At the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha,
Qatar,
in November 2001 WTO member governments agreed to launch new
negotiations.
They also agreed to work on other issues, in particular the
implementation
of the present agreements. The entire package is called the Doha
Development Agenda (DDA).
The negotiations take place in the Trade
Negotiations Committee and its subsidiaries, which are
usually,
either regular councils and committees meeting in “special
sessions”,
or specially-created negotiating groups. Other work under
the
work programme takes place in other WTO councils and committees.
The Fifth Ministerial Conference in
Cancún,
Mexico, in September 2003, was intended as a stock-taking meeting
where
members would agree on how to complete the rest of the negotiations.
But
the meeting was soured by discord on agricultural issues, including
cotton, and ended in deadlock on the “Singapore issues” (see below).
Real progress on the Singapore issues and agriculture was not evident
until the early hours of 1 August 2004 with a set of decisions in the
General Council (sometimes called the July 2004 package). The
original
1 January 2005 deadline was missed. After that, members
unofficially
aimed to finish the negotiations by the end of 2006, again
unsuccessfully. Further progress in narrowing members’ differences was
made at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005, but some
gaps remained unbridgeable and Director-General Pascal Lamy suspended the
negotiations in July 2006. Efforts then focused on trying to achieve a
breakthrough in early 2007.
There are 19-21 subjects listed in the Doha Declaration, depending
on whether to count the “rules” subjects as one or three. Most of them
involve negotiations; other work includes actions under “implementation”,
analysis and monitoring. This is an unofficial explanation of what the
declaration mandates (listed with the declaration’s paragraphs that refer to
them):
Implementation-related issues and
concerns
(par 12) back to top
“Implementation” is
short-hand for developing countries’ problems in implementing the current
WTO Agreements, i.e. the agreements arising from the Uruguay Round
negotiations.
No area of WTO work received more
attention or generated more controversy during nearly three years of hard
bargaining before the Doha Ministerial Conference. Around 100 issues were
raised during that period. The result was a two-pronged approach:
More than 40 items under 12 headings were settled at or before the Doha
conference, for immediate delivery.
The vast majority of the remaining items immediately became the subject of
negotiations.
This was spelt out in a separate
ministerial decision on implementation, combined with paragraph 12 of the
main Doha Declaration.
The implementation decision
includes the following (detailed explanations can be seen on the WTO
website):
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT)
back to top
Balance-of-payments exception: clarifying less stringent conditions in GATT
for developing countries if they restrict imports in order to protect their
balance-of-payments.
Market-access commitments: clarifying eligibility to negotiate or be
consulted on quota allocation.
Rural development and food security for developing countries
Least-developed and net food-importing developing countries
Export credits, export credit guarantees or insurance programmes
Tariff rate quotas
Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS)
measures
back to top
More time for developing countries to comply with other countries’ new SPS
measures
“Reasonable interval” between publication of a country’s new SPS measure and
its entry into force
Equivalence: putting into practice the principle that governments should
accept that different measures used by other governments can be equivalent
to their own measures for providing the same level of health protection for
food, animals and plants.
Review of the SPS Agreement
Developing countries’ participation in setting international SPS
standards
Technical assistance for least-developed countries, and reviews of technical
assistance in general.
When possible, a six-month “reasonable interval” for developing countries to
adapt to new measures.
The WTO director-general encouraged to continue efforts to help developing
countries participate in setting international standards.
Trade-related investment measures
(TRIMs)
back to top
The Goods Council is “to consider positively” requests from least-developed
countries to extend the seven-year transition period for eliminating
measures that are inconsistent with the agreement.
No second anti-dumping investigation within a year unless circumstances have
changed.
How to put into operation a special provision for developing countries
(Article 15 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement), which recognizes that developed
countries must give “special regard” to the situation of developing
countries when considering applying anti-dumping measures.
Clarification sought on the time period for determining whether the volume
of dumped imported products is negligible, and therefore no anti-dumping
action should be taken.
Annual reviews of the agreement’s implementation to be improved.
Sorting out how to determine whether some developing countries meet the test
of being below US$1,000 per capita GNP allowing them to pay subsidies that
require the recipient to export.
Noting proposed new rules allowing developing countries to subsidize under
programmes that have “legitimate development goals” without having to face
countervailing or other action.
Review of provisions on countervailing duty investigations.
Reaffirming that least-developed countries are exempt from the ban on export
subsidies.
