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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)
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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