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Brazil Scores Another Cotton Goal
The US has not fully implemented WTO rulings in Brazil’s cotton subsidy challenge, a compliance panel found in December. According to the compliance ruling made public on 18 December, US subsidies continue to cause ‘significant price suppression’ in the world market for cotton. The elimination of the Step 2 programme, which compensated processors and exporters for…
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EU Spells Out New Climate and Energy Regime
The European Union is preparing to take the next step in tackling climate change after its executive arm presented a draft legislative package on 23 January. The draft legislation proposes an EU-wide greenhouse gas emission trading scheme and energy-related measures. Less than a year ago, Europe agreed to make a 20-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions…
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Brazil Tyres: Policy Space Confirmed under GATT Article XX
Health and environmental policies, even import bans, enjoy not only the protection of GATT Article XX but also the sympathy of the Appellate Body – unless, that is, they discriminate without a suitable reason. Brazil-Tyres may make it easier to defend the ‘necessity’ of measures, but harder to fit them into regional trade agreements and…
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WTO to Determine Worth of Gambling Concession
Antigua and Barbuda, as well as Costa Rica, have requested the WTO to arbitrate how much the US should compensate them for withdrawing a bound market access concession in gambling services. The gambling dispute between Antigua and Barbuda and the United States is often cited as a perfect illustration of how difficult it is for a…
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Pressure Mounts on EU Biotech Approval Regime
After missing an 11 January deadline for lifting restrictions on the approval and marketing of biotech products, the European Union faces the possibility of trade sanctions in the high-profile trade and environment dispute. At issue is the EU’s compliance with 2006 panel rulings that faulted its application of marketing approval procedures for genetically modified organisms (GMOs).…
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Rules Negotiations Heading for Choppy Waters
The first meeting on proposed changes to WTO rules on anti-dumping and subsidies showed no narrowing of differences between Members, casting doubt on how these issues could be reflected in upcoming negotiations across the different areas under the Doha Round mandate. On 30 November 2007, the chair of the rules negotiations, Uruguay’s Ambassador Guillermo Valles Galmés,…
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Services Chair’s Report Reflects Large Gaps in Positions
A new report on the state of play of the services negotiations shows that Members agree on little else than the need for new deadlines for the submission of revised market opening offers and updated schedules of concessions. A number of (mostly developed) countries had pushed for an ambitious text on services that could be…
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Revised NAMA Draft: Nemo Tenetur ad Impossibile
The most significant change in the February draft modalities on industrial market access compared to its July predecessor is that it reflects much more accurately the profound lack of consensus among WTO Members on nearly all key issues. The July draft on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) was denounced as unacceptably imbalanced by a coalition of developing…
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Breakthrough Still Elusive in Doha Round
The February release of revised negotiating drafts on agriculture and industrial market access has so far failed to break the deadlock in seven-year-old multilateral trade liberalisation talks. Neither of the two ‘modalities’ texts contained any major surprises. Most importantly, they left virtually untouched the figures proposed in drafts circulated in July on the extent of domestic…
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EU Banana Regime Condemned Again
The European Union has suffered comprehensive losses in separate disputes brought by Ecuador and the United States against its import regime for bananas. The complainants had requested compliance panels to determine whether the EU had reformed its banana import regulations as required by earlier WTO rulings in the dispute. The Case By January 2006, the EU…
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New Ag Text Provides More Details but No Consensus
Although the revised draft modalities released by chair Crawford Falconer on 8 February did not contain any major surprises, some of the proposed new disciplines on flexibilities for developing countries have raised stiff opposition from a number of WTO Members. The new text proposes few changes to the controversial ‘headline numbers’ for overall percentage cuts to…
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Tropical Products in the DDA and Beyond
The Agreement on Agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round stressed that future negotiations should address ‘the fullest liberalisation of trade in tropical products’. The July 2004 Doha Round framework agreement further noted that the full implementation of this commitment was “overdue and will be addressed effectively in the market access negotiations.” In December 2007, ICTSD and…
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Five Suggestions for Clarifying the Draft Text on Fisheries Subsidies
Although the draft text on fisheries subsidies released in November is on the whole a remarkable synthesis, certain points would benefit from further clarification, in particular to avoid unnecessary litigation in the future. Of course, international negotiators often opt for a degree of ‘creative ambiguity’ on certain points of a treaty in order not to jeopardise…
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Friend or Foe? Regional Trade Agreements and the WTO
Reams of paper and hours of discussion have focused on whether regional trade agreements are building blocks or stumbling blocks to the multilateral system. This approach, however, is too simplistic in view of the diverse economic and political dimensions of individual agreements. There are certain realities that must be accepted at this stage in international trade: Regional trade…
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Ensuring a Development-friendly WTO
The Doha Round negotiations, formally named the Doha Development Agenda, continue to founder. While agriculture negotiations have dominated public discussion, the critical obstacle to conclusion of the round is the failure of negotiations so far to deliver on developing country needs. Developing countries are determined to ensure that this round contributes to their economic development, or…
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US Ponders Options For Climate Bill
US legislators should keep potential WTO challenges firmly in mind when drafting a new federal climate change bill, a congressional committee has advised. On 31 January, the staff of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce issued a ‘white paper’ on potential climate change legislation, with a particular focus on competitiveness concerns and ways to engage…
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News in Brief
• Andean Preferences: At the time of writing it looked virtually certain that the US Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) would be extended by ten months after its scheduled expiry on 29 February. The legislation grants unilateral market access preferences to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Many Republicans hope that the prospect of…
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Disputes in Brief
• A WTO panel has ruled against China’s tariffs on auto parts in a dispute brought by Canada, the EU and the US. The complainants alleged that China had violated it market access commitments through the imposition of 25-percent import duty on certain car parts instead of its scheduled most-favoured-nation tariff of 10 percent.…
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EPAs: A Threat to South-South Trade?
Brazil has raised serious concerns over potential new constraints to South-South trade created by the EU’s economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. In a statement presented to the WTO’s General Council on 5 February, Brazil singled out the negative effects of the so-called ‘most-favoured-nation’ (MFN) clause included in EPAs. Such provisions are…