REFORM OF AGRICULTURAL TRADE IN TERMS OF MARKET ACCESS

COMMUNICATION FROM ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, PARAGUAY AND URUGUAY

Revision

The following communication, dated 5 December 2025, is being circulated at the request of the aforementioned Members.

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1  INTRODUCTION

1.1.  International trade plays a key role in our food security and nutrition, by facilitating broad and timely access to agricultural products through integration into local, regional and global supply chains, thus making food more affordable and readily available. That is why, in order to provide a suitable response to global food insecurity challenges, the World Trade Organization must make a decisive push forward in all areas of agricultural reform.

1.2.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the definition of food security adopted at the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) states that "[f]ood security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life".

1.3.  FAO data indicates that some 800 million people are currently affected by hunger, despite the fact that enough food is produced around the world to meet the needs of the entire global population. FAO also outlines four main dimensions of food security: physical availability of food; economic and physical access to food; food utilization; and stability of the other three dimensions over time.

1.4.  Reforming agricultural trade in terms of market access has the potential to support efforts in each of the four dimensions of food security: increasing the physical availability of food, by enabling it to be redistributed from regions with surplus production to regions with a shortfall; economic accessibility, by increasing the available supply and drawing on the comparative advantages of other countries and regions in certain products, resulting in cheaper food; food utilization, by providing consumers with the possibility of a more varied diet; and stability, especially insofar as open trade is ensured under predictable rules, which, as a whole, would reduce the risk of shortages in domestic markets and would mitigate the volatility of local and international prices, thereby ensuring more resilient supply chains.

1.5.  The elements presented in this submission contribute in particular to the stability dimension, given that they would enhance predictability for both exporters and importers, securing the livelihoods of producers, particularly in developing and least developed countries where agriculture and the agro-industry remain the main drivers of the economy and one of the main sources of direct and indirect jobs.

1.6.  Elements that address issues such as tariff escalation are also central to development, productive diversification and poverty reduction in developing and least developed countries.

1.7.  In addition, reducing tariffs and tariff protection for agricultural products would allow resources to be used and distributed more efficiently, which would result in higher production with a lower environmental impact, enabling better conservation.

2  Tariff simplification

2.1.  Using the list of concessions approved in the most recent version of the Harmonized System (HS), Members shall amend their schedules of concessions, before the Fifteenth Ministerial Conference, in order to convert bound non-ad valorem tariffs for agricultural products[1] to simple ad valorem tariffs.

2.2.  To this end, Members with bound non-ad valorem tariffs shall submit, within a period of [X] months, a table with their corresponding bound and applied tariffs in terms of their fixed ad valorem equivalents.

2.3.  The method for converting final bound non-ad valorem tariffs to the ad valorem equivalents shall be the unit value method based on the Integrated Database (IDB) import data using the most recent three-year period for which data is available, as of the date of adoption of this Decision.

2.4.  In all cases, Members shall supply supporting data that demonstrate that the proposed simplified bound tariff is representative of, and does not amount to any increase over, the original more complex tariff and that the proposed simplification is in conformity with the agreed methodology.

2.5.  In the event that a Member considers that the simple ad valorem tariff for one or more products proposed by another Member as a result of this exercise is higher than the previous bound tariff, the Member may request a review of the calculation methodology with a view to reaching an understanding on the appropriate tariff level.

2.6.  At the request of Members, the WTO Secretariat shall provide advice on relevant technical issues and the necessary technical assistance to developing and least developed Members to calculate the ad valorem equivalent tariffs and carry out this exercise.

2.7.  Members that still have unbound tariff levels, shall complete the tariff binding process in simple ad valorem terms, taking as a binding ceiling the average tariff level applied in the last three years following the adoption of this Decision, within the time frame laid down in paragraph 2.2.

2.8.  Members that maintain unbound tariffs for products classified as prohibited in their jurisdiction may retain this right.

3  TARIFF ESCALATION

3.1.  Tariffs on processed products may not exceed [X]% of the tariffs on the primary products to which they correspond.

3.2.  To that end, Members shall review bound tariffs on primary and processed products on the basis of a list to be negotiated and agreed before the Fifteenth Ministerial Conference.

3.3.  This review shall be undertaken immediately after the completion of the process provided for in the preceding paragraph, and shall be concluded within a period of [X] months.

4  HIGH TARIFFS AND TARIFF PEAKS

4.1.  The maximum tariff value shall be defined as the value obtained by multiplying by three the simple average ad valorem tariff equivalent for the entire tariff universe.

4.2.  However, as a result of applying this calculation, the maximum tariff value may not exceed a tariff of 100%.

5  COTTON

5.1.  Pursuant to the adoption of this Decision, Members that declare themselves to be in a position to do so, shall, to the extent provided for in their respective preferential trade arrangements for least developed Members, grant duty-free and quota-free access to markets for cotton and the relevant cotton-related products included in the list annexed to the Nairobi Ministerial Decision (_WT/MIN(15)/46 - _WT/L/981) and in Annex 1 to the Agreement on Agriculture, and that are produced and exported by least developed Members.

6  CONTINUATION OF THE REFORM PROCESS AND ADOPTION OF THE TARIFF REDUCTION FORMULA

6.1.  Members shall define clear parameters for achieving meaningful market access through a tariff reduction formula to be agreed, at the latest, at the Fifteenth WTO Ministerial Conference.

6.2.  Future improvements in market access to be made through the application of the aforementioned tariff reduction formula shall take the tariff levels defined under sections 3 and 4 of this proposal as a starting point.

6.3.  Developing country Members shall have the right to have recourse to a special safeguard mechanism, with precise arrangements to be further defined. The special safeguard mechanism shall be an integral element and may not exceed the bound rate that prevailed before the improvements outlined in the preceding paragraph.

6.4.  Pursuant to Article 5.9 of the Agreement on Agriculture, the special safeguard provisions shall remain in force for the duration of the reform process as determined under Article 20, or until the provisions for the implementation of the special safeguard mechanism, referred to in the preceding paragraph, are defined, whichever occurs first.

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