Bill 208.

Summary.

The bill proposes adopting the Protocol Amending the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (Organización Mundial del Comercio), in accordance with the Ministerial Decision of June 17, 2022. The protocol would insert the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies into Annex 1A of the founding agreement, after the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. It would be open to acceptance by Members, without reservations; it would be deposited with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization and registered under the Charter of the United Nations. The instrument was done at Geneva. Its entry into force would follow Article X of the founding agreement.

The annex would cover specific subsidies for wild marine capture fishing and fishing-related activities at sea. It defines fish, fishing, related activities, vessels and operators. It excludes aquaculture and inland fishing and attributes a subsidy to the Member granting it. It would prohibit subsidies to vessels or operators engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, following a final determination by a coastal Member, a flag State Member or a regional fisheries management organization or arrangement. A coastal Member’s determination would require notices and an opportunity to exchange information. The duration of the prohibition would reflect the infringement and last at least as long as the applicable sanction or inclusion on the regional list. Members would establish domestic measures to prevent such subsidies and consider notices from port States. Certain developing countries, including least-developed countries, would have a temporary exemption from measures within the exclusive economic zone.

Subsidies concerning stocks recognized as overfished would also be prohibited, except where subsidies or other measures are applied to restore them to a biologically sustainable level. Subsidies for activities outside coastal jurisdiction and the competence of a relevant regional organization would likewise be prohibited. The text calls for special care when subsidizing foreign-flagged vessels or fisheries whose stock status is unknown. It provides for restraint in cases involving least-developed countries, technical assistance and a voluntary funding mechanism in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola).

Members would report information on subsidies and fisheries and, where possible, on stocks, fleets, vessels and catches. They would notify determinations of illegal fishing, implementing measures, fisheries regimes and relevant regional organizations. The Committee on Fisheries Subsidies (Comité de Subvenciones a la Pesca) would review that information and the agreement’s operation and report to the Council for Trade in Goods (Consejo del Comercio de Mercancías), with support from the WTO Secretariat (Secretaría de la OMC) and contact with the Food and Agriculture Organization. Disputes would follow the procedures of GATT 1994, the Dispute Settlement Understanding and, for the prohibitions, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

The agreement would permit narrowly defined disaster-relief subsidies without altering territorial claims, maritime boundaries or rights and obligations under international law or the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. It would terminate if comprehensive disciplines were not adopted within the stated period, unless the General Council (Consejo General) decided otherwise. The proposed law would enter into force on the day following its promulgation. Its provisions concern the named institutions and the marine fishing, transport and related services sectors.