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Launching the Appellate Body
In terms of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), the creation of the Appellate Body can be considered a major departure from what had existed in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) before it was absorbed by the WTO. Certainly, the Uruguay Round yielded extremely significant changes from past practice, such as Article 23 forbidding the taking of unilateral action by any member of the WTO, or the provision on consensus, which eliminated the possibility that previously existed in the GATT whereby any contracting party could block any stage in the dispute settlement process. These two decisions transformed the system radically, resolving past uncertainties and ensuring an orderly and prompt adjudication of all cases submitted to panels and the Appellate Body.
WTO Members
Currently, the WTO has 164 Members. They are listed in the table below according to their designated full names as of the date of membership, or according to the names as subsequently submitted to the WTO Secretariat. In line with the practice of the WTO Secretariat, the remaining sections of this publication use the short names of Members as listed in the latest revision to document WT/INF/43/Rev.22, except in the titles of relevant accession protocols.
Technical cooperation and training
In 2011, the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC) strengthened its measures designed to improve both content and delivery of WTO technical assistance and training programmes, reinforced its capacity to interact with beneficiaries in all regions and bolstered its coordinating role for trade capacity building. The WTO undertook 267 technical assistance activities, with particular emphasis on Africa and least-developed countries (LDCs). A results-based management initiative was formally introduced covering the design, management and delivery of capacitybuilding programmes.
Cadre intégré renforcé pour les PMA
Le Cadre intégré renforcé (CIR) pour l'assistance liée au commerce en faveur des PM A est devenu effectivement opérationnel en 2009. À la fin de l'année, 47 PM A y participaient et le Fonds d'affectation spéciale pour le CIR s'élevait à 90 millions de dollars EU . L'ampleur du soutien dont bénéficie ce cadre est apparue de manière très nette lors de la réunion consacrée au CIR qu'a organisée le Directeur général en marge de la septième Conférence ministérielle de l'OMC en décembre 2009.
WTO Members
Currently, the WTO has 164 Members. They are listed in the table below according to their designated full names as of the date of membership, or according to the names as subsequently submitted to the WTO Secretariat. In line with the practice of the WTO Secretariat, the remaining sections of this publication use the short names of Members as listed in the latest revision to document WT/INF/43/Rev.22, except in the titles of relevant accession protocols.
Accession à l’OMC
Le Yémen a accédé à l’OMC en juin 2014, ce qui a porté à 160 le nombre de Membres de l’OMC. En décembre, le Conseil général a adopté les modalités d’accession des Seychelles, ouvrant ainsi la voie à l’entrée du pays dans l’OMC en avril 2015. Plusieurs autres pays candidats ont avancé dans leur processus d’accession. L’OMC a renforcé son programme d’assistance technique pour les gouvernements accédants.
Coopération avec les établissements universitaires
En 2012, la coopération avec les établissements universitaires a été axée sur trois activités principales: l’examen à mi-parcours du Programme des chaires de l’OMC (PCO), la réunion annuelle des parties prenantes du PCO et le parrainage des projets d’universités ne bénéficiant pas du PCO. Cinquante-quatre activités ont été menées à l’appui d’établissements universitaires de pays en développement et de pays moins avancés: conférences, parrainage de projets universitaires, séminaires régionaux et nationaux, participation à des conférences universitaires, visites d’étude à l’OMC et dons de publications de l’OMC à des universités.
Tour d’horizon
Le système commercial mondial traverse une période de transition. L’évolution de la conjoncture économique, les avancées technologiques de grande ampleur et l’émergence de nouveaux acteurs sur la scène mondiale sont autant d’éléments qui montrent que nous sommes à l’aube de profonds changements. Les déséquilibres persistants, dus dans une large mesure à des facteurs macro-économiques, restent un sujet de préoccupation dans certaines grandes économies. Dans un tel climat d’incertitude, les gouvernements Membres de l’OMC sont mis au défide consolider le système commercial mondial en le rendant plus équitable et plus utile pour les acteurs du commerce international au XXIe siècle. Cet objectif a été réaffirmé à la sixième Conférence ministérielle de l’OMC, tenue à Hong Kong à la fin de 2005. Il continue de guider les travaux de l’Organisation dans ses efforts pour mener à bien le Cycle de Doha.
