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Developing members at the WTO face a shrinkage in policy space for supporting their agricultural sector due to the limited room available under the provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). Contrastingly, most developed members can provide high levels of product-specific support without breaching their commitments on account of their support entitlements. For some of these members, the so-called ‘Blue Box’ under the AoA, plays a pivotal role in expanding the policy space with respect to domestic support to agricultural products. Though a lot of scholarship has discussed and examined other support provisions under the AoA, the ‘Blue Box’ remains relatively shrouded in mystery. Testimony to this is the fact that although the Blue Box has found use amongst developed members, no developing member, except for China in 2016, has ever used the Blue Box to support their producers. Given the impasse in the Doha Round of negotiations and limited flexibilities available under the AoA, this paper examines the feasibility and compatibility Blue Box measures with developing members’ socio-economic situation. Findings of this paper bring to fore the variations in member practice and the operational flexibilities available in implementing Blue Box programmes to support agriculture. JEL: F13, F14, F17, Q17

In the article “Long-term Employment Outcomes After Epilepsy Surgery in Childhood” by Reinholdson et al.,1 there is an error in figure 1. The blue box (sixth from the bottom) directly below the green and yellow boxes titled “15-year” should read: “Included: 105 Lost: 16.” The authors regret the error.

[Resumen]: En los últimos años, la química supramolecular ha tenido un gran auge que se refleja en el interés de la comunidad científica por el estudio de nuevos receptores moleculares con importantes aplicaciones en la biotecnología, la nanocienca o catálisis. Este trabajo de fin de grado se centra en la síntesis de nuevos ciclofanos multicatiónicos, con una estructura parecida a la Blue Box. Por lo tanto, su estructura rectangular consta de dos lados π deficientes unidos mediante dos puentes de p-xileno, originando una cavidad hidrofóbica que puede interaccionar con compuestos π excedentes mediante fuerzas intermoleculares, dando lugar a un complejo de inclusión. Para ello se llevará a cabo la síntesis de diferentes “building blocks” o componentes complementarios entre sí que bajo un estricto control termodinámico formarán mediante un enlace covalente imínico el receptor. Esta es un manera sencilla y eficiente de sintetizar receptores moleculares para sustratos aromáticos π excedentes de pequeño tamaño entre los cuales podemos incluir gran parte de los PAHs. [Resumo]: Nos últimos anos, a química supramolecular tivo un gran auxe que se reflexa nun interese da comunidade científica polo estudo de novos receptores moleculares con importantes aplicacións na biotecnoloxía, na nanocienca ou en catálisis. Este traballo de fin de grao céntrase na síntese de novos ciclofanos multicatiónicos, cunha estrutura parecida á Blue Box. Polo tanto, a súa estrutura rectangular consta de dous lados π deficientes unidos mediante dúas pontes de p-xileno, orixinando unha cavidade hidrofóbica que pode interaccionar con compostos π excedentes mediante forzas intermoleculares, dando lugar a un complexo de inclusión. Para iso levarase a cabo a síntese de diferentes “building blocks” ou compoñentes complementarios entre si que baixo un estrito control termodinámico formarán mediante un enlace covalente imínico o receptor. Esta é un maneira sinxela e eficiente de sintetizar receptores moleculares para substratos aromáticos π excedentes de pequeno tamaño entre os cales podemos incluír gran parte dos PAHs. [Abstract]: In the last years, supramolecular chemistry has had a significant boom that is reflected in the interest of the scientific community for the study of new molecular receptors with important applications in biotechnology, nanoscience or catalysis. This end-of-degree project is focused on the synthesis of new polycationic cyclophanes, with a similar structure to the Blue box one. Therefore, its rectangular structure consists of two π deficient sides bonded by two p-xylene units, creating a hydrophobic cavity that can interact with π electron-rich compounds by intermolecular forces, giving rise to an inclusion complex. For this purpose, the synthesis of the different “building blocks” or complementary components, that will be carried out under a strict thermodynamic control, will form the receptor through an imine covalent bond. This is a simple and efficient way to synthesize molecular receptors for π electron-rich compounds of small size, among which we can include a large part of the PAHs. Traballo fin de grao (UDC.CIE). Química. Curso 2018/2019

