The Trend Of The Laws Of Green Box Measures In The Ages Of WTO

The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) has established a set of regulations about domestic support. The Agreement divides domestic support of WTO Members into yellow box measures, blue box measures and green box measures according to the effects of execution of domestic support on the trade-distortion. Yellow box and blue box measures are the policies directly influencing the production and price of agricultural products, while green box measures have no, or the least trade-distorting effects, for these are the support provided by a publicly-funded government program not related to the farmers' production strategies. Moreover, one of the main purposes of URAA is to encourage Members to transfer the policies from those of high trade-distorting effects i.e. yellow box and blue box measures to those of no, or the least trade distorting effects, i.e. green box measures. Green box measures have a large number of contents, actually they are the supportive measures made by WTO Members to realize such objectives as food security, rural area development and environmental protection.This thesis aims to study the green box measures and is divided into four chapters. Chapter One observes and studies the trend of the laws of green box measures in the law system of WTO, and puts forward two sets of modification suggestions about the reforming of WTO green box measures;Chapter Two expounds the trend of the laws of green box measures in the law system of other international organizations, i.e. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Food Programs, International Fund for Agricultural Development and EU. Chapter Three makes a comparative study on the trend of the laws ofgreen box measures in the law system of the developed WTO Members and the developing Members, as the related domestic legislation adjustment of America, Sweden, Japan, Australia and Brazil, and discovers that a lot of policy makers of the Members are designing the agricultural support according to the standards of green box measures;Chapter Four explores the trend of the laws of green box measures in the law system of China. It analyzes the characteristics and shortcomings of the prevailing green box measures in China, and puts forward some suggestions to develop and perfect green box measures of China. In conclusion, this thesis argues that the regulation of green box measures in the prevailing law of WTO is not suitable to the agricultural development of the developing Members, because it has not brought any material benefits for the developing Members. Therefore, in order to coordinate and stabilize the world agricultural development, WTO Members should give the developing Members special treatment in a long time. Only in this way can we push forward the progress of the overall development of the worldwide agriculture.