IS A BIOFUEL (ETHANOL AND BIODIESEL) AN INDUSTRIAL OR AN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT IN THE WTO?

While working on my forthcoming book on the law of subsidies under the WTO, I am constantely intrigued by the  many subtleties relating to the legal status of subsidies to biofuels. One of the major subtlety in this regard is to know when a biofuel is an agricutural product and when it is an industrial product, since we know that subsidies disciplines are affected by this status. I have finally found an exact answer to this question in a recent excellent article entitled " The Biofuels Landscape: Is there a Role for the WTO?" by Doaa Abdel Motaal ( Journal of World Trade, 42(1), 61-86, 2008).

The WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) covers chapters 1 to 24 (except for fish and fish products) and several specific headings in other chapters of the Harmonized System (HS) of the World Customs Organization (WCO). All other chapters and headings are considered to be industrial goods by the WTO. Today,

I hope that there is not another subtlety behind this apparent clear answer!