Cairns Group — Group of agricultural exporting nations lobbying for agricultural trade liberalization. It was formed in 1986 in Cairns, Australia just before the beginning of the Uruguay Round. Current membership: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay.

CAP — Common Agricultural Policy — The EU’s comprehensive system of production targets and marketing mechanisms designed to manage agricultural trade within the EU and with the rest of the world.

Codex Alimentarius — FAO/WHO commission that deals with international standards on food safety.

distortion — When prices and production are higher or lower than levels that would usually exist in a competitive market.

deficiency payment — Paid by governments to producers of certain commodities and based on the difference between a target price and the domestic market price or loan rate, whichever is the less.

EEP — Export enhancement programme — programme of US export subsidies given generally to compete with subsidized agricultural exports from the EU on certain export markets.

food security — Concept which discourages opening the domestic market to foreign agricultural products on the principle that a country must be as self-sufficient as possible for its basic dietary needs.

internal support — Encompasses any measure which acts to maintain producer prices at levels above those prevailing in international trade; direct payments to producers, including deficiency payments, and input and marketing cost reduction measures available only for agricultural production.

International Office of Epizootics — Deals with international standards concerning animal health.

multifunctionality — Idea that agriculture has many functions in addition to producing food and fibre, e.g. environmental protection, landscape preservation, rural employment, etc. See non-trade concerns.

non-trade concerns — Similar to multifunctionality. The preamble of the Agriculture Agreement specifies food security and environmental protection as examples. Also cited by members are rural development and employment, and poverty alleviation.

peace clause — Provision in Article 13 of the Agriculture Agreement says agricultural subsidies committed under the agreement cannot be challenged under other WTO agreements, in particular the Subsidies Agreement and GATT. Expires at the end of 2003.

reform process/program — The Uruguay Round Agriculture Agreement starts a reform process. It sets out a first step, in the process, i.e. a program for reducing subsidies and protection and other reforms. Current negotiations launched under Article 20 are for continuing the reform process.

SPS regulations — Sanitary and Phytosanitary regulations — government standards to protect human, animal and plant life and health, to help ensure that food is safe for consumption.

variable levy — Customs duty rate which varies in response to domestic price criterion.

 

Intellectual property 

Berne Convention — Treaty, administered by WIPO, for the protection of the rights of authors in their literary and artistic works.

CBD — Convention on Biological Diversity.

compulsory licensing — For patents: when the authorities license companies or individuals other than the patent owner to use the rights of the patent — to make, use, sell or import a product under patent (i.e. a patented product or a product made by a patented process) — without the permission of the patent owner. Allowed under the TRIPS Agreement provided certain procedures and conditions are fulfilled. See also government use.

counterfeit — Unauthorized representation of a registered trademark carried on goods identical or similar to goods for which the trademark is registered, with a view to deceiving the purchaser into believing that he/she is buying the original goods.

exhaustion — The principle that once a product has been sold on a market, the intellectual property owner no longer has any rights over it. (A debate among WTO member governments is whether this applies to products put on the market under compulsory licences.) Countries’ laws vary as to whether the right continues to be exhausted if the product is imported from one market into another, which affects the owner’s rights over trade in the protected product. See also parallel imports.

geographical indications — Place names (or words associated with a place) used to identify products (for example, “Champagne”, “Tequila” or “Roquefort”) which have a particular quality, reputation or other characteristic because they come from that place

government use — For patents: when the government itself uses or authorizes other persons to use the rights over a patented product or process, for government purposes, without the permission of the patent owner. See also compulsory licensing.