Analytical Notes, January 2013

Benchmarks to ‘further strengthen, streamline and operationalize’ the 2002 LDC Accession Guidelines have been developed. The following conclusions can be made regarding these benchmarks:

En una sesión muy animada celebrada en el marco del Foro Público de la OMC, embajadores de países en desarrollo y otros expertos expusieron sus opiniones acerca del estancamiento en las negociaciones de la Ronda de Doha de la OMC, la «nueva concepción del comercio» promovida por los principales países desarrollados y la necesidad de plantear una concepción alternativa que refleje la realidad desde la perspectiva de los países en desarrollo.

La Conferencia de Durban pone en marcha una nueva ronda de negociaciones sobre el clima

Durante la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre cambio climático que tuvo lugar en Durban (Sudáfrica) en diciembre de 2011, se puso en marcha una nueva ronda de negociaciones sobre el clima con el fin de llegar en 2015 a un acuerdo que entre en vigor en 2020. Los países en desarrollo tendrán que prepararse bien para las negociaciones en las que se determinarán las condiciones del acuerdo.

Informal note? November 2011

This note includes a non-exhaustive list of implementation issues that would be very beneficial for developing countries if they can be delivered.

 

Analytical Note, November 2011

This Note is an analysis of the draft waiver decision submitted by the Chairman of the CTS to Ministers for adoption at the 8th Ministerial Conference. This is essentially a waiver from the most-favoured nation treatment clause (Article II. 1) in GATS to allow Members to provide preferential and more favourable treatment to services and services suppliers of LDCs. Two main issues have arisen in the draft waiver text. Firstly the types of preferences covered by the waiver, in order to be effective, needs to go beyond market access measures. The second issue is that of rules of origin. There is need to clarify the meaning of rules of origin in the waiver.

Documentos analíticos, noviembre de 2011

 Paquete para los PMA: situación de las negociaciones y texto propuesto para la Octava Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC

En mayo de 2011 el Director General de la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC), en calidad de Presidente del Comité de Negociaciones Comerciales (CNC), propuso un paquete para los países menos adelantados (PMA) a fin de resolver una serie de “cuestiones iniciales” durante la Octava Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC en diciembre de 2011. Desde entonces, la oposición de los Estados Unidos ha impedido el avance de las negociaciones. Sin embargo, el paquete para los PMA cuenta con un amplio apoyo de otros miembros de la OMC y el grupo de PMA en la OMC sigue insistiendo en lograr resultados con relación al paquete en la Octava Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC.

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Trato especial y diferenciado: situación de las negociaciones y texto propuesto para la Octava Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC

Si bien ha habido ciertos progresos en las negociaciones sobre trato especial y diferenciado para los países desarrollados dispuestas en el párrafo 44 de la Declaración ministerial de Doha, estos progresos no han sido significativos.

En este documento se presenta un panorama de:

i) los acuerdos alcanzados en materia de disposiciones sobre trato especial y diferenciado desde mayo de 2003

ii) las propuestas pendientes en materia de trato especial y diferenciado

iii) las negociaciones sobre el Mecanismo de Vigilancia

iv) las cuestiones que revisten un interés particular para los países en desarrollo en relación con el programa inconcluso de negociaciones sobre trato especial y diferenciado y las recomendaciones para el camino a seguir y, por último,

v) el texto propuesto para las negociaciones en materia de trato especial y diferenciado en la Octava Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC

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Analytical Notes, June 2011

1)  Key Overview Paper: Present Situation of the WTO Doha Talks and Comments on the 21 April 2011 Documents

WTO released on 21 April 2011, a 600-page package providing an overview of the last 10 years of Doha negotiations. This paper is an analysis of this overall package. Although Doha started as a “Development Agenda” with a pledge that developing countries’ interests would be at the centre, ironically there is hardly any development content left in the Doha elements. The agricultural deal has side-stepped the major issue of subsidies by developed countries. Special and Differential Treatment (S&D) for developing countries such as the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) is practically inoperable and ineffective. There are no results in cotton. In NAMA, the packaged is imbalanced and problematic in terms of the shrinking of developing countries’ policy space to carry out much needed industrialisation. The services report puts a ‘necessity test’ back in as an option in the domestic regulation negotiations. Key areas of interest to developing countries have been sidelined – Article XXIV; S&D and Implementation issues.

Documento de investigación número 29 (introducción y conclusión únicamente) mayo de 2010   El objetivo de este documento es examinar algunos aspectos importantes de la interrelación existente entre las problemáticas sobre el cambio climático y aquellas relacionadas con el comercio.   En concreto, el Documento de investigación número 29 analiza el desarrollo de las políticas adoptadas por los gobiernos y los procesos intergubernamentales para hacer frente a la crisis en materia de cambio climático, en especial en el marco del régimen internacional en materia de cambio climático y de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático (CMNUCC), y sus interrelaciones con el régimen comercial multilateral, en particular con la OMC.

