THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

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2 THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA Launched at MC 4 in Doha, Qatar. Needs & interests of Dcgs at centre Mandate for negotiations under TNC Other areas of work programme under General Council

3 PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF THE DDA Doha Declaration (WT/MIN/(01)/DEC/1) 1 August 2004, General Council Decision (WT/L/579) Hong Kong Declaration(WT/MIN(05)/DEC) Draft Modalities for Agriculture (TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4; 6 Dec 2008) and NAMA (TN/MA/W/103/Rev.3; 6 Dec 2008)

4 AREAS UNDER NEGOTIATION Agriculture (including Cotton) Services Industrial products (NAMA) TRIPS (multilateral system for registration & notification of GIs) WTO Rules (AD, Subsidies, RTAs) DSU (outside Single-Undertaking) Trade and Environment Special and Differential Treatment; Outstanding Implementation Issues Trade Facilitation

5 OTHER AREAS OF THE WORK PROGRAMME Electronic Commerce Small Economies Trade, Debt and Finance Trade and Transfer of Technology Technical Cooperation & Capacity Building Least Developed Countries Work in different WTO bodies under the supervision of the General Council

6 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE GENERAL COUNCIL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE - TNC DOHA ROUND «DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA - DDA» SPECIAL SESSIONS Council For Trade In Services TRIPS Council Dispute Settlement Body Committee On Agriculture( SS on Cotton) Committee On Trade And Development Committee On Trade And Environment NEGOTIATING GROUPS Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) Rules Trade Facilitation

7 NEGOTIATING PRINCIPLES Single Undertaking- nothing is agreed until everything is agreed : : single package with all Members participating Possibility of an early harvest Full participation, inclusiveness and transparency Bottom-up approach Decisions to be taken by consensus SDT for Dcgs to be fully taken into account

8 DDA Trajectory Negotiations should have been concluded by 1 January 2005 Modalities for agriculture expected to have been agreed by March 2003 Deadline missed. Efforts to agree on the modalities in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003 also failed A framework agreement reached in July 2004 Efforts to reach agreement on full modalities in July 2005 failed Objective to achieve full modalities also proved elusive at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005

9 DDA Trajectory After intensive consultations in the first half of 2006, the negotiations were suspended in July 2006 Negotiations resumed in Feb 2007, but agreement on modalities for agriculture and NAMA still proved elusive Members positions on the key issues in agriculture and NAMA have evolved but not significantly Compromise proposals on Ag and NAMA tabled by DG Lamy during the July 2008 mini/ministerial (25 July 2008)

10 DDA Trajectory Whereas considerable progress made during the July 2008 mini-ministerial, some difficult issues remain in Ag and NAMA Members currently working on the draft texts circulated on 6 December 2008 by the Ag and NAMA Chairpersons which reflect Lamy s texts Attempts to convene a Ministerial in December 2008 abandoned lack of convergence on the problematic issues

11 Key issues in agriculture Market access: SSM: gaps in Members positions on the volume trigger and the remedy SP: Are the proposed flexibilities adequate? SeP: Reservations by Canada and Japan Tariff capping Domestic support: OTDS are the proposed cuts adequate? Product-specific AMS capping Cotton ambitious reduction in subsidies for cotton Export Competition: Monopoly rights of STEs, monetization of food aid

12 Sectorals: Key issues in NAMA Core principles participation to be nonmandatory and results multilateralised? Flexibilities for developing countries individual countries and those belonging to some RTAs Anti-concentration clause Erosion of preferences

13 Key issues in Services Quality of offers on the table sometimes do not reflect current access how can the offers be improved? Plurilateral requests/offers Some developing countries yet to table offers Special and differential treatment for developing countries, particularly LDCs (LDC waiver) Lack of substantive progress on mode 4 GATS rules domestic regulation, emergency safeguards, subsidies and government procurement lack of substantive progress

14 Rules Chairman s s text circulated in November Controversy over certain provisions, particularly on zeroing in anti-dumping calculations. Chair issued a working document on 28 May 2008 (A/D SCM and FS) and followed it up with a new text in December 2008 (TN/RL/W/236) Key issues in Anti-dumping: zeroing, model matching, public interest, lesser duty rule, causation, anti-circumvention, material retardation, injury determinations; initiation of investigations; due process/transparency; reviews and duration of measures

