Special Agricultural Safeguard

The Special Agricultural Safeguard (SSG) is provision in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. The SSG allows Member countries to impose additional tariffs on agricultural products if their import volume exceeds defined trigger levels, or if prices fall below specified trigger levels. Its purpose is to prevent disruption of domestic markets due to import surges or abnormally low import prices. The SSG applies only to products that are (1) subject to tarrification and (2) in cases where the country has designated a productas eligible for the SSG in its Schedule of Commitments. It can apply only to imports that exceed tariff-rate quota volumes. The SSG is an alternative to the general safeguard provision of the GATT and is easier to invoke because it does not require a test of injury or threat of injury. In the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations, the United States, the Cairns Group, and many developing countries have proposed elimination of the SSG.

References

This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document "Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition" by Jasper Womach.

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