5 - Transparency

Summary

Review in the Committee on Agriculture of implementation of domestic support commitments is assessed in this chapter, drawing on the WTO’s Agricultural Information Management System (Ag-IMS). A total of 4,051 domestic support questions were posed toward 108 members between 1995 and mid-2021, particularly about support claimed as green box exempt, calculation of AMS support, and transparency. There are substantial delays in the submission of notifications and questions in the review process often do not elicit informative answers. Nonetheless, the Committee exchanges increase members’ understanding of others’ policies and interpretations of the Agreement. Measuring MPS is complex, can have a decisive bearing on assessment of a member’s compliance with its support obligations, and often is not resolved through Committee discussion, as demonstrated by the notifications and counter-notifications submitted concerning India’s AMS support for wheat and other products in later years.