DRAFT DECISION TO PRESERVE
FLEXIBILITIES IN FAVOUR OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, IN PARTICULAR LDCs, SVEs AND
NFIDCs IN AGRICULTURE, NAMA AND SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS AS A STARTING POINT
TEXTUAL PROPOSAL FURTHER TO JOB/TNC/50
The
following communication, dated 19 November 2015, is being circulated at the
request of the delegation of Barbados on behalf of the ACP Group of States.
_______________
The Ministerial Conference,
Having regard to paragraph 1 of Article IX of the
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization;
Re-emphasising the central importance of the
development objectives set out in the Doha Ministerial Declaration and early
agreements that may be reached pursuant to paragraph 47, as well as to all our
subsequent decisions and declarations and the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing
the WTO;
Reaffirming that special and differential
treatment for developing countries, in particular least-developed countries
(LDCs), small vulnerable economies (SVEs), and Net Food-Importing Developing Countries
(NFIDCs), shall be an integral part of all future negotiations and shall be
embodied in schedules of concessions and commitments and as appropriate in the
rules and disciplines to be negotiated, so as to be operationally effective and
to enable developing country Members to effectively take account of their
development needs as set out in paragraph 13 and 16 of the Doha Ministerial
Declaration;
Mindful that in recognition of the 20th
anniversary of the WTO, development decisions must be taken at our Tenth
Session;
Decides as follows:
1.1. Subject to any
adjustments in commitments to be agreed by Members, negotiations on agriculture
and non-agriculture market access (NAMA), shall, as a starting point, include
the following elements, as part of exchange of commitments by all WTO Members:
a.
The principles
behind the flexibilities stabilized so far for LDCs, SVEs, NFIDCs, countries
with low binding coverage, and recently acceded Members among these groups,
will be preserved. These flexibilities include: exemption from tariff reduction
for LDCs and countries with low binding coverage, lower reduction commitments
for SVEs, longer implementation periods; exemption from undertaking reduction
commitments in OTDS, AMS and de minimis;
continuation of the provisions under Article 6.2 of the Uruguay Round Agreement
on Agriculture; and the principle of less than full reciprocity (LTFR);
b.
In continued NAMA
negotiations, tariff reduction for those developing country Members that are
part of a customs union of developing countries which include LDCs and SVEs
shall be no more than the average tariff reduction of all the Members of the
customs union and shall in no case result in final tariffs that are below the
Common External Tariff. The tariff reduction commitments shall also be
moderated to avoid widening divergences in tariff bindings amongst the Members
of such customs unions; and
c.
Such
flexibilities will be adjusted according to any agreement on other formulas as
appropriate and in a manner that does not undermine the principles that frame
them.
1.2. The existing flexibilities for developing countries, in particular
LDCs and SVEs, in the services negotiations found in GATS Articles IV and XIX;
the Negotiating Guidelines and Procedures; and the Hong Kong Ministerial
Declaration, including Annex C, including those for LDCs, which do not contain
any concept of reciprocity in the content of offers, shall be adhered to.
Therefore, the negotiating modality should not change the architecture of the
GATS and these flexibilities. In that regard, developing country Members, in
particular LDCs and SVEs, shall not be compelled to expand the number of their
offers or to bind their existing liberalization. Developing country Members, in
particular LDCs and SVEs are free to provide offers at any time and negotiate
with other Members consistent with the request-offer modality and in line with
their development objectives.
__________