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP; figure 1) is one of the most climatically sensitive regions on Earth and one of the most variable. The strong climatic variability gives us the opportunity to study and understand how the ocean responds to—and gives feedback on—climate change, and hence to learn about the key mechanisms that are at work, which might apply around the Southern Ocean as a whole. Data coverage is still inadequate across the Southern Ocean (because of remoteness and harsh conditions) and, despite being better observed than many other regions around Antarctica, the nature of oceanographic and atmospheric change on the WAP is poorly constrained. This theme issue addresses some of the most important and pressing questions surrounding marine system variability at the WAP. How has the WAP changed and how will it change in future? What's driving these changes? And why is there such an extraordinary degree of spatial and temporal variability in the region? Figure 1. A map of the Antarctic Peninsula, showing the main islands and ice shelves (grey areas), with research locations mentioned in the text marked with triangles. The main map is an enlarged view of the blue box and was made using etopo1 bathymetry (for bedrock and ice surface files, see https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/docucomp/page?xml=NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC/MGG/DEM/iso/xml/316.xml&view=getDataView&header=none). These questions were addressed in two interlinked meetings held in 2017. A 2 day meeting was hosted in May at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, UK (co-sponsored by the Southern Ocean Observing System, the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research and the Scientific Committee for Ocean Research), aimed at gathering and critically assessing a broad view from the international community on the gaps and challenges in WAP oceanographic research. A second meeting was held at the Kavli International Centre at Chicheley Hall, UK (funded by the Royal Society), specifically to identify the key …

This study examines how changing the mix of materials accepted in Ontario's residential recycling program (Blue Box) affects provincial material management costs and recycling rates. Specifically, this study quantifies the impact of “non-core” material recycling on system costs and diversion levels (where non-core materials are defined as materials with high material management costs and low levels of recyclability). Using a systems based cost model, focus is placed on analyzing: (1) how has the generation of “non-core” materials changed in the past decade? (2) What would happen to provincial recycling costs and diversion levels if non-core materials were removed from the Blue Box program? (3) Is it possible to achieve the provinces’ 70% recycling target if non-core materials were no longer being collected? The results of this analysis show that removing non-core materials from the Blue Box program significantly decreased system costs without negatively impacting overall recycling rates. This study also found that it was possible to increase the provincial recycling rate while simultaneously reducing program costs by targeting specific materials for recovery. The findings of this study suggest that Ontario reevaluate the types of material included in the residential Blue Box program.

This study examines the effects of pay as you throw schemes (PAYT) on municipal recycling rates in Ontario, Canada. Using a combination of panel and semi-structured survey data from provincial municipalities, focus is placed on analyzing: (a) the effects of PAYT systems on municipal recycling rates, (b) the relationship between mandatory recycling legislation and the effectiveness of PAYT policy, (c) the impact of Ontario's “one Blue Box per household” provision on PAYT schemes and (d) whether the presence of PAYT systems significantly modify household recycling behavior. The results of the analysis show that while the implementation of PAYT schemes does increase municipal recycling rates, there are opportunities for further improvement. In Ontario, the effectiveness of PAYT policy is impaired by inconsistent enforcement and the inadequate capacity of household recycling bins (“blue bins”).

Subsidies in the agriculture sector, either from industrialised economies, or its unregulated use in the farm sector by the emerging economies, creates inconsistencies in the agreed trading approach to achieve the objectives of the WTO (Objectives as mentioned in the preamble of the WTO). These objectives, enshrined in the preamble of the WTO declaration are also supported by the underlying principles of fairness, equity, distribution of resources, and creating reasonable trading opportunities for all the Member States, classified as Developed, Developing and Less-Developed countries (The key objectives to promote welfare and development are as: ‘economic endeavor should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living,’ ‘recognizing the need for positive efforts to secure the share of growth in international trade of the Developing and Less Developed countries’ as inscribed in the preamble). Ironically, the promotion of free trade market policies, also concerned with the liberalisation of agricultural trade, on a phase by phase basis, for some reasons takes a narrow approach and often become restricted to trade bargains. The Agreement on Agriculture, (AoA, here after) in the context of the WTO’s trading principles is an attempt to limit the use of agricultural subsidies, mainly by the industrially advanced countries of the WTO. Whenever, discussions from the trade liberalisation policy perspectives are held, usually they get interfaced with fair trade approach, and in this concern, agricultural subsidies provided by the Developed nation is contended as an issue of trade distortion. Such measures adopted by the developed countries indeed reduces the export opportunities of the Developing and Less-Developed countries, creating an opposing trend for the development of the comparative cost advantage and welfare of the Developing and Less-Developed countries.