Directing the Subsidies Committee to extend the transition period for
certain developing countries.
Trade-related aspects of intellectual
property
rights (TRIPS) back to top
“Non-violation” complaints: the unresolved question of how to deal with
possible TRIPS disputes involving loss of an expected benefit even if the
TRIPS Agreement has not actually been violated.
Which special and differential treatment provisions are mandatory? What are
the implications of making mandatory those that are currently
non-binding?
How can special and differential treatment provisions be made more
effective?
How can special and differential treatment be incorporated in the new
negotiations?
Developed countries are urged to grant preferences in a generalized and
non-discriminatory manner, i.e. to all developing countries rather than to a
selected group.
The WTO Director-General is to ensure that WTO technical assistance gives
priority to helping developing countries implement existing WTO obligations,
and to increase their capacity to participate more effectively in future
negotiations.
The WTO Secretariat is to cooperate more closely with other international
organizations so that technical assistance is more efficient and
effective.
The implementation decision is tied
into the
main Doha Declaration, where ministers agreed on a future work
programme to deal with unsettled implementation questions. “Negotiations on
outstanding implementation issues shall be an integral part of the Work
Programme” in the coming years, they declared.
In the declaration, the ministers
established a two-track approach. Those issues for which there was an agreed
negotiating mandate in the declaration would be dealt with under the terms
of that mandate.
Those implementation issues where
there is no mandate to negotiate, would be the taken up as “a matter of
priority” by relevant WTO councils and committees. These bodies were to
report on their progress to the Trade Negotiations Committee by the end of
2002 for “appropriate action”.
Negotiations on agriculture
began in early 2000, under Article 20 of the WTO Agriculture Agreement. By
November 2001 and the Doha Ministerial Conference, 121 governments had
submitted a large number of negotiating proposals.
These negotiations have continued,
but now with the mandate given by the Doha Declaration, which also includes
a series of deadlines. The declaration builds on the work already
undertaken, confirms and elaborates the objectives, and sets a timetable.
Agriculture is now part of the single undertaking in which virtually all the
linked negotiations
were to end by 1 January 2005, now with the unofficial target of the end of
2006.
The declaration reconfirms the
long-term objective already agreed in the present WTO Agreement: to
establish a fair and market-oriented trading system through a programme of
fundamental reform. The programme encompasses strengthened rules, and
specific commitments on government support and protection for agriculture.
The purpose is to correct and prevent restrictions and distortions in world
agricultural markets.
Without prejudging the outcome,
member governments commit themselves to comprehensive negotiations aimed
at:
market access: substantial reductions
exports subsidies: reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of
these (in the 1 August 2004 “framework” members agreed to
eliminate export
subsidies by a date to be negotiated)
domestic support: substantial reductions for supports that distort
trade (in the 1 August 2004 “framework”, developed countries
pledged to slash
trade-distorting domestic subsidies by 20% from the first day any Doha
Agenda
agreement is implemented.
The declaration makes special and differential treatment for
developing countries integral throughout the negotiations, both in
countries’ new commitments and in any relevant new or revised rules and
disciplines. It says the outcome should be effective in practice and should
enable developing countries to meet their needs, in particular in food
security and rural development.
The ministers also take note of the
non-trade concerns (such as environmental protection, food security, rural
development, etc) reflected in the negotiating proposals already submitted.
They confirm that the negotiations will take these into account, as provided
for in the Agriculture Agreement.
A first step along the road to final
agreement was reached on 1 August 2004 when members agreed on a
“framework”
(Annex A of the General Council decision).
The negotiations take place in
“special sessions” of the Agriculture
Committee.
Negotiations on services were already
almost two years old when they were incorporated into the new Doha
agenda.
The WTO General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS) commits member governments to undertake negotiations on
specific issues and to enter into successive rounds of negotiations to
progressively liberalize trade in services. The first round had to start no
later than five years from 1995.
Accordingly, the services
negotiations started officially in early 2000 under the Council for Trade in
Services. In March 2001, the Services Council fulfilled a key element in the
negotiating mandate by establishing the negotiating guidelines and
procedures.
The Doha Declaration endorses the
work already done, reaffirms the negotiating guidelines and procedures, and
establishes some key elements of the timetable including, most importantly,
the deadline for concluding the negotiations as part of a single
undertaking.
The negotiations take place in
“special sessions” of the Services Council and
regular meetings of its relevant subsidiary committees or working
parties.
