Inside US Trade
A new U.S. proposal tabled in Geneva this week to open up the World Trade Organization (WTO) to public scrutiny would put the spotlight on member nations' domestic policies by asking them to share their approaches to engaging their respective public into the domestic policy process. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative urges a WTO discussion of individual members' "experiences" as a way of shaping new policies in the WTO that would achieve greater multilateral transparency.
"We share the view that more can be done and should be done to enhance dialogue at the national level, along with collective action by WTO members," USTR said in its submission to the WTO General Council this week. "[T]he United States recommends that Members be invited to provide information on their respective approaches to providing their public with information and opportunity for input on developments in the trading system."
The proposal does not expound in detail on the nature of the dialogue, only noting that national websites have been found to be "useful" and that "sharing information in Geneva ... should facilitate work at the national level."
The USTR proposal also expands on previous calls for transparency in urging that some of the WTO council and committee meetings be opened up to the public, possibly through webcasting. The proposal also reiterates an earlier quest by the U.S. to open up dispute settlement proceedings, and to allow non-governmental organizations to provide amicus briefs in proceedings. These proposals have met with strong resistance from other key trading partners, such as the European Union.
"The [U.S.] suggests that the General Council explore the convening of the WTO council and committee meetings as open to observers, just as the plenary sessions of the Ministerial Conference have been opened to observers," the proposal offers. "The [U.S.] urges the General Council to consider which meetings would lend themselves to more open practice on an experimental basis."
The U.S. proposal also reiterates previous calls for the speedier de-restriction and dissemination of documents.
According to the U.S. proposal, such steps would not only serve to open up the WTO to the public, but also to other members with smaller delegations in Geneva. "Greater openness in WTO dispute settlement proceedings would also benefit smaller members and members that are not frequently parties to disputes, because they could send their delegations to observe any dispute and gain knowledge about the particular dispute and know-how about the dispute settlement process," the proposal said.:
