SHOULD THE GREEN BOX BE MODIFIED? By David Blandford and Timothy Josling. International Food and Agriculture Trade Policy Council. March 2007. In this IPC Discussion Paper, David Blandford and Timothy Josling raise important questions around the WTO’s Green Box category. With agriculture dominating the current Doha Round negotiations, the author’s bring forth timely and salient questions about the influence that the possible consequences can have on the developing world. The paper also proposes ways the current negotiations can be manipulated to most effectively meet the needs of both rich and poor countries. Available online: http://www.agritrade.org/Publications/green_box.html.
A FAIR FARM BILL FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. April 2007. IATP’s report analyses the most pressing issues, questions, and challenges surrounding the increase in farm-based renewable energy production. The report comprehensively examines such critical matters as the transition periods for sustainable energies; ensuring benefits are equally distributed among urban and rural farmers; and looking at how biofuel production will impact global markets. Policy solutions that support a sustainable biofuels system in the 2007 Farm Bill are also proposed within the report. Available online: http://www.iatp.org/iatp/publications.cfm?showall=false.
GATS DISPUTE SETTLEMENT CASES: PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. South Centre. March 2007. Produced by the South Centre, this analytical note examines the recent WTO dispute settlement report rulings and their implications for the current negotiations, particularly as related to the interpretation of various GATS articles and concepts. Through this paper, the South Centre hopes to inform developing countries of the types of considerations to be taken into account when formulating initial or subsequent offers, scheduling commitments, or negotiating disciplines for rules and domestic regulation.