The ministers agreed to launch
tariff-cutting negotiations on all non-agricultural products. The aim is “to
reduce, or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the reduction or
elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as
non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to
developing countries”. These negotiations shall take fully into account the
special needs and interests of developing and least-developed countries, and
recognize that these countries do not need to match or reciprocate in full
tariff-reduction commitments by other participants.
At the start, participants have to
reach
agreement on how (“modalities”) to conduct the tariff-cutting exercise (in
the
Tokyo Round, the participants used an agreed mathematical formula to cut
tariffs
across the board; in the Uruguay Round, participants negotiated cuts product
by
product). The agreed procedures would include studies and capacity-building
measures that would help least-developed countries participate effectively
in
the negotiations. Back in Geneva, negotiators decided that the “modalities”
should be agreed by 31 May 2003. When that date was missed, members agreed
on
1 August 2004 on a new target: the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in
December
2005.
While average customs duties are now
at their lowest levels after eight GATT Rounds, certain tariffs continue to
restrict trade, especially on exports of developing countries
— for instance “tariff peaks”, which are relatively high tariffs, usually on
“sensitive” products, amidst generally low tariff levels. For industrialized
countries, tariffs of 15% and above are generally recognized as “tariff
peaks”.
Another example is “tariff
escalation”, in which higher import duties are applied on semi-processed
products than on raw materials, and higher still on finished products. This
practice protects domestic processing industries and discourages the
development of processing activity in the countries where raw materials
originate.
The negotiations take place in a
Market Access Negotiating
Group.
Stock taking: 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico)
Deadline: Now none. Originally by
1 January 2005,
now unofficially by end 2006. Part of single
undertaking
Trade-related
aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) (pars 17-19)back to top
TRIPS and
public health. In the declaration, ministers stress that it
is important to implement and interpret the TRIPS Agreement in a way that
supports public health — by promoting both access to existing medicines and the creation of new
medicines. They refer to their separate declaration on this subject.
This separate declaration on TRIPS
and public health is designed to respond to concerns about the possible
implications of the TRIPS Agreement for access to medicines.
It emphasizes that the TRIPS
Agreement does not and should not prevent member governments from acting to
protect public health. It affirms governments’ right to use the agreement’s
flexibilities in order to avoid any reticence the governments may feel.
The separate declaration clarifies
some of the forms of flexibility available, in particular compulsory
licensing and parallel importing. (For an explanation of these issues, go to
the main TRIPS pages on the WTO website)
For the Doha agenda, this separate
declaration sets two specific task. The
TRIPS Council has to find a solution to the problems countries may
face in making use of compulsory licensing if they have too little or no
pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity, reporting to the General Council on
this by the end of 2002.(this
was achieved in August, 2003, see intellectual
property section of the
“Agreements” chapter.) The declaration also extends the deadline for
least-developed countries to apply provisions on pharmaceutical patents
until 1 January 2016.
Geographical
indications — the registration system. Geographical indications are
place names (in some countries also words associated with a place) used to
identify products with particular characteristics because they come from
specific places. The WTO TRIPS Council has already started work on a
multilateral registration system for geographical indications for wines and
spirits. The Doha Declaration sets a deadline for completing the
negotiations: the Fifth Ministerial Conference in 2003.
These negotiations take place in
“special sessions” of the TRIPS Council.
Geographical
indications — extending the “higher level of protection” to other products. The TRIPS Agreement provides a higher level of protection to geographical
indications for wines and spirits. This means they should be protected even
if there is no risk of misleading consumers or unfair competition. A number
of countries want to negotiate extending this higher level to other
products. Others oppose the move, and the debate in the TRIPS Council has
included the question of whether the relevant provisions of the TRIPS
Agreement provide a mandate for extending coverage beyond wines and
spirits.
The Doha Declaration notes that the
TRIPS Council will handle this under the declaration’s paragraph 12
(which deals with implementation issues). Paragraph 12 offers two tracks:
“(a) where we provide a specific negotiating mandate in this Declaration,
the relevant implementation issues shall be addressed under that mandate;
(b) the other outstanding implementation issues shall be addressed as a
matter of priority by the relevant WTO bodies, which shall report to the
Trade Negotiations Committee [TNC], established under paragraph 46 below, by
the end of 2002 for appropriate action.”
In papers circulated at the
Ministerial Conference, member governments expressed different
interpretations of this mandate.