Sixty years of the multilateral trading system: achievements and challenges
Earlier Sections in this Report have sought to understand why international cooperation in trade matters seems to make sense to governments and how such cooperation translates into institutions and rules. We will now focus on the main achievements of multilateral trade cooperation over the last six decades and explore some of the core challenges and issues that the system faces today. The Section begins with a brief historical journey from the birth of the GATT to the establishment of the WTO. Subsection 2 records the efforts of governments over the years to reduce tariffs and address non-tariff measures. It also discusses briefly what can be said about the relationship between the GATT/WTO’s role in reducing and consolidating tariffs and the growth of trade. Subsection 3 analyses the evolution of dispute settlement in the GATT/ WTO, focusing on how the system has developed and performed during the last six decades. The theme of subsection 4 is developing country participation in the multilateral trading system. The subsection focuses on how developing country issues have increasingly found their way onto the multilateral agenda and the systemic challenges posed by a heterogeneous membership with divergent needs, interests and priorities. Subsection 5 addresses the phenomenon of regionalism and how the multilateral trading system has attempted to address burgeoning regional and bilateral trade policy tendencies. Subsection 6 deals with two procedural issues that have far-reaching systemic implications and go to the heart of legitimacy questions confronting the WTO. The subjects at hand are decision-making processes in the WTO and the relationship between the WTO and the outside world – specifically, non-state actors. Finally, subsection 7 explores the complex question of what can be said about how the WTO agenda is shaped and whether there exists a meaningful sense in which limits may be set to subject areas for cooperation under the WTO.
Relations avec les organisations non gouvernementales
En 2015, les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) ont eu de nombreuses occasions de faire connaître leurs vues sur les questions commerciales et elles ont été régulièrement informées des activités de l’OMC. Elles ont participé à plusieurs événements organisés à l’OMC, comme le Forum public, le cinquième Examen global de l’Aide pour le commerce et les célébrations du 20e anniversaire de l’Organisation, ainsi qu’à la dixième Conférence ministérielle qui s’est tenue à Nairobi. L’OMC a organisé des ateliers régionaux à l’intention des ONG et leur a communiqué régulièrement des informations sur les négociations commerciales et d’autres questions.
WTO dispute settlement: A brief reality check
The multilateral trading system has the function of regulating international cooperation in the ever-expanding area of trade. The system promotes freer trade and non-discrimination. Consequently, it must be underpinned by good and efficient disciplines as well as strong institutions.
The theory and practice of the multilateral trading system
The thought is the father to the deed, and the multilateral trading system could never have been built if it had not first been imagined. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is not the product of just one idea, however, or even one school of thought. It instead represents the confluence of, and sometimes the conflict between, three distinct areas of theory and practice. Law, economics and politics have each inspired and constrained the capacity of countries to work together for the creation and maintenance of a rules-based regime in which members with widely different levels of economic development and asymmetrical political power work together to reduce barriers to trade. It is therefore fitting to begin this history with a review of the intellectual prehistory of the WTO, as well as the contemporary debates surrounding each of these fields.
Introduction
On 19-21 September, the WTO hosted the 2011 Public Forum on “Seeking Answers to Global Trade Challenges” at its headquarters in Geneva. It provided an opportunity for relevant stakeholders to identify the principal challenges for the multilateral trading system and suggest solutions for the WTO to respond to our fast-changing world.
Cooperación con otras organizaciones internacionales
En 2013, la OMC cooperó con varias organizaciones intergubernamentales, como las Naciones Unidas, la Organización de Cooperación y Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) y el Banco Mundial. La OMC publicó, con la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo (UNCTAD) y la OCDE, informes conjuntos sobre la evolución del comercio y la inversión en los países del G-20.
Negotiating for Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s overall approach to the TRIPS negotiations was made clear to the other participants from an early stage: Hong Kong held itself out as the exemplar of free trade, with a mature, respected legal system, providing comprehensive protection across the range of IP to right holders.
Foreword by the director-general
In 2011, the WTO Public Forum demonstrated, once again, its significance as a forum to deepen public dialogue on current global trade governance issues and challenges.
The first ten years of the wto
This book was commissioned by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a factual account of the first decade of its existence. It aims to cover the principal activities of the WTO as the successor to GATT and the steps taken to establish a global trading system.
