The Treatment of Special Products: An Analysis of the Empirical Basis for Exempting Products from Tariff Cuts
Debate over special products has until quite recently focused primarily on the question of how these products will be selected. However, in the last few months, negotiators and policy-makers have increasingly debated the ‘treatment’ of special products: the extent to which these products will be accorded gentler tariff cuts, and in particular the proportion of such products that could be exempted from tariff cuts entirely. In an attempt to establish an empirical basis for the modalities on the treatment of special products, ICTSD asked Riza Bernabe to explore the issues at stake, and to examine the implications of the special product proposals in the chair’s draft text for the achievement of food security, livelihood security and rural development objectives.