Argentina said it understands “there
is no agreement to negotiate the ‘other outstanding implementation issues’
referred to under (b) and that, by the end of 2002, consensus will be
required in order to launch any negotiations on these issues”.
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, EU,
Hungary, India, Liechtenstein, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, the
Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey
argued that there is a clear mandate to negotiate immediately.
Reviews of
TRIPS provisions. Two reviews have been taking place in the
TRIPS Council, as required by the TRIPS Agreement: a review of Article
27.3(b) which deals with patentability or non-patentability of plant and
animal inventions, and the protection of plant varieties; and a review of
the entire TRIPS Agreement (required by Article 71.1).
The Doha Declaration says that work
in the
TRIPS Council on these reviews or any other implementation issue
should also look at: the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the UN
Convention on Biodiversity; the protection of traditional knowledge and
folklore; and other relevant new developments that member governments raise
in the review of the TRIPS Agreement. It adds that the TRIPS Council’s work
on these topics is to be guided by the TRIPS Agreement’s objectives (Article
7) and principles (Article 8), and must take development fully into
account.
Report to the General
Council — solution on compulsory licensing and lack of pharmaceutical
production
capacity: originally by end of 2002, decision agreed 30 April
2003.
Report to TNC — action on outstanding implementation issues under par 12: by
end
of 2002 (missed)
Deadline — negotiations on geographical indications registration system
(wines
and spirits): by 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
(missed)
Deadline — negotiations
specifically mandated in Doha Declaration: now none. Originally by 1
January 2005, then unofficially by end 2006. Part of single
undertaking
Least-developed
countries to apply
pharmaceutical patent provisions: 2016
The four ‘Singapore’ issues:
no negotiations until …
For trade and investment,
trade and competition policy, transparency in
government
procurement and trade facilitation, the 2001
Doha
declaration does not launch negotiations immediately. It
says
“negotiations will take place after the Fifth Session of the
Ministerial Conference on the basis of a decision to be
taken,
by explicit consensus, at that session on modalities of
negotiations [i.e. how the negotiations are to be
conducted]."
But consensus eluded members on negotiating the four
subjects. Finally agreement was reached on 1 August
2004 to
negotiate trade facilitation alone. The three other
subjects were dropped from the Doha agenda
This is a “Singapore issue” i.e. a working group set up by the
1996 Singapore Ministerial Conference has been studying it.
In the period up to the 2003
Ministerial Conference, the declaration instructs the
working group to focus on clarifying the scope and definition of the
issues, transparency, non-discrimination, ways of preparing negotiated
commitments, development provisions, exceptions and balance-of-payments
safeguards, consultation and dispute settlement. The negotiated commitments
would be modelled on those made in services, which specify where commitments
are being made
— “positive lists” — rather than making broad commitments and listing
exceptions.
The declaration also spells out a
number of principles such as the need to balance the interests of countries
where foreign investment originates and where it is invested, countries’
right to regulate investment, development, public interest and individual
countries’ specific circumstances. It also emphasizes support and technical
cooperation for developing and least-developed countries, and coordination
with other international organizations such as the UN Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD).
Since the 1 August 2004
decision,
this subject has been dropped from the Doha agenda.
Continuing work in
working group with
defined agenda: to 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
Negotiations: after 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico) subject to “explicit consensus” on
modalities with deadline: by 1 January 2005, part of single
undertaking. But no consensus; dropped from Doha agenda in 1
August
2004 decision
This is another “Singapore
issue”, with a working group set up in 1996 to study the subject.
In the period up to the 2003
Ministerial Conference, the declaration instructs the
working group to focus on clarifying:
core principles including transparency, non-discrimination and procedural
fairness, and provisions on “hardcore” cartels (i.e. cartels that are
formally set up)
ways of handling voluntary cooperation on competition policy among WTO
member governments
support for progressive reinforcement of competition institutions in
developing countries through capacity building
The declaration says the work must
take full account of developmental needs. It includes technical cooperation
and capacity building, on such topics as policy analysis and development, so
that developing countries are better placed to evaluate the implications of
closer multilateral cooperation for various developmental objectives.
Cooperation with other organizations such as the UN Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) is also included.
Since the 1 August 2004
decision,
this subject has been dropped from the Doha agenda.
Continuing work in
working group with
defined agenda: to 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
Negotiations: after 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico) subject to “explicit consensus” on
modalities with deadline: by 1 January 2005, part of single
undertaking. But no consensus; dropped from Doha agenda in 1
August
2004 decision
A third “Singapore issue” that was
handled by a
working group set up by the Singapore Ministerial Conference in
1996.