Legal Counsel to the Administration
The WTO and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which preceded it are known for their strong tradition of pragmatism and results-oriented management. These are concepts that trade diplomats do not automatically associate with law and lawyers. As a matter of fact, there are few domains where lawyers have traditionally been less welcome than in the housekeeping of the WTO. This is why, in order to promote the rule of law in the management of the Secretariat, the Legal Adviser to the WTO Administration has had to avoid talking, acting and even thinking like a lawyer.
Comercio y medio ambiente
En 2013, el Comité de Comercio y Medio Ambiente recibió y examinó información sobre la evolución de distintos aspectos de la política ambiental, desde los sistemas de cálculo de la huella ambiental y de etiquetado, con inclusión de la huella de carbono, hasta las iniciativas de política en favor de una economía verde y los acuerdos multilaterales sobre el medio ambiente que contienen disposiciones relacionadas con el comercio. La Secretaría de la OMC publicó las Bases de Datos sobre Medio Ambiente de 2010 y 2011, y actualizó la “Matriz de las medidas relacionadas con el comercio adoptadas en el marco de determinados Acuerdos Multilaterales sobre el Medio Ambiente”.
Trade and development
In 2011, the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) agreed a number of ways to implement transparency requirements for preferential trade agreements (PTAs), under which three notifications of new PTAs were received. Other issues discussed by the CTD and its Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) included capacitybuilding initiatives, market access for LDCs, the Aid for Trade initiative and the WTO’s technical assistance activities.
Public Forum 2016
The 2016 Public Forum – the WTO’s major event for public engagement – focused on how trade can be made more inclusive so that the benefits of trade are spread more widely. Participants looked at how the WTO could help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) gain better access to the global market, and shared ideas on the role of new technologies, digital innovation and e-commerce. The Forum also discussed how women can participate more fully in international trade and better reap the benefits of global trade. The WTO’s World Trade Report and three other publications were launched during the three-day meeting.
Secretaría y presupuesto
La Secretaría de la OMC cuenta con una plantilla de 627 funcionarios, que representan a 69 nacionalidades. Las obras de renovación y ampliación comenzaron a mediados de 2008, y se espera que concluyan antes del final de 2012. La OMC obtiene la mayoría de los ingresos para su presupuesto anual, que en 2008 ascendió a FS 189.257.600, de las contribuciones señaladas a sus 153 Miembros.
Appellate Body
Three appeals of panel reports were filed with the Appellate Body in 2009, out of a total of five reports that could have been appealed. One of these appeals related to original panel proceedings. Two appeals related to panel proceedings under Article 21.5 (Surveillance of Implementation of Recommendations and Rulings) of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), involving cases where the parties disagreed whether the panel’s original ruling had been properly implemented.
Doha Development Agenda
At the WTO’s Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, WTO members agreed to launch a new round of trade negotiations. They also agreed to work on other issues, in particular the implementation of the current WTO agreements. The entire package is called the Doha Development Agenda. The negotiations take place in the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) and its subsidiaries, which are regular councils and committees meeting in special session or specially created negotiating bodies. The negotiating bodies report to the TNC, which supervises the overall conduct of their work.
Relaciones con las organizaciones no gubernamentales
En 2016, las organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG) recibieron periódicamente información actualizada sobre las actividades de la OMC, incluida información sobre las negociaciones comerciales y otras cuestiones. Intervinieron activamente en el Foro Público, la principal actividad de proyección exterior en la que participan ONG.
Contact with the media
Some 350 journalists attended the Tenth Ministerial Conference, including 12 journalists from least-developed countries (LDCs) whose attendance was supported by the WTO. The WTO held several training activities for journalists, including seminars in Geneva, and WTO press officers participated in a number of national and regional outreach activities. The number of WTO press briefings and press conferences rose to 53, compared with 42 the previous year, reflecting media interest in the WTO’s 20th anniversary and the run-up to the Ministerial Conference in Nairobi.
A brief history
The WTO began life on 1 January 1995, succeeding the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which had regulated world trade since 1948. Over the past 20 years, the WTO has made a major contribution to the strength and stability of the global economy, helping to boost trade growth, resolve numerous trade disputes and support the integration of developing countries into the trading system.
