About the WTO

As the Legal Affairs Division (LAD) passes its thirtieth anniversary and following the accounts of many of its staff as well as practitioners and scholars who have contributed recollections of their three decades of experience, it seems appropriate to complement this with a personal view with regards to its future evolution.

The relationship between trade and sustainable development is complex and challenging. In this chapter, I shall focus on one component of that challenge: the relationship between trade and environment. I shall argue that, contrary to general opinion, the environment has made significant progress in the World Trade Organization (WTO). This arises not so much from the progress in environmentally-related negotiations nor from the regular work of the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), but from the work of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) and, in particular, the Appellate Body. While this has led to charges of ‘judicial activism’ on the part of the Appellate Body, I argue that the Appellate Body is simply fulfilling its mandate to clarify and interpret WTO law and to fill gaps left by negotiators.

The year 2018 marked the 70th anniversary of the provisional application of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947). Although it was intended to be applied on a provisional basis, the GATT 1947 governed international trade for almost half a century. Its principles, rules and procedures evolved over this period to respond to the changing needs and challenges of GATT contracting parties, providing the basis for today’s strengthened international trade rules under the GATT’s successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The principal lesson from the failure of the talks at the Seattle Ministerial in November 1999 was that ministers could not possibly negotiate on the broad agenda, covering many sensitive topics, that was now before the WTO (and would continue until Cancún) without detailed preparation at the WTO in Geneva. This advance preparation would need to clarify the extent of the commitments that might be required when the negotiations were concluded. The various distractions and disagreements which arose during the preparatory period for the Ministerial Conference had hindered this process of preparation to the extent that ministers did not feel confident about launching negotiations.

El Acuerdo sobre Contratación Pública (ACP) revisado de la OMC entró en vigor el 6 de abril de 2014, después de que dos tercios de sus Partes hubieran aceptado el Protocolo por el que se modifica el Acuerdo (véase la página 87). Posteriormente, dos Partes más depositaron sus instrumentos de aceptación. Se prevé que el Acuerdo revisado represente una ampliación de los compromisos de las Partes en materia de acceso alos mercados por un valor de entre 80.000 y 100.000 millones de dólares EE.UU.

The decades (1947–1994) in which the GATT organized the development of global trade in merchandise demonstrated that the concept could work and achieve results, while developing new methods to avoid or resolve trade disputes. The challenge that Members faced in the creation of the WTO was to build on the successes of the GATT system while overcoming its limitations.

In 2016, the WTO General Council oversaw the implementation of decisions taken at the Bali and Nairobi ministerial conferences as well as progress in trade negotiations work, based on reports of the Director-General. It also reviewed progress in the work programme on electronic commerce. In December, the General Council approved the establishment of two new working parties for the accessions of Somalia and Timor-Leste. The General Council decided that the 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2017.

El 1º de enero de 2008, el sistema multilateral de comercio celebrará su sexagésimo aniversario. El Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial de 2007 marca la ocasión con una mirada retrospectiva a lo que se ha aprendido en esos seis decenios de cooperación comercial internacional. En él se tratan de identificar tanto las lecciones que han de extraerse de la experiencia pasada como la naturaleza de los retos venideros. Para abordar esas cuestiones, el Informe adopta un criterio ecléctico, basado en las publicaciones económicas y la historia económica, las relaciones internacionales o determinados enfoques jurídicos. El Informe tiene por objeto explorar las lecciones que se derivan de la rica historia de cambios y adaptaciones institucionales del sistema multilateral.

In 2009 the Information and External Relations Division continued to have regular contact with journalists, in Geneva and around the world, and hosted nearly 160 information briefings at the WTO involving almost 4,800 participants.