The Doha Declaration says that the
“negotiations shall be limited to the transparency aspects and therefore
will not restrict the scope for countries to give preferences to domestic
supplies and suppliers”
— it is separate from the plurilateral Government Procurement Agreement.
The declaration also stresses
development concerns, technical assistance and capacity building.
Since the 1 August 2004
decision, this
subject has been dropped from the Doha agenda.
Continuing work in
working group with
defined agenda: to 5th Ministerial Conference, 2003 (in
Mexico)
Negotiations: after 5th
Ministerial
Conference, 2003 (in Mexico) subject to “explicit consensus” on
modalities with deadline: by 1 January 2005, part of single
undertaking. But no consensus; dropped from Doha agenda in 1
August
2004 Decision.
A fourth “Singapore issue” kicked off
by the 1996 Ministerial Conference.
The declaration recognizes the case
for “further expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods,
including goods in transit, and the need for enhanced technical assistance
and capacity building in this area”.
In the period until the Fifth
Ministerial Conference in 2003, the
WTO Goods Council, which had been working on this subject since
1997,
“shall review and as appropriate, clarify and improve relevant aspects of
Articles 5 (‘Freedom of Transit’), 8 (‘Fees and Formalities Connected with
Importation and Exportation’) and 10 (‘Publication and Administration of
Trade
Regulations’) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) and
identify the trade facilitation needs and priorities of Members, in
particular
developing and least-developed countries”.
Those issues were cited in the
1 August 2004 decision that broke the Cancún deadlock. Members
agreed to start
negotiations on trade facilitation, but not the three other Singapore
issues.
The ministers agreed to negotiations
on the Anti-Dumping (GATT Article 6) and Subsidies agreements. The aim is to
clarify and improve disciplines while preserving the basic, concepts,
principles of these agreements, and taking into account the needs of
developing and least-developed participants.
In overlapping negotiating phases,
participants
first indicated which provisions of these two agreements they think should
be the subject of clarification and improvement in the
next phase of negotiations. The ministers mention specifically fisheries
subsidies as one sector important to developing countries and where
participants should aim to clarify and improve WTO disciplines.
Negotiations take place in the
Rules Negotiating
Group.
WTO rules say regional trade
agreements have to meet certain conditions. But interpreting the wording of
these rules has proved controversial, and has been a central element in the
work of the Regional Trade Agreements Committee. As a result, since 1995 the
committee has failed to complete its assessments of whether individual trade
agreements conform with WTO provisions.
This is now an important challenge,
particularly when nearly all member governments are parties to regional
agreements, are negotiating them, or are considering negotiating them. In
the Doha Declaration, members agreed to negotiate a solution, giving due
regard to the role that these agreements can play in fostering
development.
The declaration mandates negotiations
aimed at “clarifying and improving disciplines and procedures under the
existing WTO provisions applying to regional trade agreements. The
negotiations shall take into account the developmental aspects of regional
trade agreements.”
These negotiations fell into the
general
timetable established for virtually all negotiations under the Doha
Declaration.
The original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed and the current
unofficial
aim is to finish the talks by the end of 2006. The 2003 Fifth Ministerial
Conference in Mexico was intended to take stock of progress, provide any
necessary political guidance, and take decisions as necessary.
Negotiations take place in the
Rules Negotiating
Group.
The 1994 Marrakesh Ministerial
Conference mandated WTO member governments to conduct a review of the
Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU, the WTO agreement on dispute
settlement) within four years of the entry into force of the WTO Agreement
(i.e. by 1 January 1999).
The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB)
started the review in late 1997, and held a series of informal discussions
on the basis of proposals and issues that members identified. Many, if not
all, members clearly felt that improvements should be made to the
understanding. However, the DSB could not reach a consensus on the results
of the review.
The Doha Declaration mandates
negotiations
and states (in par 47) that these will not be part of the single undertaking
— i.e. that they will not be tied to the overall success or failure of the
other negotiations mandated by the declaration.
Originally set to conclude by May 2003, the negotiations are continuing
without
a deadline.
Negotiations take place in
“special sessions” of the Dispute Settlement
Body.
