Inside U.S. Trade | February 8, 2002
Members of the World Trade Organization have reached agreement on the structure and procedures for new negotiations with last-minute changes forced by China and small developing countries that could pose procedural hurdles to the process. Their objections along with those from Bulgaria on geographical indications delayed the meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) by one day from Jan. 31.
The decision on the WTO negotiations endorsed by members foresees the WTO director general as the chair of the TNC until 2005 when the negotiations are slated to complete. Under the TNC, there will be six groups handling the negotiations with their own chairs who are to be selected next month largely from Geneva ambassadors.
At the behest of China, the final text contains rules for those chairpersons that could make it harder to broker a deal if members of a group cannot reach a consensus, according to Geneva trade officials. The final agreement gives less discretion to the chairperson on which different positions a given draft should reflect, sources said.
China and other developing countries wanted to prevent having compromise texts foisted on them that do not reflect their positions, trade officials said. But in comments to the TNC, the U.S. noted that the chairmen of groups still maintained flexibility in drafting potential compromise texts.
China's efforts thwarted the intent of the last draft prepared by General Council chairman Stuart Harbinson, who sought to prevent a multiplication of brackets in a chairman's compromise proposal, observers said. The final text states that chairman's drafts must reflect "different positions on issues" while the Harbinson proposal sought to include the "substantive differences" (Inside U.S. Trade, Feb. 1, p.1). The change gives chairmen less discretion in which positions they will reflect in bracketed text.
With respect to the decision to have the WTO Director General head the TNC until 2005, China, while not blocking consensus, noted its preference that this chairmanship should be reserved for officials from member countries.
In an effort to help small delegations stay abreast of the new negotiations, small developing countries succeeded in securing two changes to the Jan. 31 proposal from Harbinson.
The new text says that "as far as possible" only one negotiating group will meet at a time, which is meant to prevent delegations with small staffs from getting overburdened. The previous draft text set an outside limit of "not more than two" simultaneous meetings.
The final text also ensures that the minutes of both the TNC and the negotiating groups will be circulated to members after the meetings. The last draft text only made this promise for TNC meetings. The change allows small countries to stay informed about meetings they miss, but also puts greater burdens on the WTO secretariat.
At the Feb. 1 TNC meeting, countries agreed to "endorse," not merely take note of the Harbinson text on the principles and practices of the negotiations. This endorsement solidifies agreement and could prevent a resurfacing of discord over these procedural questions.
The meeting was the second for the TNC, which had its first meeting on Jan. 28 cut short because of the prevailing differences.
Bulgaria fought to give more prominence to the issue of extending protection for geographical indications to products such as Bulgarian yogurt. The WTO negotiating mandate now only deals with wine and spirits. Its efforts did not change the structure of the talks and the debate at the Feb. 1 TNC signals that the issue will remain contentious, officials said.
Bulgaria unsuccessfully sought a clarification of the wording in the Harbinson proposal on geographical indications. The proposal said the issue will be addressed as a matter of "priority" in the Council on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, but it does so through a reference to the paragraph on this subject in the Doha Ministerial Declaration.
At the TNC, Bulgaria initially signaled it would block consensus on the entire text laying out the principles and practices for the negotiations, but then backed off. It then asked Harbinson for assurances that his wording meant the issue would be the subject of "substantive debate" in the TRIPS Council.
Harbinson answered in the affirmative, but this prompted a rejoinder from Chile and Argentina saying the exchange had no legal weight. Switzerland, Hungary and the Czech Republic also weighed in favor of moving toward agreement to extend protections.
The agreement creates new negotiating groups on rules and industrial market access while negotiations on agriculture, services, environment, and dispute settlement rules will be handled in special sessions of the existing committees handling these areas now. The special sessions will headed by a different chairman from the regular committees.
Trade officials will try to agree on the heads for the negotiating groups by a Feb. 14 General Council meeting. That selection could be even more contentious than the proceeding weeks' debate over procedures, officials said.
An additional special session for the Committee on Trade in Development will review provisions for special and differential treatment for developing countries. The text also implies that more of developing countries demands on the implementation of trade agreements will be folded into the talks later by using a formulation that differs from how the Doha Ministerial Declaration treats these issues (Inside U.S. Trade, Feb. 1, p. 1).
In an apparent reference to this issue, the U.S. noted that the ministerial declaration is the overriding document. The U.S. has resisted giving ground on most of the developing countries' implementation agenda, particularly with respect to new textile concessions.Inside U.S. Trade:
