Transcript Slide 1

WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONOverview of the Multilateral
Trading System and Introduction
to the basic principles of the
WTO
Said El Hachimi
External Relations Division
WTO
1. What is the WTO?
2. WTO major contribution is
Dispute Settlement
3. Principles
4. WTO as a Forum for negotiations
5. WTO Decision making
6. WTO and other Stakeholders:
–
– Parliamentarians
Non-Governmental Organizations.
What is the WTO?
500 pages of (Agreements) Rules/ 23,000 pages of Commitments
A set of International Trade Rules agreed by
Members through Negotiations
Only Multilateral Set of
Trade Rules
• General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade 1994.
• General Agreement on Trade in
Services.
• Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property.
• Dispute Settlement Understanding.
• Trade Policy Review Mechanism.
• Plurilateral Agreements.
WTO major contribution is
Dispute Settlement
WTO: Dispute
Settlement
• Enforcement of trade rules.
– Cases brought up by Members
– Basis of any case is violation of
commitments by a Member vis a
vis other Member in the WTO
WTO: Dispute Settlement
Clear rules and timetables.
•How long to settle a dispute?
•60 days
Consultations, mediation, etc
45 days
Panel set up and panellists
appointed
6 months Final panel report to parties
3 weeks
Final panel report to WTO
members
60 days
Dispute Settlement Body adopts
report (if no appeal)
•Total = 1 year (without appeal)
•60–90 days
Appeals report
30 days
Dispute Settlement Body adopts
appeals report
•Total = 1y 3m
(with appeal)
WTO: Dispute
Settlement
• Priority: Settle disputes through
consultations.
• Dispute Settlement Body.
• Panel process.
• Appellate Body.
• Rulings are binding and
automatically adopted.
WTO: Principles
WTO: Principles
• Non-discrimination:
– Members cannot discriminate between
trade partners.
– Exceptions: Free trade agreements,
tariff preferences for developingcountry products, GATT Article XX and
trade remedies.
• National treatment:
– Imported and domestic goods should be
treated equally.
– Applies only when the product or
service has entered the market.
WTO: Principles
• Freer trade:
– Through negotiations.
– Gradually lower trade barriers.
– Progressive liberalization.
• Stability and Predictability:
– Improves business and
investment environment.
– Commitments at the WTO are
binding.
• Transparency requirements.
WTO: Principles
• Promoting fair competition:
– Rules on dumping and subsidies.
• Encourage development and
reform:
– Flexibilities for developing
countries and economies in
transition.
– Transition periods.
– Technical assistance.
WTO is above all a Forum
for Negotiations
• Negotiations on Specific
Subjects:
– Agriculture
– Trade in Services
– Intellectual Property
• Round of Negotiations:
– Several issues negotiated
simultaneously.
• Everything is derived from the
results of the negotiations.
Without the WTO
The effect of protectionism on world trade, 1929–33
January
December
1929
$3.0bn
February
1930
1931
November
March
1932
1933
$0.9bn
October
April
September
May
August
June
July
Trade figures: per month
Preliminaries
With the WTO
Value of world trade 1948–2003
US$ trillion, current prices
8
7
MORE trade? Of course, but …
… look at the STABILITY >
6
5
4
3
If 67%
had been
wiped out
2
GATT ’48
WTO ’95
1
0
1948
1997
1957
Preliminaries
1966
1975
1984
1993
2002
What is the WTO?
Somewhere to negotiate and apply
the results
The first step
is to talk.
This is where
governments go to
try to sort out
their trade
problems.
WTO: not just for
liberalizing trade.
Sometimes the
rules support
trade barriers —
e.g. to protect
consumers or
prevent the spread
of disease. Skip >>>
Somewhere to talk
Foremost: The WTO is a forum for
negotiations
Current negotiations launched:
4th WTO Ministerial Conference,
Doha, November 2001
Previous round: Uruguay Round
1986–1994
Eighth ‘round’ under GATT, since 1948
Result: In 1995 ...
• Rules expanded: goods (GATT) + services (GATS)
+ intellectual property (TRIPS)
• WTO formed, replacing GATT
Somewhere to talk
Foremost: The WTO is a forum for
negotiations
Current negotiations launched:
4th WTO Ministerial Conference,
Doha, November 2001
Doha Development Agenda:
Launched at Doha Ministerial Conference
November 2001. Most to end 1 January 2005
• negotiations: ~ 20 subjects
• problems with ‘implementation’ of existing
agreements
see ‘Understanding the WTO’ page 77
Somewhere to talk
Foremost: The WTO is a forum for
negotiations
Agreement only by consensus
Everyone has to be persuaded
No one forced by a majority
Everything else follows from
negotiations ...
Somewhere to talk
CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS
Why so difficult?
ANY DEAL
has winners and losers
(and lobbies)
QUESTION:
If there are losers,
does that mean ‘don’t do it’?
RESULT:
Status quo. But is that OK?
ALTERNATIVE:
Make use of the winners’ gains to
help the losers adjust
Better trade
CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS
Seeking consensus
EASY OPTION:
be defensive ...
