World Trade Organization (WTO)

The multilateral trading system is characterized by successive Rounds of negotiation designed to progressively reduce and remove barriers to trade. These Rounds of negotiation began under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Round.

The GATT was in place for fifty years.  Replaced by the WTO, it is now the WTO's principal rule-book for trade in goods.  Under the purview of GATT, the first round took place in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1947, the second in Annecy (France) 1949, the third in Torquay (England) 1950 to 1951, the fourth in Geneva in 1950, the fifth in Geneva – called the Dillon Round – from 1960 to 1962, the Kennedy Round from 1964 to 1967 and Tokyo Round from 1973 to 1979. The Uruguay Round was negotiated between 1986 and 1994, and led to the creation of the WTO. This Round is notable as it broke new ground in international trade negotiations by including agriculture and services in such talks for the first time.

Generally Ministerial Conferences are the highest decision making entities in the WTO which convene at least once every two years in order to continue to set and drive the mandate of the WTO. The WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference mandated global trade talks on a range of issues, referred to as the ‘Doha Development Agenda’.  The current round of negotiations was launched in Doha, in the Gulf nation of Qatar, in November 2001 and was targeted to come to a close in January 2005.  However, the Round has faced a preponderance of setbacks, since its inception; in large measure, because of disparate ‘expectations', and competing ‘visions’/‘goals’ for the Doha Round.

The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in Brief

The following indicate some of the more crucial aspects of the DDA.

Agriculture

• incorporating special and differential treatment for developing countries and aimed at substantial improvements in market access; 
• elimination of all forms of export subsidies, as well as establishing disciplines on all export measures with equivalent effect, by a credible end date;
• and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support. 
• Resolve of issue related to trade in cotton.

Services

• Higher levels of liberalization through market-access commitments
• Improving rules related to services trade making,
• Observance of export interest to developing countries in this context.

Non-agricultural products

• Reducing or, as appropriate, eliminating tariffs, including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks; high tariffs; and tariff escalation; 
• Reducing or eliminating as much as possible non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries.

Rules

• Improvements in disciplines dealing with anti-dumping, subsidies, countervailing, regional trade agreements, and fisheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries.

Trade facilitation 

• Engendering faster and more efficient movement, release and clearance of goods, 
• enhancing technical assistance and support for capacity-building, taking into account special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries.

Intellectual property 

• Amending the TRIPS Agreement 
• Reviewing the provisions dealing with patentability or non-patentability of plant and animal inventions and the protection of plant varieties; 
• Examining the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and biodiversity, the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore.

Dispute settlement procedures 

• Improving and clarifying the procedures for settling disputes.

Trade and environment 

• Clarifying the relationship between WTO rules and trade obligations set out in multilateral environmental agreements; 
• Reducing or eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services.

Special and differential treatment

Reviewing of all S&D treatment provisions with a view to strengthening them and making them more precise, effective and operational.

The Regional Position within the WTO Negotiations

The Region’s position with respect to the WTO negotiations is captured in several documents. These include declarations issued by the ACP, the G90, and the G33 late last year.  The Region’s position in key areas is as follows:

Agriculture

• The ability of developing countries with no aggregate measures of support (AMS) to be exempt from reduction in de minimis support (para. 3);
• Self-selection for  Special Products and greater scope for applying the Special Safeguard Mechanism (para. 9)

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NAMA

• Instructions to the Negotiating Group to intensify work on the assessment of the scope of the problem faced by non-reciprocal preference beneficiary Members with a view to finding possible solutions (para. 20): 
  •  The inclusion of a paragraph on small, vulnerable economies in the text, thereby enabling the Caribbean to be able to advance its case for additional flexibilities with respect to the level of reduction in industrial tariffs it wishes to undertake. The task ahead is to continue to advance that position, so that it is taken onboard in the formulation of modalities. (para. 21)
  • The acceptance of non-mandatory sectoral negotiations

Services

• Like many other developing countries, the Caribbean resisted attempts by developed nations to put in place mandatory plurilateral negotiations.  The language in the original version of Annex C has been diluted in the final Ministerial Declaration; providing for WTO Members to consider plurilateral requests in the context of GATS Article 19 that allows for flexibility for individual developing country Members in respect of opening fewer sectors, liberalizing fewer types of transactions and attaching conditions aimed at achieving development objectives as set out in GATS Article 4;
• Paragraph 8 of Annex C (Services) provides that: “Due consideration shall be given to proposals on trade-related concerns of small economies”;
• Additionally, provision has been made for “Targeted technical assistance to be provided …with a view to enabling developing and least-developed countries to participate effectively in the negotiations…” (para. 10 of Annex C)

Special and Differential Treatment (S&D)

• Noteworthy advances are the inclusion of deadlines for specific work to be completed.  In the former case, December 2006 was agreed for the Committee on Trade and Development to report to the General Council with clear recommendations on outstanding S&D proposals (para. 36);
• Regarding Implementation issues, July 31, 2006 was agreed for appropriate action to be taken (para. 39).

Small Economies

• Similar to S&D and Implementation issues, December 31, 2006 was agreed for the Committee on Trade and Development to report to the General Council with clear recommendations on specific measures that would facilitate the fuller integration of “small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system” (para. 41).

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