WTO Subsidy Boxes

WTO Domestic Subsidy Boxes
...how are subsidies and other agricultural support payments classified by the World Trade Organization?

Below please find a description of these WTO boxes and the ways in which certain types of supports fall into them...

Justin Velez-Greenhalgh (developed in 2007 for Oxfam America)

· Amber Box: all domestic subsidies - such as market price support—that are considered to distort production and trade. Subsidies in this category are expressed in terms of a “Total Aggregate Measurement of Support” (Total AMS) which includes all supports in one single figure. Amber Box subsidies are subject to WTO reduction commitments
· Blue Box: subsidy payments that are directly linked to acreage or animal numbers, but under schemes which also limit production by imposing production quotas or requiring farmers to set-aside part of their land. These are deemed by WTO rules to be ‘partially decoupled’ from production and are not subject to WTO reduction commitments. In the EU, they are commonly known as direct payments
· Green Box: subsidies that are deemed not to distort trade, or at most cause minimal distortion and are not subject to WTO reduction commitments. For the EU and US one of the most important allowable subsidies in this category is decoupled support paid directly to producers. Such support should not relate to current production levels or prices. It can also be given on condition that no production shall be required in order to receive such payments.

(www.actionaid.org)