15 Rules Key issues in Subsidies: benefit definition, specificity and regulated prices, scope of illustrative list, benefit calculation for regulated prices, upstream subsidies, allocation of benefits, export financing, export credits With respect to fisheries subsidies, progress has been made but there are still outstanding issues. The challenge is how to achieve a balanced outcome one the one hand, strengthening disciplines by outlawing subsidies which cause over-capacity and over-fishing and on the other providing effective SDT to developing countries With respect to RTAs, initial review of the Transparency Mechanism yet to be completed. Should it be made permanent? Substantive disciplines no substantive progress. Text- based proposals may help re-ignite the process

16 Special and Differential Treatment Slow progress since the Cancun Ministerial Conference. Impasse over whether the 28 Agreement-specific proposals should be harvested Decisions on 5 Agreement-specific LDCs proposals in HK, the most significant being the decision on DFQF for LDCs Issues about implementation of the DFQF decision remain. Category II proposals slow progress in the relevant WTO bodies. 16 remaining category I and III proposals focus on 7 proposals. Out of the seven proposals, progress being made on six.

17 Trade Facilitation Text-based contributions from Members covering Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT 1994 as compiled in TN/TF/W/43/Rev.19 Main challenge is how to come up with effective disciplines while at the same time giving effect to the broad provisions on SDT for LDCs and developing countries Three scenarios envisaged: Regulations that will apply immediately after entry into force of the Agreement; those that will apply after expiration of a transition period; and those that will apply subject to proper and adequate provision of TACB Emphasis on building the technical and financial capacities to implement any new disciplines. Importance of needs assessments

18 Other Issues Dispute Settlement (outside the single undertaking) Progress has been made on a number of issues, including third party rights, sequencing, remand authority, post-retaliation Chair circulated consolidated draft legal text (Job(08)/81 on 18 July Although the DSU negotiations are outside the single undertaking, but it appears Members are making the linkage Trade and Environment: Progress has been uneven across the three parts of the mandate. With respect to paragraph 31(i), work has primarily focused on the identification of specific trade obligations (STOs) in Multilateral Environmental agreements (MEAs).

19 Other Issues With respect to paragraph 31(ii), there has been some modest progress. Concrete suggestions have been put forward regarding information exchange sessions with MEAs to be held under the auspices of the CTE; document exchange; future collaboration in the context of TACB activities Some outstanding issues, including the issue of observer status in the CTE. Regarding paragraph 31(iii), some modest progress recorded. Proponents of the list approach have submitted a potential convergence set of environmental goods Some alternatives approaches put forward: integrated approach ; a a request and offer approach ; ; combination of proposals thus far submitted

20 Other Issues Work has proceeded on parallel tracks: determination of the universe of eligible goods on the basis of the following criteria: air pollution control; renewable energy; waste management; environmental technologies etc., Work on the elaboration of modalities has also picked up some pace how account should be taken of SDT in any new disciplines TRIPS Issues Extension of the additional protection provided to wines and spirits to other products. Members positions are widely divergent. Progress dependent on the results of the agriculture negotiations and overall balance TRIPS Register Legal effects: presumption of protectability? Issue of participation- should it be mandatory or voluntary?

21 Seventh Ministerial Conference Ministers reaffirmed the importance of the trade and the DDA to global economic recovery and poverty alleviation WTO s s role in stemming the slide to protectionism commended by Ministers WTO s s role extended beyond negotiations, although concluding the Round would provide a boost for the global economy Importance of the development dimension and its centrality in the Doha Work Programme priority to be given to issues of importance of DC s, particularly those of LDCs Commitment to conclude the Round in Agreement to work on the basis of the Dec 2008 texts. A high-level meeting to review progress in the 1 st Q of 2010 Concerns expressed about the proliferation of RTAs. Need to ensure that they remain compatible with the MTS

22 Seventh Ministerial Conference Ministers reaffirmed the importance of accessions in broadening and strengthening the WTO and the MTS. The need for TRTA at all stages of the process was underlined Wide recognition that LDCs need to be assisted to address supply-side side constraints. In that context, the importance of Aid for Trade and the EIF was highlighted by Members The need for the WTO to re-invent itself to deal with emerging issues such as climate change was stressed by many Members. The WTO could assist by agreeing to remove barriers to trade in environmental goods and services Other challenging issues mentioned included food and energy security, competition policy, investment and Gov Proc

23 Process Forward Establish modalities in Ag and NAMA: in the first/second quarter of 2010? Preparation of schedules based on modalities Verification of schedules Concluding negotiations in other areas including services, rules, development etc Legal drafting Signing of Final Act Domestic ratification processes