Coffee in International Agricultural Diplomacy: Case Study Two

The international coffee agreement is a five-year agreement, unlike other agricultural products provided with agreements.1 The 1st International Coffee Agreement entered into force provisionally on 1 July 1963, and into force definitively on 27 December 1963, as soon as all forms of constitutional ratifications were accomplished and notified accordingly. Its purpose, like other similar agreements, is to stabilise coffee prices and assure an equilibrium between production and consumption. The contractual members are consumers and producers of coffee who by this agreement have set up a comprehensive set of quota mechanisms limiting the exports of producer members of the agreement. The 1968 Agreement provides for certificates of origin and re-export (Article 43) which requires that all coffee exported by contractual members of the agreement be accompanied by ‘a valid certificate of origin in accordance with rules established by the council and issued by a qualified agency chosen by that member and approved by the organization’ (Article 43, paragraph 1 of the 1968 Agreement). This is to say that all importer countries who are members of the agreement should refuse importation from non-member countries and reject coffees not accompanied by these valid certificates.