Multilateral
environmental agreements. Ministers agreed to launch
negotiations on the relationship between existing WTO rules and specific
trade obligations set out in multilateral environmental agreements. The
negotiations will address how WTO rules are to apply to WTO members that are
parties to environmental agreements, in particular to clarify the
relationship between trade measures taken under the environmental agreements
and WTO rules.
So far no measure affecting trade
taken under an environmental agreement has been challenged in the GATT-WTO
system.
Information
exchange. Ministers agreed to negotiate procedures for
regular information exchange between secretariats of multilateral
environmental agreements and the WTO. Currently, the Trade and Environment
Committee holds an information session with different secretariats of the
multilateral environmental agreements once or twice a year to discuss the
trade-related provisions in these environmental agreements and also their
dispute settlement mechanisms. The new information exchange procedures may
expand the scope of existing cooperation.
Observer
status. Overall, the situation concerning the granting of
observer status in the WTO to other international governmental organizations
is currently blocked for political reasons. The negotiations aim to develop
criteria for observership in WTO.
Trade
barriers on environmental goods and services. Ministers also
agreed to negotiations on the reduction or elimination of tariff and
non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services. Examples of
environmental goods and services are catalytic converters, air filters or
consultancy services on wastewater management.
Fisheries
subsidies. Ministers agreed to clarify and improve WTO rules
that apply to fisheries subsidies. The issue of fisheries subsidies has been
studied in the Trade and Environment Committee for several years. Some
studies demonstrate these subsidies can be environmentally damaging if they
lead to too many fishermen chasing too few fish.
Negotiations on these issues,
including concepts of what are the relevant environmental goods and
services, take place in
“special sessions” of the Trade and Environment Committee.
Negotiations on market access for environmental goods and services take
place in the
Market Access Negotiating Group and Services Council “special
sessions”.
Ministers instructed the Trade
and Environment
Committee, in pursuing work on all items on its agenda, to pay
particular attention to the following areas:
The effect of environmental measures on market access, especially for
developing countries.
“Win-win-win” situations: when eliminating or reducing trade
restrictions and distortions would benefit trade, the environment and
development.
Intellectual property. Paragraph 19 of the Ministerial Declaration mandates
the TRIPs Council to continue clarifying the relationship between the TRIPS
Agreement and the Biological Diversity Convention. Ministers also ask the
Trade and Environment Committee to continue to look at the relevant
provisions of the TRIPS agreement.
Environmental labelling requirements. The Trade and Environment Committee is
to look at the impact of eco-labelling on trade and examine whether existing
WTO rules stand in the way of eco-labelling policies. Parallel discussions
are to take place in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
For all these issues: when working on these (market access, “win-win-win”
situations, intellectual property and environmental labelling), the Trade
and Environment Committee should identify WTO rules that would need to be
clarified.
General: ministers recognize the importance of technical assistance and
capacity building programmes for developing countries in the trade and
environment area. They also encourage members to share expertise and
experience on national environmental reviews.
The Doha Declaration endorses the
work already done on electronic commerce and instructs the
General Council to consider the most appropriate institutional
arrangements for handling the work programme, and to report on further
progress to the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
The declaration on electronic
commerce from the Second Ministerial Conference in Geneva, 1998, said that
WTO members will continue their practice of not imposing customs duties on
electronic transmissions. The Doha Declaration states that members will
continue this practice until the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
Small economies face specific
challenges in their participation in world trade, for example lack of
economy of scale or limited natural resources.
The Doha Declaration mandates the
General Council to examine these problems and to make recommendations to
the next Ministerial Conference as to what trade-related measures could
improve the integration of small economies.
Many developing countries face
serious external debt problems and have been through financial crises. WTO
ministers decided in Doha to establish a
Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance to look at how
trade-related measures can contribute to find a durable solution to these
problems. This working group will report to the General Council which will
in turn report to the next Ministerial Conference.
Key date: debt and
finance
General Council report:
5th and 6th Ministerial Conferences, 2003 and 2005 (in Mexico
and
Hong Kong, China)
A number of provisions in the WTO
agreements mention the need for a transfer of technology to take place
between developed and developing countries.
However, it is not clear how such a
transfer takes place in practice and if specific measures might be taken
within the WTO to encourage such flows of technology.
WTO ministers decided in Doha to
establish a
working group to examine the issue. The working group will report to
the General Council which itself will report to the next Ministerial
Conference.
Through various paragraphs of the
Doha Declaration, WTO member governments have made new commitments on
technical cooperation and capacity building.
