Acting on complaints by Brazil, the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted in Spring 2005 two dispute settlement reports that not only require changes to U.S. and European agricultural subsidies, but alter the balance of concessions reached in the 1994 Agreement on Agriculture, further...

This paper evaluates the space the domestic support rules of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) generate for different members to provide support subject to limits and exempt from limits. It reviews economic analysis of direct payments and market price support (MPS) and summarizes...

Since the expiry of the ‘peace clause' at the end of 2003, it has been unclear which obligations under the WTO SCM Agreement apply to subsidies granted to agricultural products. This is in particular important for export subsidies, which are prohibited under the SCM Agreement, but, to some...

On the face of it, many developing countries, even least developed ones, seem to be doing just fine in terms of agricultural production and trade expansion. This paper cannot answer the question whether the present multilateral rules framework strengthens or imperils resource-poor countries and...

One of the major measures embedded in the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture is the 'Special Safeguard Measures' (SSM). This has been provided as an exception to the general rule of abolition of quotas and freedom of trade for the members of this international institution to protect their domestic...

This article attempts to present a comprehensive and coherent picture of the position occupied by science under the SPS Agreement and in the SPS case law. It claims that the approach adopted by the Appellate Body reflects the explicit language of the SPS Agreement and is predominantly based on a...

Is the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a legitimacy crisis and might the protracted Doha negotiations be evidence of it? This article understands the notion of ‘legitimacy crisis’ as a severe threat to an institution’s viability due to fundamental shifts in the legitimising ideas...

The article examines the food security implications of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. It places the Agreement in historical context, examines its key provisions, and argues that the Agreement systematically favors industrialized country agricultural producers at the expense of farmers in...