Among the many hurdles faced by developing countries, food safety with respect to mycotoxin contamination has frequently been side-lined with few countries having regulations and with poor enforcement where they do exist. Whereas commodity exporters may have the resources for engaging commercial accredited laboratories, the greatest challenge is found in rural, predominantly subsistence or smallholder farms, where conventional food surveillance is lacking. Rapid methods, designed for use in field conditions, where electricity is lacking or unreliable, can offer some solution to these problems. The World Food Programme's ‘Blue Box’ is an example of how technology can be adapted for these rural areas. The recent development of temperature stable aptamers and smart mobile phone technology may further enhance efforts to provide food safety in these areas.

This study highlights the economic and environmental challenges of recycling in Ontario, specifically examining the effect of attempting to increase the emissions target for the province’s household recycling programme. The findings from the cost model analysis found that Ontario’s Blue Box programme reduces overall carbon emissions by approximately 1.8 million tonnes every year. This study also found that targeting specific materials for recovery could result in a scenario where the province could improve both overall diversion and emissions offsets while reducing material management costs. Under our modelled scenario, as the tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) avoided increases, the system cost per tonne of GHG avoided initial declines. However, after avoiding 2.05 million tonnes of GHGs, the system cost/tonne GHG avoided increases. To achieve an emissions target in excess of 2.05 million tonnes, the province will have to start recycling higher cost non-core materials (composite materials, other plastics, etc.).

This study undertook a critical examination of Ontario’s extended producer responsibility scheme for the residential “Blue Box” recycling program, specifically examining the relationship between packaging fee rates and material-specific recycling rates. Using data collected for each of the 23 materials found in the residential recycling program over the past decade, a regression model was developed to gauge what relationship (if any) packaging recycling rates have with fee rates, costs of material management and revenue from the sale of recyclable material. The modeling in this study indicates that packaging fee rates have no effect on packaging recycling rates. Recycling rates were positively correlated with material revenue and negatively correlated with material management costs. There is no evidence that suggests that Ontario’s fee model used to allocate environmental handling fees to individual materials encourages waste diversion or design for the environment. The disconnect in the results and the intended function of packaging fee rates calls into question the appropriateness of Ontario’s fee rate methodology.

This study undertook an extensive overview of the state of recycling in Ontario, including detailed discussions on the types of material being generated and diverted and the economics of Blue Box recycling. Specifically, this study examined how Blue Box generation, recovery and costs have changed over time, and identified trends in the data to suggest that material management costs are increasing inordinately relative to the quantities of material being recovered. While it is difficult to specifically isolate the cause for rising system costs, there is evidence in the data to suggest that high cost "fringe" materials now comprise a larger share all material being generated in the province. Given that there is strong statistical support to suggest that this trend is likely to continue into the future, policy planners need to take a step back and identify not only how to reverse these trends, but develop policies that optimize the mix of materials being recovered.

This paper uses an agricultural trade policy simulation model to quantitatively evaluate the effects of Blue Box policy reform on agricultural production and trade, and further provides specific proposals regarding China's reform position. The results indicate that, if the reform could achieve a reduction in distorting supports in more developed countries, China's total agricultural production would increase, accompanied by a decrease in agricultural imports and a slight increase in exports. In terms of social welfare, producers would gain significantly, consumers would lose and government would not suffer greatly, which is in accordance with current agricultural policies in China. As a core member of G20, China should approve a subsidy level as low as possible required by Blue Box to achieve “substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic supports”.