For example, the section on the
relationship between trade and investment includes a call (par 21) for
enhanced support for technical assistance and capacity building in this
area.
Within the specific heading
“technical cooperation and capacity building”, paragraph 41 lists all the
references to commitments on technical cooperation within the Doha
Declaration: paragraphs 16 (market access for non-agricultural products), 21
(trade and investment), 24 (trade and competition policy), 26 (transparency
in government procurement), 27 (trade facilitation), 33 (environment), 38-40
(technical cooperation and capacity building), 42 and 43 (least-developed
countries). (Paragraph 2 in the preamble is also cited.)
Under this heading (i.e. pars 38-41),
WTO member governments reaffirm all technical cooperation and capacity
building commitments made throughout the declaration and add general
commitments:
The Secretariat, in coordination with other relevant agencies, is to
encourage WTO developing-country members to consider trade as a main element
for reducing poverty and to include trade measures in their development
strategies.
The agenda set out in the Doha Declaration gives priority to small,
vulnerable, and transition economies, as well as to members and observers
that do not have permanent delegations in Geneva.
Technical assistance must be delivered by the WTO and other relevant
international organizations within a coherent policy framework.
The Director-General reported
to the
General Council in December 2002 and to the Fifth Ministerial
Conference on the implementation and adequacy of these new
commitments.
Following the declaration’s
instructions to develop a plan ensuring long-term funding for WTO technical
assistance, the
General Council adopted on 20 December 2001 (one month after the
Doha
conference) a new budget that increased technical assistance funding by 80%
and
established a Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund. The fund now has an
annual budget of 24 million Swiss francs.
Many developed countries have now
significantly decreased or actually scrapped tariffs on imports from
least-developed countries (LDCs).
In the Doha declaration, WTO
member governments commit themselves to the objective of duty-free,
quota-free market access for LDCs’ products and to consider additional
measures to improve market access for these exports.
Members also agree to try to ensure
that least-developed countries can negotiate WTO membership faster and more
easily.
Some technical assistance is targeted
specifically for least-developed countries. The Doha Declaration urges
WTO member donors to significantly increase their contributions.
In addition, the Sub-Committee
for LDCs (a subsidiary body of the WTO Committee on Trade and
Development) designed a work programme
un February 2002, as instructed by the Doha Declaration, taking into account
the parts of the declaration related to trade that was issued at the UN LDC
Conference.
The WTO agreements contain special
provisions which give developing countries special rights. These special
provisions include, for example, longer time periods for implementing
agreements and commitments or measures to increase trading opportunities for
developing countries.
In the Doha Declaration, member
governments agree that all special and differential treatment provisions
should be reviewed with a view to strengthening them and making them more
precise.
More specifically, the declaration
(together with the Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns)
mandates the
Trade and Development Committee to identify which of those special
and differential treatment provisions are mandatory, and to consider the
implications of making mandatory those which are currently non-binding.
The Decision on
Implementation-Related
Issues and Concerns instructed the committee to make its
recommendations
for the General Council before July 2002.
But because members needed more time, this was postponed to the end
of
July 2005.
The Doha agenda set a number of tasks to be
completed before or at the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancún,
Mexico,
10–14 September 2003. On the eve of the conference, on
30 August,
agreement was reached on the TRIPS and public health issue. However, a
number of the deadlines were missed, including “modalities” for
agriculture and the non-agricultural market access negotiations,
reform of
the Dispute Settlement Understanding, and recommendations on special
and
differential treatment. Nor were members near to agreement on the
multilateral geographical indications register for wines and spirits,
due
to be completed in Cancún.
Although Cancún saw delegations move closer
to
consensus on a number of key issues, members remained deeply divided
over
a number of issues, including the “Singapore” issues — launching
negotiations on investment, competition policy, transparency in
government
procurement, and trade facilitation — and agriculture.
The conference ended without consensus. Ten
months later, the deadlock was broken in Geneva when the General
Council
agreed on the “July package” in the early hours of 1 August 2004,
which
kicked off negotiations in trade facilitation but not the three other
Singapore issues. The delay meant the 1 January 2005 deadline for
finishing the talks could not be met. Unofficially, members aimed to
complete the next phase of the negotiations at the Hong Kong
Ministerial
Conference, 13–18 December 2005, including full “modalities” in
agriculture and market access for non-agricultural products, and to
finish
the talks by the end of the following year.
More than 40 items under 12 headings were settled at or before the Doha
conference, for immediate delivery.
