R 061439Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4753
USDOC WASHDC
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
INFO OECD POSTS COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 
AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES

UNCLAS PARIS 002027 
 
 
FROM USOECD 
 
STATE FOR EUR/ERA, EEB/EPPD 
STATE PASS USTR FOR MROHDE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OECD ETRD EAGR ECON SENV
 
SUBJECT: OECD: "SOCIETAL CONCERNS" AND NON-TARIFF MEASURES MAJOR 
TOPICS AT JOINT WORKING PARTY ON AGRICULTURE AND TRADE MEETING, 
OCTOBER 16-17, 2008 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development's (OECD) Joint Working Party on Agriculture and 
Trade(JWPAT) held its 60th meeting October 16-17, 2008. During the 
meeting, there was discussion concerning election of the 2009 
Bureau, including the position of Chair.  Only one paper on the 
agenda was subject to a decision on its declassification, whereas 
the others were intended for discussion by or as information for the 
delegates.  The paper on "Societal Concerns" was discussed for 
declassification; however, based on several Members' concerns 
(including the US and France) regarding the quality of the paper, it 
was not approved for declassification.  The JWP also discussed two 
papers on non-tariff measures (NTMs) in agro-food trade.  These were 
used as a basis to table a room document requesting Members to 
review possible case studies that would utilize the suggested 
analysis framework.  Other agenda items included an update on the 
Doha Development Round and its implications on the JWP's Programme 
of Work and Budget (PWB) and papers on maritime trade costs; a case 
study of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) regarding the impacts of 
animal disease outbreaks and control practices on agricultural 
markets and trade; and a paper on extensive margins in agricultural 
trade.  The U.S. Delegation included Art Coffing/FAS, Susan 
Sadocha/FAS, Anne Effland/ERS, Melinda Meador/ US Embassy Paris and 
Margaret Hawley-Young/USOECD.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. The October 16-17 meeting of the JWPAT began a discussion of the 
2009 Bureau election.  Bureau Facilitators Jack McIver (UK) and Eva 
Blanco Medio(Spain) explained that the current Chair Fran Freeman 
(Australia) has resigned, and that the current Vice-Chair Cornelia 
Burns (Germany) could not serve as Chair due to professional 
conflicts.  The nomination period closed COB October 17.  To our 
knowledge, there was not much official interest among members in 
nominating a Chair; however there were unofficial discussions that 
perhaps a Mexican or Dutch candidate would emerge.  Additionally, 
the US and Canada supported a proposal to expand the Bureau to more 
than 2 persons to avoid such a dilemma in the future.  While there 
was no opposition to the proposal among Members, the Facilitators 
indicated that a process to expand the bureau would be considered 
and revisited in the future.  The Agenda and Summary Record of the 
59th Session were adopted. 
 
¶3. Trade and Trade Policy Implications of Different Policy Responses 
to Societal Concerns - This paper was up for declassification, 
however due to serious concerns among several members regarding the 
quality and objective of the paper, members did not agree to 
declassification. (Note that previous versions of this paper were 
discussed and heavily criticized at the January and November 2007 
JWPAT meetings.) The US strongly opposed declassification pointing 
out that the paper was poorly written, lacked focus and clarity of 
the issue, and included technical errors.  The U.S. proposed that 
the planned 2009 November workshop on societal concerns could seek 
to provide clarification of the issue and help identify those areas 
of consensus among members.  Canada also criticized the paper along 
the same grounds, as well as in being too prescriptive, while 
Germany pointed out that the paper had some legal inaccuracies. 
France also had major problems with the paper suggesting that 
further work needs to be done before declassification.  Those in 
support of declassification included the European Commission, 
Switzerland, Norway, Mexico and the Netherlands.  The Secretariat 
tried to address the questions of the paper's focus and objective by 
stating that the author was trying to compartmentalize societal 
concerns in relation to trade by pointing out those "societal 
concerns" that are dealt with under the TBT and SPS Agreements, and 
by doing so help to identify the "sensitive" issues, such as GMO's 
and animal welfare, where no consensus exists in order to foster 
dialogue among members in a setting such as the November 2009 
workshop.  Canada proposed that the paper may be improved if it 
included a paragraph on its objective.  As there was clear 
contention among the members on how to proceed, the Secretariat 
proposed that members provide written comments by November 20.  The 
paper will then be revised to reflect as much as possible the 
members' views and be presented for written declassification and/or 
discussed at the May 2009 JWPAT.  The Secretariat pointed out that 
in the event that members still cannot agree, given budgetary and 
staff constraints, future work on the paper will be terminated. 
 
¶4. Cost-Benefit Framework of Non-Tariff Measures and Data - Two 
papers were up for discussion at the JWPAT.  (Note that a scoping 
paper on this topic was discussed at the November 2007 JWPAT.)  In 
addition, a room document was tabled requesting members' provide 
input on proposed NTM case studies using the cost-benefit framework 
analysis.  While members generally were supportive of the 
methodology used in the cost-benefit analysis, several members 
expressed serious concern with the dataset used, i.e. TRAINS, in 
identifying NTM's.  The U.S. also expressed concerns about the 
UNCTAD TRAINS data indicating that it has significant inaccuracies 
and that UNCTAD probably does not have the capacity to manage it. 
The Secretariat acknowledged the concerns over the datasets, i.e. 
TRAINS is biased towards those with good notification discipline, 
but indicated there is a lack of alternatives. 
 
¶5. The room document proposes 6 case studies using the cost-benefit 
framework type analysis.  It includes a review of an NTM on pig meat 
filed by the US in 2002.  Other cases include restrictions on 
cheese, shrimp, fruits and vegetables and cut flowers.  Members were 
asked to provide comments on the proposals by November 17th. 
 
¶6. Other Agenda Items: The Secretariat updated its plans for work in 
lieu of the evaluation of the Doha agreement.  Work will continue on 
a symposium to address the future of agriculture in Spring 2009 on 
the heels of the COAG, as well as on scenario studies to commence in 
Summer 2009.  A paper on Maritime Transport Costs was discussed with 
the majority of members finding the work useful and interesting. 
This study is being done in collaboration with Trade Committee (TC) 
work, and seeks to account for costs and their impact on the value, 
quantity, composition and destination of traded agricultural goods. 
The author will revise the paper based on members' comments and the 
paper will be up for declassification at the May 2009 JWPAT. 
 
¶7. Another paper for discussion was the "Impact of Animal Disease 
outbreaks and Control practices on Agricultural Markets and Trade: 
the Case of FMD."  The paper analyzed the impacts of alternative 
control practices in the event of an FMD outbreak.  Several members 
had comments including Canada, Germany and Australia who indicated 
that the assumptions were rather simple and conclusions unclear. 
Others, such as France and Denmark, supported the paper commenting 
that the study was "reasonable" and "well-organized."  Dr. Alex 
Thiermann of the OIE attended the session and emphasized the need 
for more data in order to detect animal disease outbreaks earlier. 
Thiermann commented that he looks forward to future collaboration 
with the OECD in this area of work. The Secretariat plans to 
declassify the paper after member's comments are taken into 
consideration. 
 
¶8. The final paper discussed was "Extensive Margins in Agricultural 
Trade."  Several members were supportive of this work which seeks to 
estimate contributions of extensive and intensive margins to overall 
agricultural export growth.  While the U.S. had some concerns with 
the paper's quality, the majority of members were supportive.  After 
members' comments are taken into consideration, the paper will move 
forward for declassification. 
 
BORG