The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) marked the end of an era in which agricultural policies could be elaborated independently of international rules. It defined a framework, which is again used in the Doha Round, with distinct commitments on the 3 issues of export competition, market access and domestic support. This framework explicitly acknowledges that domestic policies may have distorting effects on trade and, as such, may be submitted to disciplines in the context of multilateral negotiations on trade. This paper more specifically deals with the matter of domestic support in the Doha Round: the development of negotiations on this topic from the initiation of the round to the present day; the potential impact for the European Union (EU) of the commitments that would be undertaken regarding domestic support; a critical analysis of the discussions on this issue.