WTO Releases Draft Text on Second Wave of Fisheries Subsidies Talks
Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, who chairs the World Trade Organization's fisheries subsidies talks, introduced a draft text on tackling subsidies leading to overcapacity and overfishing during the Sept. 18 start of the fifth "Fish Week" negotiation session. The text is meant to serve as a "common starting point" while members look to further discussions and to "complete substantive work" on the second round of fisheries subsidies negotiations by December, Gunnarsson said.
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The draft features a "two-tiered scrutiny of fisheries subsidies," with the first tier involving greater scrutiny of the largest subsidy providers and the second providing for special and differential treatment for developing nations, WTO said.
The draft also has a "prohibition on subsidies contingent on fishing outside the subsidizing member's jurisdiction, along with notification and transparency provisions for information on use of forced labour, on government-to-government fisheries access agreements, and on information on non-specific fuel subsidies," the WTO said.