The Uruguay Round established rules that were expected to improve market access for agricultural products and reduced export subsidies and domestic support payments as an opportunity to level the playing field. Major global economic benefits were predicted from the establishment of WTO and Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). But what has happened since the Uruguay Round? Industrialized countries systematically use sub-sidies to skew the benefits of agricultural trade in their favour. The overall level of support to agriculture in these countries has fallen very little. What does free trade mean in a context where the world's largest ex-porter of dairy produce, the EU, is providing subsidies in excess of US $300 billion a year? India is the num-ber one producer of milk and yet cannot compete. The European Union and the United States have invented a category of support—known as the Green Box and the Blue Box in WTO talks—deemed to be decoupled from production and therefore exempt from cuts in subsidies. The persistence of high trade barriers as well as regulatory controls related to food safety and environment make trade rules unfair. The overall feeling is that AoA is an ‘unequal treaty’ as high support continues in OECD countries. There is no level playing field. Agricultural surpluses in rich countries, generated through protection and subsidies and then dumped onto world markets, have hurt agricultural development in developing countries. Developing countries as a whole are projected to increase their net imports of cereals for all purposes to a total of more than 200 million tonnes of net annual imports from the developed countries by 2020. Developing countries like India will become net agricultural importers. It is argued that the Uruguay Round agreements did not go far enough in reducing trade barriers in developed countries, to have a significant impact. It did, however, establish a framework for negotiating further reductions in support. The Doha Round offers the opportunity to level a tilted playing field. Equally important is India improving its own agricultural policies. For years we have discriminated against agriculture.

This study examines stakeholder perceptions of pay as you throw schemes (PAYT) in Ontario, Canada. Using a combination of panel and semi-structured survey data from provincial municipalities, focus is placed on analyzing: (a) the effects of PAYT systems on municipal recycling rates and program costs (b) stakeholder perceptions on the perceived effectiveness of PAYT policy (c) how locality affects PAYT program costs and affect municipal recycling rates and (d) the impact of Ontario’s “one Blue Box per household” provision on PAYT schemes. The results of the analysis show that while the implementation of PAYT schemes do increase municipal recycling rates, there are opportunities for further improvement. In Ontario, the effectiveness of PAYT policy is impaired by inconsistent enforcement, administrative burden, and the inadequate capacity of household recycling bins (“blue bins”).

As one of the Australia's most prolific and popular young authors, Kate Orman's intellectual work reaches readers around the world. She has written twelve novels (four of them co-authored) and a co-authored novella, from The Left-Handed Hummingbird (1993) to Blue Box (2003). These have sold over a hundred thousand copies worldwide, and she has received widespread critical acclaim. Four of her books have been shortlisted for Australia's Aurealis award for 'Best Australian SF novel'. Orman works almost exclusively within the SF genre - specifically within the subgenre of TV tie-in, using the BBC's television series Doctor Who to provide the universe in which she places her novels. She blends, as many SF authors do, the exploration of ideas with the traditional strengths of popular culture - accessible narrative and recognisable characters. Orman uses these genre novels to explore ethical issues of some complexity: and speaking to this successful public intellectual gives us an insight into the intellectual work of popular culture. When is it acceptable to kill and what are the ramifications of such an action? How are ethical issues addressed in popular novels? What makes a character into a hero? And what is the social function of heroic fantasy?

A mistake was made in Fig. 2: in the lower blue box on the right-hand side, poor outcome is reported as being “very likely”, whereas in fact it is “likely”. The corrected Fig. 2 is supplied here. The authors regret this error and apologize for any inconvenience.

THE INITIATIVE TO USE A box in collecting money for the Jewish National Fund (JNF), in the tradition of the charity boxes commonly used in Jewish institutions, came from Haim Kleinman, a bank clerk from Galicia. He made the suggestion in a 1902 letter to the Zionist newspaper Die Welt and proposed placing such a box in every Jewish home.2 According to the historiography of the JNF, however, the first box was accredited to JNF founder, Herman Shapira, who had placed a tin charity box in his own home before the establishment of the Fund. Millions of JNF charity boxes had been distributed throughout the world by the end of the 1940s. Each box bore a printed text according to the language of the country in which is was to be used: English for the English speaking countries, German for Central Europe and Hebrew and Yiddish for Eastern Europe. An important characteristic of the boxes until after the First World War was the variety in the design according to the countries in which they were used, and the different manufacturers. Boxes from the second decade of the century in various countries, such as Britain, Poland, Germany, and Palestine, can be identified by a design that included several common elements: their form was rectangular; there was a slot at the top through which to drop coins, and a hook at the back with which to hang the box from the wall. The boxes were painted blue, with three elements on their front-I. the banner-Keren Kayemet Le Yisrael (Jewish National Fund), the Star of David, with an ellipse above it, with the initials of the organization ("KKL" or "JNF") above it. The uniformity of design of the boxes during this decade is probably due to the fact that they were all produced in a factory in Germany, from which they were exported to other countries according to JNF Head office instructions.3 The blue box became a symbol, not only of the JNF, but of Zionism in general and particularly