Trade negotiations: Government Procurement Agreement
On 3 December 2013, ministers of the parties to the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), meeting in Bali during the WTO’s Ninth Ministerial Conference, expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved towards bringing into force the revised GPA. Following ratification by 10 of the parties, the agreement finally came into force on 6 April 2014.
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS)
The TRIPS Council carried out its regular work on promoting transparency and reviewing WTO members’ implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. It gave least-developed country (LDC) members another eight years to comply with the Agreement. The Council continued discussions on access to medicines for the poorest countries, biotechnology and technical cooperation, among other topics. The Council also exchanged information on, and debated, a number of issues raised by individual countries, such as innovation policies for small and medium-sized enterprises, climate change and, for the first time, sports.
Developments in trade policy, 1998-99
Two years ago the “Asian financial crisis” erupted in Thailand, spread rapidly to other countries in the region, and affected general investor sentiment in those and other developing countries and transition economies, notably Russia in mid-1998 and later Brazil. Output and employment contracted sharply in the countries most directly affected, in turn adversely affecting trade of their partners and, together with steep commodity price declines, trade of many other developing countries. In the past, such events could have been invoked as a justification for raising import barriers, in an attempt to contain the domestic consequences and shift the burden onto trading partners, possibly provoking countermeasures, and thereby exacerbating the downturn. However, this very serious crisis unfolded in the framework of the WTO, the strengthened multilateral trading system created by the Uruguay Round Agreements. The system, and the good sense of governments, helped to keep markets open, facilitating adjustment and providing a critical element for recovery from the Asian crisis.
Conferencia Ministerial de Nairobi
En la Décima Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC, celebrada en Nairobi del 15 al 19 de diciembre de 2015, se adoptaron varias decisiones sobre la agricultura, el algodón y las cuestiones relacionadas con los países menos adelantados. Esas decisiones incluyen un compromiso de eliminar las subvenciones a la exportación de productos agropecuarios, que el Director General, Roberto Azevêdo, aclamó como el “resultado más relevante en el ámbito de la agricultura” en los 20 años de historia de la Organización. En la Declaración de Nairobi, los Ministros reconocieron que los Miembros de la OMC “tienen opiniones diferentes” sobre la forma de abordar el futuro de las negociaciones de la Ronda de Doha. En la Conferencia también se aprobó la adhesión de Liberia y el Afganistán y se concluyó un acuerdo histórico sobre tecnología de la información.
Entender la OMC
La Organización Mundial del Comercio puede verse desde distintas perspectivas. Es una Organización para la apertura del comercio. Es un foro para que los gobiernos negocien acuerdos comerciales. Es un lugar en el que pueden resolver sus diferencias comerciales. Aplica un sistema de normas comerciales. Ayuda a los países en desarrollo a crear capacidad comercial. Fundamentalmente, la OMC es un lugar al que los gobiernos Miembros acuden para tratar de resolver los problemas comerciales que tienen unos con otros.
Comment l’OMC est structurée
Lorgane de décision suprême de lOMC est la Conférence ministérielle, qui se réunit généralement tous les deux ans.
Audit interne
En 2010, le BAI a publié deux rapports, l'un sur les activités liées aux états de paie de l'OMC , concernant l'intégrité des données, les contrôles en place et les mécanismes de responsabilité, et l'autre sur les activités d'appui administratif et logistique de l'Institut de formation et de coopération technique (IFCT).
Aplicación y vigilancia
Los consejos y comités de la OMC siguieron vigilando la aplicación de los Acuerdos de la OMC y examinando si los Miembros de la Organización respetaban sus prescripciones. También proporcionaron un foro para el debate sobre varias cuestiones, desde el comercio y el cambio climático hasta la crisis de los precios de los productos alimenticios. En 2008 se efectuaron los exámenes de las políticas comerciales de 17 Miembros de la OMC.
Resolving disputes
Over the past 20 years, nearly 500 disputes have been brought to the WTO. About half of these were resolved during bilateral discussions while the other half proceeded to a panel process, which in recent years generally takes about 14 months. Appeals are considered by the WTO’s Appellate Body and – excluding exceptionally busy periods – are completed within three months. This makes the WTO’s dispute system one of the fastest in the world.