-
Deeply Divided, WTO Members to Search for Common Ground on Doha
A meeting of senior officials from 19 WTO members last week was valuable primarily for helping participants reach “a common diagnosis” of the “seriousness and depth” of the problem governments face in trying to conclude the Doha Round trade talks, officials said. Several of the exchanges during the gathering, which was jointly hosted by the European…
-
North-South Split over R&D Financing and Counterfeits at World Health Assembly
Controversial issues related to intellectual property rights (IPRs), innovation, and access to medicine dominated debates at last week’s meeting of the World Health Assembly, the top decision making body of the World Health Organization (WHO). Particularly contentious were discussions on the implementation of a 2008 plan to create new incentives to drive innovation and to finance…
-
WTO Panel to Examine EU Anti-Dumping Duties on Chinese Footwear; Zeroing Under Fire Again
When their economies hit downturns, WTO members’ use of anti-dumping measures tends to increase. So too, it seems, does the number of dispute settlement cases challenging the extra duties. Three WTO dispute panels were established last week to scrutinise a range of anti-dumping measures: duties levied by the European Union on Chinese footwear, and by the…
-
Special Safeguard Mechanism Could ‘Seriously Impede’ Normal Farm Trade, Say Exporters
A new informal paper from Canada and Australia argues that an unconstrained agricultural safeguard mechanism for developing countries could “seriously impede” normal trade, if stripped of various proposed curbs on its use. The paper has received a cool reception from the G-33 developing country group, which favours a simple, easy-to-invoke ’special safeguard mechanism’ (SSM)…
- WTO in Brief
-
After Delay, Russian Accession Talks to Resume in June
After a year-long suspension of negotiations with WTO members, Maxim Medvekov, lead negotiator in Russia’s WTO accession process, announced this week that talks would resume on 17 June. The announcement comes almost immediately following Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s statement that Moscow’s planned customs union with neighbouring Belarus and Kazakhstan would not take effect…
-
DSU Review Negotiations Inch Forward, Despite Doha Lull
Geneva-based trade officials working on WTO dispute settlement issues were kept busy last week. Besides establishing three new panels at a Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) meeting and monitoring a high-profile arbitration between the US and the EU, they also met as part of the ongoing negotiations on updating the rules governing WTO dispute settlement. A group…
- Events
-
Events
Coming up this week 26 - 27 May, Paris, France. ANNUAL ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD) FORUM: ROAD TO RECOVERY: INNOVATION, JOBS & CLEAN GROWTH. The OECD’s annual forum will focus this year how to develop practical policy and regulatory frameworks so that governments, international organisations, trade unions, and the like can use new…
- Resources
-
Resources
HOPES AND FEARS: INDONESIA’S PROSPECTS IN AN ASEAN-EU FREE TRADE AGREEMENT. By Alexander C. Chandra, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2009. This study provides a thorough examination of ASEAN and the EU’s plan to establish a free trade agreement. More specifically, the author attempts to assess the economic impacts of this proposed FTA on…