The extent to which the multifunctionality of agriculture can justify continuing domestic subsidies to farmers that may be trade distorting in their effects, has emerged as a key bone of contention in the current World Trade Organization (WTO) agriculture trade talks. Supporters of multifunctionality point to the contribution of agriculture in terms of food security, rural development and environmental protection. In this paper, we focus on the environmental component in order to examine three interconnected questions. First, how robust is multifunctionality as a policy concept? Second, if multifunctionality is a reality, how valid is the claim made by European negotiators that the liberalization of agricultural policy and the abolition of blue box subsidies threaten the joint production of food and environmental goods in rural space? Third, what are the precise implications of this analysis for agri-environmental policy design, and the likely compatibility of the European Union's favoured model with current and future WTO disciplines? We conclude that, while multifunctionality is a genuine, and in some respects, unique, feature of European agriculture, it is in relation to the perceived threat of extensive agricultural restructuring to biodiversity and landscape values in the European Union that the concept has been most fully realized. This has profound implications for policy design, suggesting a need to retain some element of income support in the policy mix in order to defend environmental assets against the extreme consequences of farm structural change. We conclude by exploring what these deductions might mean for the future course of the WTO talks and for the long-term design of agri-environmental policy in industrialized countries.

There is a long tradition of advocacy of decoupled compensation payments to facilitate reform of agricultural policies. To illustrate this, we cite some of the European literature of the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, decoupled payments were frequently proposed, but despite years of discussion there is still surprisingly little agreement on the role that decoupled compensation payments can play in facilitating common agricultural policy (CAP) reform. The Uruguay Round Agreement introduced the so-called blue and green boxes; and the MacSharry and Agenda 2000 reforms have made extensive use of the blue box to shelter an increasing proportion of CAP support from international scrutiny. Blue-box payments are not, however, fully decoupled; and cross-compliance will not turn them green. The Peace Clause provides limited protection for the blue box, but if this were to lapse in 2003/04 the blue-box provisions would be of little worth. We assert that the EU must engage in radical reform of the CAP, and make truly decoupled and transitory compensation payments the central element of that reform. This could best be facilitated by allocating transferable bonds to the present generation of farm operators, with annual payments made to the bond owner. We set out the essential conditions that must be met for a bond scheme to be put in place, and explore in a very preliminary fashion the budgetary implications.

This paper outlines the impact that the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) has had on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU), and the potential impact of the Agreement's constraints through to 2000. It notes that Agenda 2000 was driven more by the need to remain within the existing report commitments than by the prospect of EU enlargement or the challenges of the forthcoming Millennium Round. The EU's strategy presumes that the blue box exemptions will remain operative into the next decade despite the time-limited Peace Clause, Furthermore, the 'European Model for Agriculture' fails to meet the strict criteria laid down for green box measures. The Millennium Round, and EU enlargement, will undoubtedly prompt further reform of the CAP, and thus Agenda 2000 should be seen as one more small hesitant step towards fundamental CAP reform. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.

This paper outlines the impact that the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) has had on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU), and the potential impact of the Agreement's constraints through to 2000. It notes that Agenda 2000 was driven more by the need to remain within the existing report commitments than by the prospect of EU enlargement or the challenges of the forthcoming Millennium Round. The EU's strategy presumes that the blue box exemptions will remain operative into the next decade despite the time-limited Peace Clause, Furthermore, the 'European Model for Agriculture' fails to meet the strict criteria laid down for green box measures. The Millennium Round, and EU enlargement, will undoubtedly prompt further reform of the CAP, and thus Agenda 2000 should be seen as one more small hesitant step towards fundamental CAP reform. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.

For 50 years now, the British Broadcasting Company has been airing Doctor Who. Since it relaunched in 2005, Doctor Who fandom has been steadily growing. The most iconic image of the program is the blue box that the Doctor travels in, known as the TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. The TARDIS can take the Doctor to any time or place in the past, present, or future. You will take it into the realm of LEGO.

