provision to other third-party NLIS integrators and for related purposes.

This program meets the criteria of Annex 2, paragraphs 1 & 2(g) (infrastructural services) because it does not involve direct payments to producers and provides infrastructural services related to livestock identification and traceability.

(4) Cost of measure:

2022-23 expenditure AUD 10.55 million

Overall budgeted cost AUD 26.6 million

(5) Date of entry into effect:

October 2022 (program announced)

(6) Period of application:

October 2022 to June 2025

(7) Products to principally benefit (if any individual product(s)):

Livestock

Table DS:2

DOMESTIC SUPPORT: AUSTRALIA

Notification under Article 18:3 of the Agreement:
New or modified domestic support measures exempt from reduction

______________________________________________________________________________

(1) Full title of measure:

Powering Australia – Developing Australia's Seaweed Farming Program

(2) Domestic legislation reference:

Climate Change Act 2022 (Cth).

(3) Detailed description of measure with reference to criteria:

The Australian Government will provide funding to the Australian Sustainable Seaweed Alliance (ASSA) and Research and Development (R&D) partners to establish a foundational national hatchery network. This network will accelerate availability of seedstock and hatchery techniques and build capacity to solve the industry's biggest R&D challenges relating to hatchery techniques, strain selection and production technologies.

This programme complies with Annex 2, paragraphs 1 & 2(a) (research) because it does not involve direct payments to producers and supports research relating to aquaculture.

(4) Cost of measure:

2022-23 expenditure AUD 2.4 million

Overall budgeted cost AUD 8.1 million

(5) Date of entry into effect:

June 2023

(6) Period of application:

June 2023 to June 2026

(7) Products to principally benefit (if any individual product(s)):

Seaweed (asparagopsis)

Table DS:2

DOMESTIC SUPPORT: AUSTRALIA

Notification under Article 18:3 of the Agreement:
New or modified domestic support measures exempt from reduction

______________________________________________________________________________

(1) Full title of measure:

Trade System Support – Cultivating Australia's Agricultural Traceability – Sustainability Reporting Uplift Grants and Evidence-based Sustainability Credentials and next steps for the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework (AASF)

(2) Domestic legislation reference:

Item 536 of Schedule 1AB to the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997: "Cultivating Australia's Traceability".

(3) Detailed description of measure with reference to criteria:

Sustainability Reporting Uplift grants

Support to help build the agriculture sector's data capabilities to meet emerging international requirements and industry standards and support development of consistent sustainability frameworks. Successful projects support the agriculture sector through consistent collection, measurement and reporting of data to make it easier to demonstrate sustainable practices to meet increasing expectations from international markets and consumers.

The support will:

·_        Identify and test approaches to address known data gaps across the agricultural sector to support reporting against sustainability frameworks and emerging international requirements and standards.

·_        Identify the core cross-commodity data points and indicators required to verify the agriculture sector's sustainability credentials and quantify the potential economic benefits.

·_        Facilitate information sharing and ongoing engagement across supply chains to promote transparency in response to changing consumer and market demand.

Evidence-based Sustainability Credentials and next steps for the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework (AASF)

A grant to the National Farmers' Federation (NFF) to bring industry together to determine how to demonstrate evidence-based sustainability credentials, continue work on the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework (AASF), and shape international sustainability standards.

These programmes meet the criteria of Annex 2, paragraphs 1 & 12 (environmental programmes) because they include direct payments to producers and eligibility for such payments are determined as part of a clearly-defined government environmental program.

(4) Cost of measure:

2022-23 expenditure AUD 5.83 million

Overall budgeted cost AUD 9 million

(5) Date of entry into effect:

16 December 2021 (funds administered in 2022/23)

(6) Period of application:

16 December 2021 to 30 June 2025

(7) Products to principally benefit (if any individual product(s)):

No specific product

Table DS:2

DOMESTIC SUPPORT: AUSTRALIA

Notification under Article 18:3 of the Agreement:
New or modified domestic support measures exempt from reduction

______________________________________________________________________________

(1) Full title of measure:

Trade System Support – Cultivating Australia's Agricultural Traceability – Promoting and Protecting Premium Agriculture

(2) Domestic legislation reference:

Item 536 of Schedule 1AB to the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997: "Cultivating Australia's Traceability".

(3) Detailed description of measure with reference to criteria:

Regulatory Technology Research and Insights grant: Support for projects that show how to leverage RegTech along agricultural supply chains to enhance agricultural traceability reforms and support the growth of the agricultural sector. This aims to identify existing and potential new RegTech traceability applications and developments that can provide solutions for streamlining compliance across agricultural supply chains. It is also intended to help the adoption of appropriate, cost‑effective, and compatible digital traceability systems, to increase regulatory efficiency and reduce the administrative and compliance burdens along the agricultural supply chains.

Data Enabled Traceability Proof of Concepts: Support to the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre (Food Agility CRC) to lead, and industry-government projects to test, data-enabled traceability concepts and facilitate industry and government alignment on data standards which will encourage and empower farmers to securely capture, reuse and share data.

These programs meet the criteria of Annex 2, paragraphs 1 & 2(d) (extension and advisory services) because they do not involve direct payments to producers and provide extension and advisory services.

Export Readiness Pilot for First Nations Agriculture: Support to the Noongar Land Enterprise (NLE) to pilot the use of digital and paper-based traceability systems to meet market requirements and consumer demands. It will include 3 proof of concept designs to support the NLE become viable producers of honey and wattle seed products. The research and insights from this pilot will assist other First Nations businesses to become viable producers.

Building Trust in Australian Agricultural Traceability & Credentials in Southeast Asia: Support to strengthen trust in Australia's commercial agricultural traceability systems and robust credentials in its region by funding activities that increase supply chain transparency, build regional capability business-to-business and support development of sustainable, resilient and data enabled supply chains. This aims to demonstrate how agricultural traceability data and data standards can be used to create transparency, verify credentials to build trust, and facilitate acceptance and adoption in Southeast Asia markets. It is also intended to enable research and modelling of emerging credential requirements, such as sustainability, and leveraging traceability data to enable market access and boost the availability of Australian agricultural products in Southeast Asia markets.

National Agriculture Traceability Grants Program – Brand Australia International Traceability Symposiums Grant: Enables the Export Council of Australia (ECA) to provide international trading partners with awareness and understanding of Australia's initiatives, goals and practices in agricultural traceability and encourage alignment of their traceability efforts with Australia.

These programs meet the criteria of Annex 2, paragraphs 1 & 2(f) (marketing and promotion services) because they do not involve direct payments to producers and provide marketing and promotion services.

(4) Cost of measure:

2022-23 expenditure AUD 8.586 million (2(d): AUD 8 million; 2(f): AUD 586,000)

Overall budgeted cost AUD 16.213 million (2(d): AUD 11 million; 2(f): AUD 5.213 million)

(5) Date of entry into effect:

16 December 2021

(6) Period of application:

16 December 2021 to 30 June 2025

(7) Products to principally benefit (if any individual product(s)):

No specific product

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