Artículo publicado en el South Bulletin: Reflections and Foresights, Número 38, 7 de julio de 2009

Por Martin Khor

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Editorial: Abogar por una reforma radical de la Organización Mundial del Comercio

Todos los organismos multilaterales, incluida la OMC, están impulsados por un cierto equilibrio de fuerzas en la esfera internacional. Las relaciones asimétricas de poder son parte de la dinámica de las negociaciones internacionales, ya se trate de comercio o de observancia de los derechos de propiedad intelectual. La OMC, a todos los efectos y fines, se ha convertido en una extensión del programa europeo.

Le pregunta que cabe plantearse es la siguiente: ¿Cómo utiliza Europa su poder en la OMC y, en general, en el sistema mundial de comercio? No debería sorprendernos que Europa utilice su fuerza e inteligencia para promover los intereses europeos. Esperar que Europa actúe de otra manera sería ingenuo. Sin embargo, pese a una opulencia externa, Europa atraviesa una grave crisis. La debacle financiera de los Estados Unidos ha puesto en peligro el cómodo nivel de vida de sus banqueros y ciudadanos. Europa es aun más vulnerable que los Estados Unidos al riesgo de pérdida de mercados y de acceso al petróleo y a materias primas.

South Centre Analytical Note - October 2008

This paper outlines the main events which took place during the WTO’s July mini-Ministerial. It goes on to provide a discussion of the key issues that were important in that meeting – agriculture, cotton, the non-agriculture market access negotiations, as well as systemic process concerns. It concludes with some thoughts on the challenges confronting developing countries – high food prices, livelihoods and climate change, and the implications these challenges pose for the WTO. 

Editorial: El Movimiento de los Países no Alineados y la paralización de las negociaciones de la Ronda de Doha

Durante la última semana del mes de julio, Ginebra y Teherán enviaron al mundo dos mensajes paralelos. En Ginebra, la Ronda de Doha de negociaciones comerciales celebrada en el marco multilateral de la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC) colapsó. En Teherán, el Movimiento de los Países no Alineados resurgió con más fuerza debido a la acción colectiva de sus 118 estados miembros. ¿Cuáles son las razones del fracaso en un caso y del éxito en el otro?

Durante la actual miniconferencia ministerial de la OMC, el Centro del Sur publicará una serie de análisis para informar a sus miembros sobre los acontecimientos de dicho evento.

Análisis Número 1: Mecanismo de salvaguardia especial: ¿una salvaguardia sin garra?

Análisis Número 2: Sacrificar la industrialización y las desequilibradas modalidades relativas al AMNA

Análisis Número 3: Presionan a los países en desarrollo para que liberalicen el comercio de servicios

Análisis Número 4: Análisis de los números presentados el 25 de julio por Pascal Lamy en relación con el mecanismo de salvaguardia especial

Análisis Número 5: Colapso de las negociaciones de Doha: se incumplen los objetivos de desarrollo

Informe sobre Políticas No. 1

Resumen

En el presente Informe sobre políticas de la serie T.R.A.D.E., producido por el Centro del Sur, se debate el concepto de ‘espacio normativo’ y la función que este desempeña en la promoción del desarrollo del Sur. El espacio normativo se funda en los principios de la igualdad soberana de los Estados, del derecho al desarrollo y del trato especial y diferenciado para los países en desarrollo. Los enfoques económicos fomentados por las instituciones de Bretton Woods y la OMC, enfoques únicos para todos los países, no han funcionado. Por lo tanto, en el presente informe se alega que el especio normativo es necesario para ofrecer a los países en desarrollo la libertad necesaria para elegir la mejor combinación posible de políticas, a fin de alcanzar un desarrollo económico sostenible y equitativo en función de sus condiciones únicas e individuales de índole social, política, económica y ambiental.

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South Centre Analytical Note - October 2005

SYNOPSIS

This TRADE Analysis provides a brief overview of the “Coherence” agenda in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and tries to inject a new perspective on how such agenda can be made to serve the development goals and interests of developing countries. It emphasizes that the recognition of “policy space” and the placement of development goals as the central foci of coherence in global economic policymaking, can be used to form the core of a more positive “Coherence” agenda in favor of developing countries’ development interests in the WTO and the Bretton Woods institutions.

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South Centre Analytical Note - October 2005

SYNOPSIS

This TRADE Analysis discusses selected aspects of the WTO dispute settlement system that developing countries should consider as they continue to engage in the DSU negotiations.

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South Centre T.R.A.D.E. Analysis October 2005

INTRODUCTION

1. Technology transfer is a mechanism for the shifting of information across borders and its effective diffusion into recipient economies, thus involving numerous complex processes, ranging from innovation and international marketing of technology to its absorption and imitation. The process of technology transfer includes the technology itself, trade terms and intellectual property rights, and policies of technology exporting countries, investment, and competition issues that can affect the terms of access to knowledge.