Recent figures released by the Cereal Action Council of America suggest that on any morning, approximately sixty million Americans are "enjoying a lovely bowl of cereal" (Klopfer 178). The rich diversity of breakfast products-hyper-sweetened Count Chocula, staid and venerable Shredded Wheat, along with the trusty, regularity-inducing All-Bransignifies the multicultural stewpot that is America. Despite the variety of breakfast products available at the market, however, there is one element almost all of them have in common: cartons featuring words and attendant illustration. Unlike that of other processed foods, cereal's packaging doubles as a source of entertainment. We don't read a burrito's wrapper after taking it out of the microwave, for instance, nor do we spend more than several seconds assimilating the valuable lessons on a box of Saltines. Cold cereal differs from other products in that it's the one packaged foodstuff we bring to the table, where we place the box before us and gaze at it with a sometimes trancelike fixity, thereby rendering ourselves captive audiences to messages that may be insidious in their rhetorical effect. This essay will focus on one "traditional" corn cereal product from a green perspective, to discover ways in which cereal literature-whether intentionally or not-is put as a cultural text of considerable authority, one whose pervasive presence at the table may contribute to people's view of themselves as superior to the land' and therefore free to plunder it immoderately. While growing up I never thought about rhetoric,2 and I certainly didn't consider cereal insidious. I liked cereal. It tasted good and gave me energy to walk the several blocks to Brockton Avenue school, where I would collapse in a species of hypoglycemic coma until the mid-morning sweet roll revived me. Furthermore, besides the dubious nutrition afforded by their contents, cereal boxes provided me with reasons for living, dangling before me a panoply of indispensable playthings unavailable at local retail outlets. For countless boom-babies, Battle Creek, Michigan was the Holy Land, promising exotic playthings aplenty for a quarter and a proof-ofpurchase. I rushed daily to the mailbox until that cardboard-encased novelty arrived: a frogman who alternately floated and submerged by some arcane interaction between bathwater and baking soda; a genuine Kellogg's Corn Flake Cornyphone that turned out to be an out-of-tune harmonica in yellow polythene molded to resemble an ear of corn. Despite the shameful cheapness of these wares, I was never disappointed and continued to read cereal boxes avidly, scouring them for the next geegaw on which I might squander my allowance. Nowadays, although I can get excited by Rice Krispies' offer of an "Exciting, Full-Color Poster Featuring World Series Tickets Throughout History," I must also take a more dispassionate view of things pop, in order to consider the rhetorical purpose and potential psychological effects in messages disseminated by the purveyors of mass consumables. To be honest, I never considered cereal literature a worthy subject of study-my area of academic expertise being the hydrological seduction and betrayal encoded in water themeparks 3-not, that is, until I faced my Kix the other day and found myself captivated, then horrified by the box's superficially innocent text. In most ways, this Kix box looks like every other thirteen-ounce Kix box that's ever been produced. The familiar canteloupe-orange background features the prominent KiX logo in blue, its oversized lower-case "i" dropped in jaunty subscript between two capital letters, thereby adding a touch of childlike wackiness to the presentation's overall spirit. As a concession to modern parents' health concerns, a band of red across the middle of the front panel bugles the promise, "Low in Sugar! Kids Love it!"' and a blue box in the bottom right-hand corner contains a rider: "No added colors/No added flavors/No preservatives. …

Proposals in international trade negotiations to constrain the domestic support that governments can provide to agriculture attract substantial interest for several reasons. Domestic support makes a country produce and trade differently from how it would if it fully pursued its comparative advantages. Domestic support can also shift a country's comparative advantage over time and thus change its trade profile. The interest in domestic support in the Doha negotiations was fuelled by the potential to strengthen the provisions of the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture, the awareness of interested parties of those provisions and of the size and nature of support they allow governments at home and abroad to provide, and by the consideration many governments give to enacting suitable farm policies that meet their international obligations. This chapter examines the framework of WTO domestic support disciplines in agriculture in several dimensions. Why are disciplines on domestic support part of the Agreement, which is, after all, an international trade agreement? What is the nature of the constraints and how are they being applied? In particular, how do the constraints limit diverse measures of policy support differently in developed and developing countries? What additional constraints may result from the Doha negotiations? And how might new multilateral domestic support constraints accommodate or influence the future development of policy support to agriculture on a global scale?

