Title: AGRICULTURAL EXPORT RESTRICTIONS, FOOD SECURITY AND THE WTO
Abstract: Countries intervening to restrict their exports is not among the main causes of the insecurity of the poor in the developing world. Nevertheless, export restrictions proved to significantly contribute to exacerbating negative effects on food security when an unexpected, rapid increase of food staple prices occur and a food crisis develops. Agricultural export restrictions are a policy area which remained 'under regulated' in the Uruguay Round agreement. Current provisions are weak and largely ignored. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the on-going discussion on the introduction of more effective, multilaterally agreed and enforced, rules on export restrictions in agriculture to avoid the additional problems they impose on poor consumers worldwide in the event of a dramatic price surge. The paper is structured in five sections. Section one introduces the issue. Section two discusses current WTO disciplines regarding export restrictions, considering also how they are dealt with in the accession protocols of countries that have become members since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and in Regional Trade Agreements. Section three presents the evolution of the negotiations for the introduction of a multilaterally agreed more stringent discipline of export restrictions since the start, in 1999, of the post-Uruguay Round negotiations on agriculture in the WTO. Section four, which is the core of the paper, presents possible alternative options for a WTO agreement on agricultural export restrictions. Seven options are presented in increasing order of 'ambition', from enabling food purchases by international humanitarian organizations to be distributed on a non-commercial basis to be exempt from export restrictions, to introducing disciplines on export restrictions which mimic those in place for import restrictions. Section five concludes the paper by discussing the degree of 'ambition' of a possible agreement on agricultural export restrictions under three alternative scenarios: the conclusion of the Doha Round ('single undertaking'), an 'early harvest' scenario, and a 'stand alone' agreement on export restrictions only.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 2
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