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Doha Doldrums: Others Should Act
Virtually all WTO Members have called for a rapid resumption of the Doha Round trade talks, but none of the likely deal-makers have given any signs that they are willing to take the first step out of the impasse. Addressing the WTO General Council on 10 October, Director-General Pascal Lamy said that it was “now obvious…
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A Way Out of the Fruitless Debate on Services Safeguards?
It is no surprise that the debate on emergency safeguards in services has not made concrete progress. This article reviews the main problems that have arisen from the discussions and then suggest an alternative approach. One of the reasons for the stalemate is the lack of clarity of the mandate in Article X.1 of the General…
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China’s Introduction to Dispute Settlement
China’s import regulations for car parts have been challenged at the WTO, but the country may also soon initiate dispute settlement proceedings of its own against anti-dumping duties on its shoe exports to the EU. The two disputes illustrate the predicament of richer countries eager to exploit the export opportunities offered by China’s huge market and…
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GMO Rice Raises Questions
The discovery of contamination of US long-grained commercial rice supplies by a genetically-engineered variety not approved for human consumption has raised concerns about the strength of US regulation of biotechnology. In a report released last December, the US Department of Agriculture Inspector General stated that USDA lacked “basic information about the field test sites it…
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Biotech Panel Asks the EU to Conform with SPS Rules
The final report of the WTO panel assessing the complaint brought by the US, Argentina and Canada against the EU’s ‘de facto’ moratorium on the approval of new GMO products essentially reiterated the findings of the interim ruling circulated to the parties in February. The more than 2000-page final report, which was distributed to the parties…
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Russia Sets Accession Ultimatum
Russia has threatened to rescind the United States’ current chicken and meat quotas unless the two countries can agree on the terms of its WTO accession by the end of October. At the and of yet another negotiating round between the two countries in late September, Russia’s chief negotiator Maxim Medvekov said the number of questions…
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Aid for Trade Endorsed at World Bank and IMF Meetings
Meeting in Singapore in September, the ministerial advisory bodies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund called on WTO Members to resist calls for protectionism and endorsed increased Aid for Trade separate from the Doha Round’s conclusion. Media attention focused heavily on the increase of IMF voting rights for China, Mexico, South Korea and…
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Abidjan Waste Dump Reveals Many Loopholes
The late November 2006 Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention is likely to see a renewed push for a total ban of hazardous waste shipments from developed to developing countries. The new impetus stems from the illegal disposal of toxic substances in open pits around the Ivory Coast’s former capital Abidjan. Contamination from the…
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EPA Negotiations Complicated by Doha Collapse
Negotiations on a new trade relationship between the European Union and countries belonging to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States face new uncertainties due to the Doha Round delay. Briefing the joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly on 13 September on the current state of play of the negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), the…
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EU Joins the Pursuit of Free Trade Agreements in Asia
Signalling a new orientation for EU trade policy, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has urged EU member states to consider “new free trade agreements designed to deliver more open markets and fairer trading conditions in new areas of growth, particularly in Asia.” The proposal is part of the EU’s latest ‘external competitiveness strategy’ adopted by the European…
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New US GSP Proposal Draws Opposition
The US House of Representatives has postponed the consideration of a proposed new General System of Preferences law due to opposition from textile states. Ten Conservative representatives from Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Virginia requested the postponement, because the bill under consideration (H.R. 6142) would extend until September 2008 duty-free access under the African…
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Shining a Light into the Black Box
Market access is the most important, most complex and most political issue the Doha Round agriculture talks. It is no wonder that the US Trade Ambassador characterised the market access pillar as a Black Box when the Round slouched toward suspension in July. The market access pillar became a Black Box in part because of the…
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EU Subsidies and the Fishing Industry
As the third greatest fishing power and largest market for fish in the world, as well as a generous provider of subsidies, the EU’s fisheries policies are significant factors in WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies. EU Subsidies 2007-2013 In July 2006, the European Union finally adopted the provisions of its new subsidy programme for fisheries, some two…
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Assessing the Impacts of Liberalisation
Measuring the impacts of trade liberalisation on sustainable development is challenging, as the different results obtained by various recent modelling exercises have amply demonstrated. At a meeting convened by ICTSD during the WTO’s September Public Symposium, experts agreed that it was less the model used than the underlying assumptions and data that influenced the result. To…
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The EMS Debate at the WTO
WTO discussions are based on the mandate in GATS Article X.1 that “there shall be negotiations on the question of emergency safeguard measures based on the principle of non-discrimination.” The results of such negotiations were to enter into force no later than 1 January 1998. After several deadlines for concluding the EMS negotiations had been missed,…
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Brazil Tyres Update
Brazil continues its spirited defence of the import ban of retreaded tyres, which has been challenged by the EU. In its second submission, which was filed on 11 August, Brazil reiterated that the ban and the fines it imposes to secure compliance with the import prohibition were justified under environmental and health grounds, and thus covered…
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WIPO General Assembly Highlights
The General Assembly of World Intellectual Property Organisation has agreed to continue discussions on the proposed WIPO Development Agenda for another year. Member governments had sent no recommendations on the way forward to the meeting due to the sharp differences that emerged in a preparatory session in June (Bridges Year 10 No.4, page 18). It was…
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US-Uruguay TIFA
Uruguay has renounced its ambition to negotiate a free trade agreement with the US. According to President Tabaré Vazquez, the country’s cabinet concluded on 28 September that the schedule imposed by the US Trade Promotion Authority “didn’t give us the sufficient time to analyse in depth the different chapters involved in the overall trade operation”.…