When the WTO was launched at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round negotiations its members committed to a new set of disciplines for agricultural domestic support, market access and export competition. It was recognized at the time that the domestic support disciplines were rather porous. Their architecture was consistent with the modest objectives that WTO members had collectively agreed to reduce distortions in world markets. What was uncertain at that point was just how the agreed-upon disciplines would interact with subsequent domestic agricultural policy decisions. In particular, it was not known to what extent the new rules and commitments would motivate countries to shift their policies in the less trade-distorting direction envisioned by the Agreement on Agriculture…

In October 2002, the United States presented a detailed negotiating proposal asking for reductions in domestic support and the total elimination of export subsidies over a five-year period. In the area of market access, the US proposed the use of the Swiss formula that harmonizes tariff levels through substantial tariff reductions, so that tariffs on agricultural products would not be higher than 25 per cent, tariff-rate quotas on agricultural imports for sensitive products would increase 20 per cent, and the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SMM) would be phased out over a five-year period. The US position on domestic support suggested reducing the amber box to a limit of 5 per cent of each country’s total agricultural production and keeping the de minimis exemptions. It proposed blue box reductions over a three- (for developed countries) and five-year period (for developing countries) (US Department of Agriculture, 2002). But the US proposal made no reference to green box support (see Table 9.1). The more defensive position of the US regarding minimal amber box reduction can be explained with the, at that time, recent passing of the 2002 farm bill, which increased agricultural expenditure by extending direct payments and creating new countercyclical payments (Sumner, 2003b).

Introduction From its inception in the 1960s through to the early 1990s, the European Union's common agricultural policy (CAP) was little changed. The archetypal CAP tried to raise farm incomes through market price support mechanisms – involving variable import levies, intervention buying, export subsidies, etc. – as described in Harris, Swinbank and Wilkinson (1983). Structural policy was barely developed: in 1988 it amounted to only 5.1 per cent of budgeted spend on market price support, for example (Commission, 1989: T/83). For most Member States the purpose of ‘structural policy’ was to aid the modernisation of European agriculture, or to provide additional support in marginal areas. Paying farmers to produce (or manage) countryside was a relatively novel idea when in 1985 – largely on UK urging – Member States were authorised to grant EU subsidies to farmers in environmentally sensitive areas ‘in order to contribute towards the introduction or continued use of agricultural practices compatible with the requirements of conserving the natural habitat and ensuring an adequate income for farmers’ (Potter, 1998: 84, directly quoting the EU regulation). Two decades later, the CAP is rather different. In the context of this chapter, exploring the EU's use of the WTO's green box, there have been two changes. First, there has been a significant decoupling of the support designed to sustain farm incomes and, second, there has been an attempt to switch support from agriculture to the wider rural economy and to protection and enhancement of the environment (from the so-called Pillar 1 to Pillar 2, to use the EU's jargon).

International audience; This book chapter aims to analyse domestic subsidies for European and French agriculture, specifically green box subsidies. According to the Uruguay Rounf Agricultural Agreement (URAA), World trade organization (WTO) Member States may synchronise their agricultural subsidies since these are not considered to introduce distortions in production and trade (green box). This book chapter is divided into five parts as follows. Part 1 consists of a review of the definitions of the three boxes (amber, blue and green) and EU notifications to the WTO regarding these three boxes for the period 1995-96 to 2003-04 (no notifications have been made since then). Using budgetary data from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and data on national agricultural subsidies, Part 2 attempts to put a figure on the total amount of green box subsidies made within the different EU Member States (this was done where EU notification reports to the WTO did not provide a breakdown by country). Using budgetary data and categories used by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Part 3 contains an analysis of the changes in green box budgetary subsidies in France. Using data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), part 4 attempts to demonstrate the rôle of direct green box aid for European agricultural holdings. Part 5, using the same FADN data, concentrates specifically on French farm holdings (using a simulation of CAP reform and decoupling).; Ce chapitre d’ouvrage porte sur les soutiens internes dont bénéficie l’agriculture européenne et française, plus spécifiquement sur les soutiens de la boîte verte. Suite à l’Accord Agricole du Cycle de l’Uruguay, les Etats membres de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) peuvent accorder des soutiens à leur agriculture pour peu que ceux-ci soient considérés comme non distorsifs des échanges et de la production (boîte verte). Ce texte est structuré en cinq sections. La première rappelle la définition des trois boîtes (orange, bleue et verte) et les notifications faites par l’Union européenne (UE) à l’OMC relativement à ces trois boîtes pour la période 1995-96 à 2003-04 (aucune notification n’ayant été faite depuis). En utilisant les données budgétaires communautaires et les données relatives aux soutiens nationaux accordés à l’agriculture, la seconde partie cherche à évaluer le poids des soutiens de la boîte verte dans les différents Etats membres de l’UE (ce travail a été réalisé dans la mesure où les rapports de notification de l’UE à l’OMC ne fournissent pas cette précision par pays). En mobilisant les données budgétaires et les nomenclatures du Ministère de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche, la troisième partie présente une analyse de l’évolution des soutiens budgétaires de la boîte verte accordés en France. Partant des données du Réseau d’Information Comptable Agricole (RICA), la quatrième partie cherche à mettre en évidence le rôle des aides directes de la boîte verte pour les exploitations agricoles européennes. Dans cette même logique, la cinquième partie propose une approche propre aux exploitations agricoles françaises (avec une simulation des effets de la réforme de la PAC et du découplage).

