WTO members debate way forward on “rules” talks

08/05/2015 12:00 - 496 Views

WTO members continue to work towards a July deadline for crafting a Doha Round work programme.

WTO members remain divided over what role the organisation’s talks on “rules” should play in the broader effort to develop a Doha Round work programme, trade sources say, despite their approaching July deadline.

The Rules Negotiating Group covers talks on improving WTO disciplines around anti-dumping duties and procedures; subsidies and countervailing measures; and provisions applying to regional trade agreements. The subsidies talks include negotiations relating to fisheries subsidies.

The group met on Monday for an open-ended session, following an information briefing held the same day by the WTO secretariat as a “refresher” for members. According to trade sources, several members expressed interest in including rules issues within the scope of the work programme, although some major players such as Brazil, Canada, and India said that rules should not advance ahead of the Doha Round’s “core” negotiating subjects of agriculture, non-agricultural market access (NAMA), and services.

The US also reportedly raised questions over what might be “doable” in rules given the slow pace in those three major areas, and therefore whether active talks would even be possible.

The pace of these core negotiating areas – and how this might affect the rest of the Doha Round issues – has led some delegations to raise concerns in other settings over what this could mean for developing a specific, modalities-like work programme in time for the July deadline. Some have warned that, if this de facto sequencing of negotiations is indeed taking place, it could prove detrimental to advancing the Doha Round as a whole.

At the close of Monday’s session, Jamaica’s Ambassador Wayne McCook, who chairs the rules negotiations, said he would continue to consult with different configurations of members on how to move forward.

Transparency, due process

During the open-ended discussions, the EU reportedly discussed an option for a horizontal approach that would see negotiations focus on aspects of transparency and due process in each of the four rules areas.

While the proposal did not specify further exactly what elements of the rules talks would qualify in this approach, the 28-nation bloc indicated to other members that it may come forward with a paper that would further clarify its position. Some sources suggest that on anti-dumping rules, for example, this might involve focusing on investigative authorities and procedures.

During Monday’s meeting, Japan on behalf of the Friends of Anti-dumping Negotiations (FANs), an informal group of WTO members supportive of a strong outcome in the anti-dumping talks, said that the coalition was ready to kick off discussions on what is “doable” within the current negotiating timeframe. The FANs reportedly supported the EU’s horizontal approach, so long as it does not come at the cost to other important areas.

Anti-dumping recalibration

A few weeks prior to Monday’s meeting, the FANs had circulated a communication suggesting members “recalibrate” their positions on anti-dumping in the context of delivering a July work programme. The members who signed on to the FANs paper included Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Korea, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, and Thailand.

To do so, the FANs have proposed starting discussions on a number of elements of the un-bracketed parts of the latest rules draft text, issued in April 2011 (TN/RL/W/254), with a focus on due process and transparency. Other issues, including bracketed issues in the 2011 text or emerging issues, might also be considered as appropriate.

Under the WTO’s Anti-Dumping Agreement, members can apply duties if an imported product has been “dumped” – in other words, sold abroad at prices below their normal value. Furthermore, these dumped goods must be shown to have caused material injury to a domestic industry producing a similar good.

The use of these types of trade remedies have been deployed in the clean energy sector in recent years, including in some high-profile trade spats around solar products. (See BioRes, 13 April 2015)

Fisheries subsidies

A short statement was also made on Monday on behalf of Friends of Fish, an informal coalition of WTO members advocating for reductions in fisheries subsidies. The coalition said they had been actively reflecting on how to address fisheries subsidies in the July work programme, adding that they were conscious of exploring new and creative approaches with other members, and would continue consultations to this end.

The 2001 Doha mandate includes language related to the disciplining of fisheries subsidies. In 2005 trade ministers further stipulated that the Doha negotiations should seek to include a prohibition on certain subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and over-fishing. The subject has since proved challenging to navigate over the past decade.

In March, the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group tabled a paper outlining a series of elements that it says should define a potential work programme on the Doha Round talks, including tackling fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing. Among various other proposals, the ACP document called for enhanced transparency and notification requirements on fisheries subsidies, along with limiting and progressively phasing out subsidies to vessels engaged in practices that damage the marine ecosystem, those provided to illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing, and those that contribute to overfishing. (See BioRes, 26 March 2015)

Some members on Monday reportedly spoke in favour of including fisheries subsidies in the work programme, together with appropriate provisions on special and differential treatment (S&DT) for developing countries. Coalitions that spoke on these lines included the ACP Group; the Small, Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) Group; the Least Developed Country (LDC) Group; the Pacific Group; and Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The EU, as part of its suggested “horizontal” approach to the rules talks, said that the fisheries negotiations should focus on subsidies that contribute to overcapacity, as well as developing stronger and more effective transparency options.

Next steps

McCook told members on Monday that he plans to continue consulting members on possible ways forward, including the possibility of exploratory work and discussing recalibrated proposals.

Regarding the overall Doha Round talks, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo has lately urged members to redouble their efforts to make substantive advances in the various negotiating groups, particularly in order to set the stage for future discussions on horizontal trade-offs across negotiating areas.

Source: ICTSD