2. The aim of the Analysis is to shed light on the current status of the negotiation process on transfer of technology in the WTO and specifically to address the work of the Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology (Working Group). The Note will summarise the current status of technology transfer in different fora, including the work under WIPO UNCTAD and UNIDO. Since the Working Group is the focal point of discussion on technology transfer at the multilateral level with participation by other organizations and member states as well, the note examines the current status of the Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology, addressing the issues of why it was set up, the nature of its work and the status of the agenda for technology transfer in the WTO. Finally the paper outlines the possible steps in the upcoming Ministerial Conference and what should be achieved by the end of the Doha Round.

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South Centre Analytical Note - September 2004

INTRODUCTION

On 31 July 2004, the WTO General Council decided to establish a framework for continued negotiations under the Doha Work Programme set out in the Doha Ministerial Declaration (DMD, WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1) of 2001. This note seeks to present a content analysis of the WTO General Council Decision of 31 July 2004 (WT/GC/W/535).

The analysis of the main text of the July Decision in the first part of this Analytical Note is arranged according to the substantive issue areas identified in the DMD for either negotiations or discussions as linked to the relevant texts in the July 2004 General Council Decision. It also identifies the new negotiating timeframes established for each negotiating area and provides a brief analytical comment on the extent to which the July 2004 Decision impacts on the original Doha mandates.

For ease of use, the Analytical Note has been divided into four main parts. Part I analyzes the main text of the July Decision, followed by Parts II, III, and IV, devoted to the analysis of Annex A (Agriculture), Annex B (Non-Agricultural Market Access), and Annex D (Trade Facilitation), respectively, of the July Decision.

It is hoped that this note will be useful to readers as the implementation of the mandates in the July Decision proceed after the summer of 2004.

 Part I (Main text - A Content Analysis)

 Part II (Annex A, Agriculture Modalities)

 Part III (Annex B, NAMA Modalities)

 Part IV (Trade Facilitation Modalities)

T.R.A.D.E. Occasional Papers 8

SUMMARY

This paper gives a general outline of contemporary global economic governance, citing the Bretton Woods institutions (International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB)) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) as its main actors. Tracing the births and lives of these organizations, from their original emphasis on monetary affairs to the inclusion of trade liberalization and financial deregulation, the paper offers insight into explaining why the global economic governance problems of today are rooted in the manner in which these institutions were set up and continue to operate.

Contrasting and comparing these institutions with, among others, the United Nations system, it is shown how inherent elements in the establishment of the former have led to subsequent breaks from the rules and ideals of inclusive cooperation envisioned in their creation.

Certain institutional flaws become apparent in the course of their study, resulting primarily from the shift from global monetary concerns to pursuits of the structural reformation of individual debtor developing countries. Within these institutions, inequality pervades, with conditionalities linked to aid and loans, the expression and incorporation of a single, narrow viewpoint representing the interests of developed countries into nearly all actions and agreements put forth by the institutions, and unequal decision-making processes.

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South Centre Analytical Note - July 2002

SUMMARY (excerpt)

This paper provides a general background to the issues of Trade, Debt, and Finance, and what role they may have in future World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations envisioned through the Working Group on Trade, Debt, and Finance (WGTDF). Its aim is to assist developing countries in effective participation in the work programme of the WGTDF, by underscoring the main issues and objectives, and offering suggestions for future work.

It considers the context of the interrelationship of these three issues, noting the condition of the world economic system as run by the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF and World Bank) and the WTO. Since a Northern, neoliberal economic perspective permeates these institutions, developed country interests continue to take centre stage in the negotiating and decision-making processes. It is these interests which set the agenda on development and the relationship between trade, debt, and finance issues. Despite the inherent flaws in these bodies, efforts to reform policies and institutions recently have been unsuccessful. An example is the UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) held in Monterrey earlier this year.

The paper then proceeds to examine how these institutional and systemic flaws are reflected in global trade and finance, as well as through the burden of debt faced by developing countries. Trade issues include the nearly acrossthe- board dependence on the export of primary commodities. This is largely responsible for the vulnerability of developing countries’ economies to price swings (albeit generally on a downward trend) and their continued existence at the bottom (if even included) of any chains of production, and subsequently, for their poor trade performance. Additional trade issues include the persistence in usage of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade by developed countries.

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T.R.A.D.E. Occasional Papers 5 September 2001

Introduction (excerpt) 

1. As a consequence of the fast development of information technologies, and especially the Internet, many new types of transactions have been developed in recent years. Before the Internet, several kinds of business transactions were normally carried out by telephone, telex and by fax. However, it was not until the development of a network that could transfer vast amounts of information together with interactive features and with the digital capacity for making high quality copies that the term e-commerce could be properly used.