Agriculture in Western Europe enjoys a degree of diversity that reflects a wide variety of soils and climatic conditions ranging from the arid Mediterranean regions to the Arctic Circle. Superimposed on this natural diversity is the complexity of different social, economic and political conditions in the eighteen countries that are the subject of this chapter. History has played a major part in creating this patchwork, particularly the different paths that countries took from feudalism to independent farming units and the inheritance laws that influenced the extent to which land ownership was transmitted from generation to generation. Average farm size varies considerably in the countries of Western Europe, in turn reflecting the relative political and social importance of landowners and small farmers. By the late nineteenth century, these various factors had determined a structure of farming in the Western European region that is still visible today. Productivity growth in Western Europe's agricultural sector compared favorably with that in the manufacturing sector in the immediate post-war period. Over the period 1949 to 1959, by which time the economy had largely recovered from the war-time disruptions, output per person in agriculture had increased by more than that in manufacturing in most of the countries in Western Europe. The productivity growth was a combination of output increases as a result of mechanization and modernization, and the outflow of labor as other sectors absorbed rural workers.

Our approach to laboratory education in power electronics and electric machines is presented. The approach centers upon "blue-box" laboratory components, that aid the student in rapid experiment assembly without disguising important aspects of the hardware. Several example experiments are presented. Schematics and construction techniques for the hardware are publicly available.

Most studies of global agricultural trade liberalization are primarily focused on market price support — that is, agricultural support provided indirectly through border measures, either import barriers or export subsidies, designed to boost domestic relative to world market prices. In the late 1980s, this form of support accounted for about 75 per cent of total producer support in agriculture in the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (OECD, 2002a). Prior to the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA), this was also the only area of agricultural protection under negotiation in the international arena. A very important innovation in the URAA was to put domestic subsidies on the table. More specifically, support policies are placed in ‘boxes’ according to their impact on international trade. Those policies that have ‘no, or at most minimal trade-distorting effects or effects on production’ are placed in the ‘green box’ and are not subjected to reduction requirements under the URAA. Those policies that are deemed to be trade-distorting are placed in the ‘amber box’ and are subjected to reductions. However, if the payments are accompanied by programmes aimed at limiting production, they may be placed in yet a third box, the ‘blue box’. As a consequence, they are exempt from the negotiated reductions in support.

This paper focuses on the third pillar of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the discipline of agricultural domestic support. The paper examines the current definition of agricultural domestic support used by the WTO, focusing on the Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) and other forms of support that are less to least distorting (Blue and Green Box payments). The analysis looks at the recent experience of four member states (the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Brazil). The structure of recent support varies considerably by country. Some countries, notably the United States, have strategically used the de minimis exemption to deflate their support figures substantially in order to remain within AMS limits, even though total support has exceeded these limits. The paper investigates the possible effects of changing the definition of the AMS so that it better reflects current support conditioned by market forces. If market prices (world and/or domestic) were to be used to compute current market support, a greater variability of the AMS would result, and violations of AMS limits would be more likely given the anticyclical nature of policies included in the AMS, especially for the United States and European Union. We also identify possible changes that would lead to more substantial trade reforms. In particular, we argue for phasing out the de minimis exemption and Blue Box support, adding a generous Green Box definition, which would allow countries to move quickly away from trade-distorting policies (Amber Box and the most trade-distorting Blue Box policies), followed by a phase-down of Green Box payments over time. The recent reforms of the European Union�s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) exemplify the spirit of the first part of the recommendation, while resistance to phase-down of Green Box payments may be overcome by a "reasonable" reduction schedule.