About the WTO
Examens des politiques commerciales en 2013
En 2013, l’OMC a effectué 15 examens des politiques et pratiques commerciales de 20 Membres. Les dates des examens et les pays visés figurent sur la carte. Des renseignements complémentaires, y compris les remarques finales du Président pour chaque examen, sont disponibles sur le site Web de l’OMC : www.wto.org/mepc_f.
Nuestro año
Los Miembros de la OMC se centraron en la aplicación de las decisiones adoptadas en las Conferencias Ministeriales de Bali y Nairobi, y en el examen de los posibles resultados para la Undécima Conferencia Ministerial, que tendrá lugar en Buenos Aires en diciembre de 2017.
Aperçu de l’évolution de l’environnement commercial
Pour l’OMC, l’année 2000 a été une année pleine de défis, mais aussi pleine de promesses, d’une part en raison des événements survenus lors de la troisième Conférence ministérielle, réunie à Seattle, en novembre 1999, où les Membres n’ont pas pu parvenir à un consensus sur le lancement d’un nouveau cycle de négociations multilatérales, alors que, dans la rue, se déroulaient des manifestations “antimondialisation” très médiatisées, et, d’autre part, parce que c’était l’occasion d’opérer les changements nécessaires pour mieux répondre aux besoins des Membres et consolider ainsi les bases du système commercial.
The meaning of everything
This book is about the history and evolving role of law and lawyers in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the WTO Secretariat over time and about how their work has advanced the rule of law in multilateral trade relations. Part of that history is the role that Secretariat lawyers have played in producing and disseminating publications that help governments and the wider community understand the substantive and procedural aspects of the law. That is arguably an important objective for the legal department of any international intergovernmental organisation but especially one of an international organisation that administers a multilateral treaty that is complex and far reaching and that has been the subject of extensive interpretation. Several contributors to this book have touched upon the role of Secretariat lawyers in producing the oldest and best-known legal publication of the GATT and the WTO, the Analytical Index.1 The Analytical Index, alongside the Secretariat’s many other publications relating to substantive and procedural aspects of the law,2 promotes values commonly associated with the rule of law – including transparency and consistency in the interpretation and application of the relevant legal rules by making the interpretations given to those rules accessible to members and the wider international trade law community. This chapter briefly reviews the origin and evolution of the Analytical Index, and then highlights how the evolution of the Analytical Index reflects some aspects of the historical evolution of GATT and WTO law over time.
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. Administra el Sistema mundial 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.
Looking back, looking forward
Looking back at the first ten years of WTO, one thing that stands out much more strongly than the stumbles over the agenda and the protests in the streets is that every government in the world sees the WTO as part of its future. Even the governments of economies in a difficult transition from centrally-planned to market-organized make every effort to join the WTO as soon as possible. Even governments of the poorest or the most isolated economies are keen to become Members of the WTO. There can be no more sincere tribute to the value that WTO holds for its Members.
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS)
An amendment to the TRIPS Agreement making it easier for developing countries to access affordable medicines came into force in January 2017. The TRIPS Council continued its regular work on promoting transparency in WTO members’ intellectual property systems and reviewed the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. It also discussed access to medicines, biodiversity, patentability of life forms and technical cooperation, among other topics.
Cooperación técnica y formación
En 2009 el diseño y la ejecución de actividades de asistencia técnica y formación atravesaron un período de transición. Se desarrollaron una nueva estrategia y una nueva perspectiva, reflejadas en parte en la ejecución de las actividades en 2009 y expuestas en mayor detalle en el Plan de Asistencia Técnica 2010-2011 elaborado durante el año. Teniendo en cuenta que los programas de asistencia técnica relacionada con el comercio de la OMC se basan en la demanda, en ese Plan se aprovecha lo que se ha aprendido con la aplicación del primer Plan Bienal (2008-2009) y se introducen cambios encaminados a mejorar su contenido y ejecución.
Trade Policy Reviews
During 2012, the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) reviewed 26 WTO members: Bangladesh, Burundi, China, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, Israel, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, the State of Kuwait, Nepal, Nicaragua, Norway, the Philippines, Rwanda, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uganda, the United States and Uruguay (see map on page 64). The country-specific reports and the Chair’s concluding remarks made at the TPRB meetings are available on the WTO website. It also began implementing the recommendations of the fourth appraisal of the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM).
What next for the trading system
Regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) constitute active efforts to liberalize international trade. Many of these agreements include provisions to supplement the protection of intellectual property rights established in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement. The session explored how changing intellectual property rules have affected the flow of new products and ideas in the global marketplace.
Membership
The WTO is open to states and customs territories with full autonomy over their external commercial relations. The accession process promotes the integration of new members into the global economy.
Consejo General
En 2011, el Consejo General supervisó los progresos realizados en las negociaciones de la Ronda de Doha sobre la base de los informes del Director General en su calidad de Presidente del Comité de Negociaciones Comerciales. Recibió también el informe anual del Director General sobre las adhesiones, así como su informe sobre los aspectos de la cuestión del algodón relativos a la asistencia para el desarrollo. Para la Conferencia Ministerial de diciembre, el Consejo General acordó tres temas generales, que constituyen los “Elementos de orientación política”, a saber: la importancia del sistema multilateral de comercio, el comercio y el desarrollo, y el Programa de Doha para el Desarrollo.
Advising the Director-General
The WTO Directors-General appear to have always had a lawyer in their office although the exact title or the scope of the position might have differed depending on each Director-General. Trade rules are highly technical and legal in nature, so it is not surprising that the Director-General would want to have in his office a professional who has solid knowledge of WTO law and the ability to provide legal advice on trade issues. However, the advice the lawyer in the Director-General’s Office provides is not just limited to legal advice on trade issues. Legal advice on the policy side of WTO work can also be an important element in the Director-General’s decision-making process. The specific duties and responsibilities of the previous legal advisers to the WTO Directors-General may vary. Accordingly, this chapter seeks to describe briefly what can be considered, or desired as, core elements of the role of the Legal Adviser to the WTO Director-General.
The TBT Agreement
The TBT Agreement entered into force on 1 January 1995. It is one of the various WTO agreements annexed to the WTO Agreement. As indicated above, the TBT Agreement belongs to the family of multilateral WTO agreements dealing with trade in goods (the GATT and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) are examples of other “goods” agreements).
Cooperation with other international organizations
In 2014, the WTO cooperated with a variety of intergovernmental organizations, including the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Together with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the OECD, the WTO published reports on trade and investment developments in the Group of 20 (G20) leading developed and developing countries.