Regulating Fisheries Subsidies in the WTO

Negotiations on the norms regulating fisheries subsidies were launched within the WTO framework as part of the Doha Development Agenda in 2001, and have been ongoing for over 20 years. The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies was finalized at the 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022. The Agreement is a significant outcome of more than two decades of negotiations on fisheries subsidies. It is the first multilateral agreement to recognize that certain trade policies, such as subsidies, can have harmful impacts on the world’s marine environment, and to address the environmental issue of marine sustainability in the WTO framework by building a harmonized and interrelated relationship among trade, environment, and development. This is significant because multilateral norms on subsidies are not limited to marine resource sustainability. The WTO Members are currently exploring the appropriate role and function of subsidies in the design of policies to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from domestic industries, especially as they face the challenge of combating climate change. This is because climate change response policies using subsidies may fall within the scope of the WTO Subsidies Agreement and be subject to countervailing measures, whereas fuel subsidies that are harmful to the environment may not be regulated as they do not meet the specificity requirement. Under these circumstances, the Agreement shows that it is possible for the Members to agree on trade norms for sustainable development in response to the negative spillover effects of subsidies. However, the Agreement is limited by its incomplete form, which had to leave out norms relating to subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and special treatment for developing countries. In addition, the Agreement will be ineffective unless comprehensive norms on fisheries subsidies are agreed upon within four years of its entry into force, unless otherwise agreed upon by the Members. However, given that the current Agreement covers significant portion of dangerous situations in which subsidies can harm the marine environment, and that negotiations are currently underway to seek a comprehensive norm, it is possible that a comprehensive agreement could emerge that would encompass the outcomes of more than two decades of fisheries subsidy negotiations.