About the WTO

I admire the achievements of panels and the Appellate Body, and of the unsung heroes who assist them behind the scenes. Over the past decade, they have succeeded in developing a coherent jurisprudence and in maintaining the support of the membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the dispute settlement system. However, when evaluating the performance of the WTO dispute settlement system, one should not only examine how panels and the Appellate Body handled the complaints that were actually submitted to them. An evaluation of that system is only complete if it comprises also an analysis of the complaints that Members did not bring. The focus of this chapter is on one feature of the WTO dispute settlement system that has prevented Members from resorting to that system to assert their rights in many situations.

During 2010 the Trade Policy Review Body (TPR B) reviewed 19 WTO members: Malaysia, El Salvador, Croatia, Armenia, Albania, the People’s Republic of China, Malawi, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei), The Gambia, Honduras, the United States, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sri Lanka, Belize, Papua New Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Hong Kong, China. The Chair’s concluding remarks for these reviews are reproduced below.

In 2012, the General Council agreed that the Ninth Ministerial Conference will be held in Bali, Indonesia. It oversaw the progress of the Doha Round negotiations on the basis of reports from the Director-General in his capacity as Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee. It heard the Director-General’s annual report on accessions and on the development assistance aspects of cotton. In July, it adopted recommendations on the accession of least-developed countries (LDCs) as mandated by the Eighth Ministerial Conference. It also reviewed progress in the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce.

In 2016, the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) reviewed the trade policies and practices of 23 WTO members. By the end of 2016, the TPRB had conducted 452 reviews since its establishment in 1989, covering 153 of the 164 WTO members. During the year, members agreed further reforms to the trade policy review mechanism, including adjusting the frequency of undertaking trade policy reviews.

Trade monitoring reports showed a slight decrease in the number of new trade-restrictive measures introduced by WTO members. The WTO revised downwards its trade forecasts for 2016, predicting the slowest pace of trade and output growth since the financial crisis of 2009. The monitoring reports underscore the need for WTO members to work together to ensure that the benefits of trade are spread more widely and are better understood.

L’Accord de l’OMC sur les obstacles techniques au commerce (Accord OTC) est entré en vigueur au moment de la création de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce, le 1er janvier 1995. Il vise à faire en sorte que les prescriptions relatives aux produits figurant dans les réglementations et les normes (concernant la sécurité, la qualité, la santé, etc.), ainsi que les procédures d’évaluation de la conformité des produits avec ces prescriptions (essais, inspection, accréditation, etc.), ne soient pas indûment discriminatoires et/ou ne créent pas d’obstacles non nécessaires au commerce.

As Swiss writer Paul Budry observed, George Épitaux's building is extraordinary in its sobriety. The edifice avoids ostentatiousness, rather drawing strength through unity. He describes it as a "disciplined mass" united through the action of those working within its walls. The one notable departure from this moderation is the northern tower, reaching skyward like a lighthouse. The paradox of such a sleek building is that while it may appear simple, it requires an immense amount of forethought to execute such pure lines.