European Commission
Memo, Doha, 14 November 2001

The Doha declaration strongly reflects the European Union (EU) calls for increased action in the WTO in favour of sustainable development and for the protection of the environment. Several elements demonstrate this.

WTO members agreed that sustainable development will be an overarching goal of the negotiations.

The declaration provides coverage for precaution and labelling by reaffirming the right of Members to take measures they deem appropriate in the field of health, safety and environmental protection.

There are negotiations on a subject taboo until a few years ago.

By giving a special role to the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), sustainable development and environmental concerns will be mainstreamed throughout the negotiations.

Furthermore, the declaration shows that:

• WTO Members are serious about addressing issues at the trade and environment interface. The EU was the driving force to get the issue into the Declaration;
• WTO Members want to clarify the relationship between Trade and Environment and ensure that it is mutually supportive of sustainable development. This provides a sound basis for achieving progress on the key issues the EU has identified;
• WTO Members want the WTO to play a positive role in evolving global governance: this is vital because the Rio+10 summit is expected to underline the importance of governance as an essential factor in ensuring sustainable development.

The EU recognised from the outset that a new trade round could only be launched if there were demonstrable progress on implementation issues raised by a group of developing countries. That progress has now been made and the decisions reached at Doha - and indeed before Doha - have resolved a number of problems.

As regards the proposed decisions for Doha, the Community had some reservations over certain proposals: notably on textiles growth on growth, which will now be reviewed further. But by and large the final outline is acceptable and has been accepted as part and parcel of the overall end Doha settlement.

Regarding the mandate for future negotiations, the EU has always stressed that several of the proposals made under the label « implementation » had nothing to do with implementation in the strict sense but concerned the rebalancing or amendment of agreements. The EU was prepared to discuss these proposals in a negotiation provided the fundamentals of the Uruguay Round agreements were not called into question. The negotiating mandate in para 12 of the Doha declaration in the view of the EU meets the demand for negotiations from some developing countries, without risking to unravel the achievements of the Uruguay Round. It is therefore acceptable to us as it is to other WTO Members.

The integration of developing countries into the world trading system runs like a red thread through the Doha Declaration: from market access over rules to the special provisions on development: trade-related capacity building, Least Developed Countries, special and differential treatment.

WTO Members commit to a comprehensive strategy for trade-related capacity building, as part of efforts to mainstream trade in development policies and in co-ordination with other donors. This provides the basis for coherent and effective assistance for the integration of developing countries in world trade.

The Declaration recognises the special situation of LDCs and confirms the important commitments made at the 3^rd UN Conference for LDCs, which will be integrated in the WTO work programme. This will facilitate LDC accession to the WTO and improve their market access.

Special and Differential Treatment provisions will be reviewed with the objective of strengthening them and making them more precise, effective and operational, to help countries integrate in the trading system and reap the benefits of trade and investment opportunities that the WTO opens up.

WTO members reconfirmed the commitment to core labour standards and co-operation between the WTO and the ILO that they had taken at the 1st WTO Ministerial in Singapore. The commitment to core labour standards and the promotion of these standards in the context of globalisation, including through co-operation between these two organisations, are essential to the EU.

In this context, the reference to the developments in the ILO process which took a decisive step forward this week on the social dimension of globalisation provides a useful basis for moving this issue forward in a way that ensures the possibility of the other international organisations, including the WTO, to contribute to this process.

The EU will now work to ensure that the WTO contributes in a constructive fashion to the ILO process, especially in light of the establishment by the ILO of a world Commission to deal with the social aspects of globalisation.

The EU's objectives in the field of the services have been fully achieved. Clear dates have been agreed for launching the market access negotiations on services.

The result of these negotiations are expected to bring considerable market opportunities for EU business as well as benefits to consumers worldwide.

The Doha Declaration sets, for the first time ever, the objective of establishing a multilateral framework on competition policies. This should contribute towards the more effective application of domestic competition regimes and be of benefit for consumers worldwide.

Even if negotiations will be preceded by a preparatory phase until 5^th Ministerial, there is a clear commitment to launch such negotiations at a certain date and the issue will fall within the single undertaking.

The elements for a multilateral framework on competition correspond to those which were proposed by the EU. They reflect a realistic and progressive approach towards the development of competition disciples at multilateral level.

The Doha mandate rightly focuses attention on the need to respond to the particular interests and concerns of developing countries. It explicitly recognises the need for flexibility and enhanced technical assistance.

The EU, moreover, has indicated that developing countries should be in a position to decide - before the end of negotiations - whether they wish to subscribe or not to the commitments under a competition agreement.

The Doha Declaration sets, for the first time ever, the objective of establishing a multilateral framework aimed at improving the conditions for Foreign Direct Investment world-wide. Decision and timing as for competition.

All the elements of the investment framework referred to in the Declaration correspond to the EC agenda: the scope (FDI), the main principles (transparency and non-discrimination), the structure (positive listing) and the applicable dispute settlement mechanism (State-to-State).