‘no deal is better than a bad deal’
(status quo)
MORE DIFFICULT:
identify own interests …
‘we want/don’t want’
MOST DIFFICULT:
to move forward …
What can others accept? …
give as well as take
> CONSENSUS
Better trade
CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS
Key players, agriculture
Just a sample of groupings …
COALITIONS AND MAJORS
Africans, least-developed, ACP (together = ‘G90’,
but with 64 WTO members)
Cairns Group Australia, NZ, S.Africa, Brazil, Argentina,
Thailand, Philippines, etc
European Union
G10 Switzerland, Norway, Japan, S.Korea, Ch.Taipei, etc
G20+/– India, Brazil, China, S.Africa, etc
G33 Indonesia, etc lobbying for ‘special products’
‘Like minded’ India, Pakistan, Caribbean, etc
‘RAMs’ new members (‘recently acceded’ members)
Small island developing states
United States
CONSENSUS-BUILDERS
US-EU (summer 2003)
The Five Australia, Brazil, EU, India, US (summer 2004)
Better trade
CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS
Key players, agriculture
Africans, least-developed, ACP (together = ‘G90’,
but with 64 WTO members)
G20+/– India, Brazil, China, S.Africa, etc
G33 Indonesia, etc lobbying for ‘special products’
Press conference in Hong Kong 16 December 2005
New group: ‘Small economies’
Better trade
CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS
Key players, agriculture
Or, another way of
looking at groups …
Better trade
Bulgaria Austria
Belgium
Cyprus
Czech R
Denmark
Estonia Finland France
Germany Greece Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta Netherlands Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Slovenia Spain
Sweden UK Romania
EU
G-27
G-20
Solomon
Islands
Mexico
India
China
Venezuela
Indonesia
Pakistan
Philippines
Armenia
FY Rep Macedonia
G–90
LDCs
Bangladesh
Cambodia Chad
Maldives Burkina Faso
Myanmar
Burundi Togo
Nepal
Central African Rep
Djibouti DR Congo
Mali Gambia Guinea
Guinea Bissau Lesotho
Malawi Mauritania Niger
Sierra Leone Rwanda Gabon
Ghana
Haiti
Namibia
Benin
Madagascar
Senegal
Uganda
Botswana
Tanzania
Zambia
Cuba
Cameroon
Congo
Côte d’Ivoire
Kenya
Mozambique
Chile
Brazil
Bolivia
Uruguay
Australia
Thailand
Canada
Paraguay
Colombia
Argentina
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Malaysia N Zealand
Cairns Group
Albania
Croatia
Georgia
Jordan
Moldova
Oman
US
G–1
S Africa
Nigeria
Zimbabwe
Mauritius
Angola
Swaziland
Egypt
Tunisia Morocco
African Group
ACP
Recent new
Hong Kong, Ch
Saudi Arabia
El Salvador
Macao, Ch
Singapore
Kyrgyz R
Dominica
Qatar
Fiji
UAE
Papua New Guinea
Brunei
Kuwait
Belize
Bahrain
Barbados
Ecuador
Antigua/Barbuda
Dominican Rep
Grenada
Guyana
G-33
St Vincent/Grenadines
Trinidad/Tobago
Honduras
Jamaica Suriname
Mongolia
St Kitts/Nevis
Nicaragua
St Lucia
Panama
Peru
Sri Lanka Turkey
R Korea
Iceland Israel Japan
Liechtenstein Norway
G-10
Switzerland
Ch Taipei
Better trade
WTO: Decision Making
WTO Decision Making, what
about the institutionals?
• Member-driven and consensus-based.
• Ministerial Conference:
– Topmost decision-making body.
– Meets at least once every two years.
• General Council:
– On behalf of the Ministerial Conference.
– Meets in Geneva.
• Councils:
– Trade in Goods.
– Trade in Services.
– Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights.
• Various Committees.
WTO and other
Stakeholders
WTO and other stakeholders:
Parliamentarians
• Elected representatives of the
people.
• Constitutional role on trade
issues.
• Crucial interface between
people, civil society and
governments.
• WTO outreach activities for
Parliamentarians.
WTO and other stakeholders:
NGOs
• Strong interest in WTO issues.
• NGO Attendance to Ministerial
Conferences.
• Enhanced dialogue with civil
society.
• Annual Symposium.
• Briefings for NGOs during WTO
Meetings.
• Circulation of NGO Position
Papers to WTO Members.
Registered NGOs in
WTO Ministerial Conferences
Ministerial
NGOs who
attended
Number of
Individuals
Singapore
1996
108
235
Geneva 1998
128
362
Seattle 1999
686
1500 Approx.
Doha 2001
370
370
Cancún 2003
795
1578
Hong Kong
812
1596
What about the WTO
Secretariat?
FACT FILE
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Established: 1 January 1995
Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations
(1986-94)
Membership: 150 countries
Budget: 175m Swiss francs, 2006
Secretariat staff: ~630
Head: Pascal Lamy (director-general)
Functions:
• Administering WTO trade agreements
• Forum for trade negotiations
• Handling trade disputes
• Monitoring national trade policies
• Technical assistance and training for developing
countries
• Cooperation with other international
organizations
The World Trade
Organization
The World Trade Organization
Centre William Rappard
rue de Lausanne 154
CH–1211 Geneva 21
Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)22 739 51 11
Fax: +41 (0)22 739 54 58
email: [email protected]
website: www.wto.org