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WTO Agricultural Trade Policy Commitments Database

Contents
 

Overview

At the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations in 1995, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) established a broad set of rules and disciplines in the Agreement on Agriculture, governing three key areas affecting agricultural trade policy: domestic support, export subsidies, and market access. This database contains data on implementation of commitments in agricultural policy by WTO members.

Export subsidy data indicate the type of export subsidies, expenditures on export subsidies, and the quantity of subsidized exports during a given year by WTO members. Domestic support data detail the type and amount of support WTO members have provided annually. Market access data contain information on tariff commitments and their implementation by presenting bound tariff levels and tariff-rate quotas agreed to in the Uruguay Round, as well as applied annual tariff rates (i.e., the tariff rates published by national customs authorities for duty administration purposes).

Searchable Databases and Downloadable Excel Files

The data are organized into three sections; one each for domestic support, export subsidy, and market access data.

  • WTO Export Subsidy Notifications—Data are broken down into expenditures on export subsidies and quantity of subsidized exports. (Data in custom database updated in February 2009.)
  • WTO Domestic Support Notifications—Data include the aggregate measurement of support and may be commodity-specific, non-commodity-specific, green box, or blue box. (Data in custom database updated in March 2009.)
  • WTO Tariff Levels—WTO bound and annual applied data are presented in a set of commodity aggregates. These aggregates allow comparison across countries of average levels of tariff protection. The data on tariff-rate quotas are presented at the level of aggregation specified by WTO members in their market access schedules. (Data from December 2002.)

Each of the three databases contains a common set of information about the respective data series: Overview, Documentation, Standard, Custom, and More Info. Documentation contains detailed information about the source, methodology, update cycle, and user instructions for the data. Standard presents a series of summary or analytical tables that are designed for the convenience of most users. Custom allows users who want more detailed information to query the database.

Questions and Answers

Answers to questions such as: When are the data updated? Where are the original sources of the data? How do I create a custom query? How do I save my query results?

Glossary

See the WTO Briefing Room Glossary for explanations of the trade and policy concepts used in the database.

Related Resources

WTO Briefing Room
Agricultural Market Access Database
World Trade Organization

 

For more information, contact: Mary Anne Normile (export subsidies), Birgit Meade (domestic support), or John Wainio (tariffs)

Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov

Updated date: March 5, 2009