Moreover, as the EC had always maintained, the host governments' right to regulate will be preserved. As an additional element of flexibility, developing countries will probably be given the opportunity to opt-out from the outcome of the investment negotiations. We are confident, however, that most WTO members will be ready to comply with the principles included in the investment framework.

Other issues, such as the question of investors' responsibilities and investment protection, which are not explicitly mentioned in the Declaration, will be raised by the EC during the 2-year preparatory phase. Any proposal that the EC will present in this period will be fully consistent with the overall objective of sustainable development.

We believe that the Doha Declaration provides a unique opportunity for all WTO members, and in particular Developing countries, to adequately prepare the negotiations of a balanced framework of rules that will improve investment conditions world-wide and be conducive to sustainable development.

The negotiating mandate reflects the essential objective of simplifying customs and related trade procedures, including transit measures. While the EU would have preferred to start negotiations at once, we have nevertheless an unambiguous commitment to negotiations within the single undertaking of the Round. This was our main aim.

The scope of the mandate is brought, addressing all the issues relevant to the movement of goods in international trade, including measures for rapid release of goods at the border. The mandate also reflects the development objectives of trade facilitation, including the notion that assistance to build capacity should be an integral part of the work and be approached in a systematic manner. We must now pursue this with developing country partners.

In sum, the EU believes that negotiations on trade facilitation can bring concrete and significant benefits for compliant traders - and in particular small and medium sized enterprises for whom procedural barriers are a bigger problem - and at the same time lead to improvements in the efficiency of trade administration and tariff collection. WTO Commitments provide also the key to unlocking meaningful levels of assistance to build capacity in developing countries where outdated and cumbersome procedures are a brake on trade and development.

By obtaining a mandate to negotiate from 5^th Ministerial a multilateral agreement on transparency in government procurement, the EU will contribute to build a set of rules obliging all public entities to procure in a transparent and open manner.

This a necessary first step that would facilitate further implementation of other international instruments on Government Procurement such as any development of procurement rules under the GATS or the GPA itself. By creating a common set of rules on transparency it would facilitate bilateral or regional agreements on government procurement or access onto the GPA.

The adoption of the Ministerial declaration on TRIPs and Public Health is an indication that the WTO is supportive of public health matters and that intellectual property is part of the solution to the tension between public health objectives and the interests of private companies. This text is a major achievement and provides a delicate balance between the interests of the proponents and those who's major preoccupation was to safeguard the TRIPs Agreement.

This declaration is a substantive declaration which clarifies the relationship between TRIPs and public health. In addition, it reflects the consensus of the clarification on the flexibility inherent in several key provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, while members maintain their commitments in the TRIPS Agreement.

The substance of this declaration is in line with the positions adopted by the EU.

The EU's goal in relation to TRIPS has been achieved. A clear provision that negotiations on multilateral register will have to be completed by the next WTO ministerial, so within the next year or two.

A mandate for negotiations on extension of GI coverage has been agreed for the benefit of products around the world.

The clear provision that TRIPS/CBD and protection of traditional knowledge will be examined and that appropriate action be taken on the basis of implementation shows the commitment of the EU to take into account developing countries interests.

The EU welcomes the possibility of a balanced negotiation on WTO rules to take place, that will meet the demands of developing countries and allow them to search for improvements to existing WTO Agreements without calling into question their basic principles. Our aim will be to ensure that these instruments will continue to provide effective relief for the efforts of unfair trade practices and at the same time any future rules on trade defence (anti dumping, subsidies or safeguards) would reduce the scope for abuse of those instruments and ensure that partners adopt the same strict standards in these areas as the EU.

As regards regional trade agreements, the EU objective to start negotiations for clear and quite strict rules defining the conditions to be met for FTAs and regional agreements to be WTO-compatible has been agreed.

We are perfectly happy to see a fish negotiating mandate which straddles the subsidies and environment fields.

The negotiating mandate reflects the essential objective of reducing and where possible eliminating tariffs. It meets the aim of no a priori exclusions from the exercise, while focussing also on the reduction of peak tariffs and high tariffs, in both of which areas we have clear export interests, as do many other WTO members.

The mandate also specifically recognises the need to take in account the interests of developing countries, in a number of ways, notably through targeting for reduction those products of export interest to developing countries, and the notion of « common but differentiated responsibility » - the concept that the contribution of developing countries to the reduction exercise should be commensurate with their abilities and needs.

The EU notes that modalities for the negotiations are to be determined at a later date. The choice of modality is a key issue and dictates much of the negotiation and so this will be an important dimension for the future work. For that reason the setting of a deadline for determining modalities is important.

In sum the mandate for tariff negotiations holds the prospect of bringing significant trade and growth gains for all WTO members.

We continue to believe that this process should lead to improvements in terms of transparency and effectiveness of the organisation including those that may require institutional improvements. In any event, even though the text is not very specific, it does provide a mandate for greater transparency, above all vis-à-vis the members of the organisation, and on issues such as consultation and open meetings, the Secretariat will, with its greater autonomy, be able to launch improved dialogue exercises and structures.