2. Currently, there seems to be a great deal of confusion about the use of the term e-commerce and the Internet. According to many authors, the Internet is just a media where information in multiple forms can be disseminated, used and interactively exchanged. In contrast, e-commerce is considered, according to the Work Program on E-commerce (WPEC) of the WTO, as the production, distribution, marketing, sale or delivery of goods and services by electronic means.1 The Internet, together with the use, convergence and improvement of new technologies, is creating new challenges and opportunities for developing countries. The use of these technologies for the manufacture and exportation of goods and services are among these challenges and opportunities.

3. Many issues have been identified as being of crucial importance for building, consolidating and improving the capacities of the developing world to enjoy the opportunities that the internet as a new media has brought, particularly for the better use of e-commerce. There is a need for information networks, creation of a telecommunication infrastructure, availability of new financial structures and transactions, hardware and software, reform of educational programs, establishment of legal rules adapted to the on-line environment and the existence of an appropriate intellectual property regime that ensures access to new technologies, promotes domestic innovation and encourages technology transfer. The devising of new ways and means to improve research and development activities (R&D), the ability to compete against highly subsidized technology and the capacity to absorb new technologies and the development of new products will be necessary to close the existing digital gaps.

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T.R.A.D.E. Working Papers 3

INTRODUCTION: THE ROLE OF STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS (excerpt)

Countries require that domestically produced and imported goods conform to regulations and possibly adhere to standards. The number of standards and regulations is constantly increasing in most countries because of the expansion in volume, variety and technical sophistication of products manufactured and traded. Nowadays, standards and regulations aim at complying with a variety of aims and tasks. Some of them are traditional -- such as minimizing risks, providing information to consumers about the characteristics of products, providing information to producers about market needs and expectations, facilitating market transactions, raising efficiency and contributing to economies of scale. Other are less traditional -- such as serving as benchmarks for technological capability and network compatibility and enhancing technology diffusion. Standards and regulations respond also to growing public demand, often voiced by consumer associations and environmental groups, to have in the market products which have minimum detrimental effect on the environment, display clear information regarding their possible impact on health and respond to high quality requirements. Because the tasks that standards and regulations aim to fulfil have expanded and deepened, the number of interested parties involved in setting-up standards and regulations is also increasing, with the participation of groups such as consumer and environmental organizations, which were not previously involved in these activities.

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T.R.A.D.E. Working Papers 2

INTRODUCTION

One of the major issues in multilateral trade negotiations and in the implementation of multilateral trade rules is the extent to which the rights and obligations of developing countries, on account of their lower levels of development, should differ from those of developed countries and how this should be achieved. The manner in which countries at different levels of development are treated in world trade has been a major, often controversial issue. Special and differential (S&D) treatment, which addresses the requirements and special needs of the weaker member states, is of fundamental importance for the developing countries.

Over the years, first in the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and currently in the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the liberalization commitments of developing countries have deepened and the multilateral trade agenda broadened, the issue of S&D treatment has grown in importance. For example, agreements have been concluded in a number of new areas critical for national development, including trade in services, the protection of intellectual property rights and agricultural trade, as a result of which developing countries have assumed important new commitments, as they have in other areas, such as market access, technical barriers to trade, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

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T.R.A.D.E. Working Papers 1

INTRODUCTION

The Decision on the Application and Review of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes, adopted by the Trade Negotiations Committee on 15 December 1993, in part reads as follows: “Ministers ... invite the Ministerial Conference to complete a full review of dispute settlement rules and procedures under the World Trade Organization within four years after the entry into force of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, and to take a decision on the occasion of its first meeting after the completion of the review, whether to continue, modify or terminate such dispute settlement rules and procedures.”

Under this Decision, WTO Members were mandated to complete a review of the operation of the current Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) by the end of 19981, allowing the Third WTO Ministerial Conference, to be held in the United States in late 1999, to take a decision on whether to continue, modify or terminate the DSU. A number of informal consultations have been held at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) for this purpose, but no consensus has emerged so far regarding whether or, if at all, to what extent the current DSU should be modified.

This paper is an attempt to analyse problems that have been encountered by developing countries in relation to the operation of the DSU. It is important to note however, that the analysis of substantive issues, raised and decided upon in the context of disputes that have been brought to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism so far, is beyond the scope of this paper. While the focus of the present paper is on issues of process related to the operation of the DSU, this should not diminish the importance of the issues of substance addressed in the panel/Appellate Body decisions which may be the subject of a follow-up paper in the future.

Before engaging in the analysis of the current DSU, it is useful to review the experience of developing countries under GATT 1947 in respect of the dispute settlement system, in order to highlight the difference and similarities between the past and the present situations.

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