About the WTO
Comercio, deuda y finanzas
En 2014, el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comercio, Deuda y Finanzas celebró dos reuniones, en las que prosiguió sus esfuerzos por comprender mejor la relación entre los tipos de cambio y el comercio, en particular con miras a fortalecer la coherencia entre el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) y la OMC. Los Miembros de la OMC instaron encarecidamente al Director General de la OMC a que siguiera llevando a cabo su labor de diagnóstico, promoción y liderazgo en colaboración con las instituciones asociadas. A petición de los Miembros se organizó un seminario de alto nivel en la OMC sobre las dificultades que se plantean en relación con el acceso a la financiación del comercio, que tuvo lugar en marzo 2015.
Conseil général
En 2016, le Conseil général de l’OMC a supervisé la mise en oeuvre des décisions prises aux Conférences ministérielles de Bali et de Nairobi et a suivi l’avancement des négociations commerciales sur la base des rapports du Directeur général. Il a également examiné les progrès accomplis dans le cadre du programme de travail sur le commerce électronique. En décembre, le Conseil général a approuvé l’établissement de deux nouveaux groupes de travail chargés des accessions de la Somalie et du Timor-Leste. Il a décidé que la onzième Conférence ministérielle se tiendrait à Buenos Aires (Argentine) en décembre 2017.
Ayuda para el comercio
Las corrientes de ayuda para el comercio a los países en desarrollo volvieron a incrementarse en 2012, último año para el que se dispone de cifras, y los compromisos aumentaron un 21%, tras haber disminuido un 14% el año anterior. África fue la región que más se benefició, aunque las corrientes globales a los países menos adelantados (PMA) disminuyeron. Los Miembros de la OMC debatieron sobre los preparativos del Quinto Examen Global de la Ayuda para el Comercio, “Reducir los costos del comercio con miras a un crecimiento inclusivo y sostenible”, que tendrá lugar del 30 de junio al 2 de julio de 2015.
Public Forum 2015
The 2015 Public Forum focused on how and why trade works, and for whom. Participants discussed the contribution of the WTO to the strength and stability of the world economy over the past 20 years. They looked at how the multilateral trading system boosts growth, lifts people out of poverty, increases access to goods and medicines and promotes beneficial relationships between nations. The Forum also examined areas where the WTO can do more to ensure that trade benefits all.
Communication avec les parlementaires
En 2013, la Conférence parlementaire annuelle sur l’OMC, organisée par l’Union interparlementaire (UIP) et le Parlement européen, s’est déroulée à Bali pendant la neuvième Conférence ministérielle de l’OMC. Le Secrétariat a continué à tenir les parlementaires informés des questions relatives à l’OMC. Il a organisé à Singapour un atelier régional à l’intention des parlementaires des pays asiatiques.
WTO Essay Award for Young Economists
The WTO Essay Award for Young Economists went in 2013 to German economist Felix Tintelnot for a paper on multinational firms’ location and production decisions. The selection panel gave a special mention to the work of Benjamin Faber, also a German national, on international trade, the price of quality and inequality.
WTO Secretariat
The Secretariat is headed by Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, who took office for four years on 1 September 2013. WTO members agreed to appoint Mr Azevêdo for a second term, starting in September 2017, following a selection process at the end of 2016. The four Deputy Directors-General began their terms on 1 October 2013. They are Yonov Frederick Agah of Nigeria, Karl Brauner of Germany, David Shark of the United States and Xiaozhun Yi of China. The number of WTO staff fell from 647 to 628 in 2016; a recruitment process is under way to fill the vacancies.
Trade in services
In 2012, the Council for Trade in Services continued to focus on issues surrounding information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly e-commerce and international mobile roaming. Transparency was another issue that figured prominently on the agenda, with members discussing how compliance with the notification process might be improved. Jamaica became the latest member to ratify the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) Fifth Protocol, covering trade in financial services.
Comercio de mercancías
En 2016, el Consejo del Comercio de Mercancías examinó numerosas preocupaciones comerciales, entre ellas 10 nuevas, lo que pone de manifiesto su función cada vez más importante como foro para plantear preocupaciones acerca de medidas, políticas y prácticas consideradas potencialmente discriminatorias o restrictivas del comercio. China y el Pakistán presentaron una propuesta para impulsar el Programa de Trabajo sobre el Comercio Electrónico de la OMC. El Consejo examinó también varias solicitudes de exención.
Exámenes de las políticas comerciales realizados en 2015
En 2015 la OMC realizó 20 exámenes de las políticas y prácticas comerciales de 24 Miembros. Las fechas de los exámenes y los países examinados figuran en el mapa. En el sitio Web de la OMC (www.wto.org/mepc_s) puede obtenerse más información, incluidas las observaciones del Presidente a modo de conclusión relativas a cada uno de los exámenes.
Commerce et développement
En 2011, le Comité du commerce et du développement (CCD) est convenu de plusieurs modalités pour mettre en oeuvre les prescriptions concernant la transparence des accords commerciaux préférentiels (ACPr), au titre desquelles trois notifications de nouveaux ACPr ont été reçues. Parmi les autres questions examinées par le CCD et son Sous-Comité des pays les moins avancés (PMA) figuraient le renforcement des capacités, l'accès aux marchés pour les PMA, l'initiative Aide pour le commerce et les activités d'assistance technique de l'OMC.
The evolving WTO dispute settlement system
The dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is generally regarded as a big success. Most commentators agree that the system has worked remarkably well in its first ten years.1 Many factors explain the system’s success. In this chapter, I focus on one factor that, in my view, helps explain this success: the WTO dispute settlement system’s ability to evolve. Indeed, the WTO dispute settlement system has not remained static. Rather, the system has been evolving as each case raises new issues and poses new challenges.
Trade monitoring reports
Trade monitoring reports revealed that trade-restrictive measures introduced by WTO members continued to rise. Given the continuing uncertainties in the global economy, the reports stressed the need for countries to show restraint in imposing new measures and to eliminate more of the existing measures.
Dispute settlement
Jean-Baptiste Say shared Adam Smith’s view that countries were justified in retaliating against trading partners that excluded them from their markets, hoping that taking this step – or threatening to do so – would induce the partner to lift the restrictions. But while Smith was willing to leave it up “to the skill of that insidious and crafty animal, vulgarly called a statesman or politician” to determine whether retaliation is warranted in any given case,1 Say was less enthusiastic about employing this option. He stressed both the costs that a country imposes upon itself when it retaliates and the disincentive that it might create to lifting those sanctions. In this respect, the dispute settlement system of the WTO might be said to reflect Say’s thinking more than Smith’s, for while it does ultimately rest on the prospect for retaliation, it is designed to make retaliation a last resort that members will employ only after exhausting all other options.
The WTO dispute settlement body
was asked by Gabrielle Marceau to contribute to this project because I have been working as Secretary (and previously Deputy Secretary) of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) since its establishment upon the entry into force of the WTO Agreement on 1 January 1995. As I will explain in more detail below, the DSB is the body where WTO members take decisions and express views on a wide range of dispute-related matters. It is a key institution of the WTO, which has been praised by the membership as well as by international trade scholars and practitioners. It is through the DSB that WTO members have implemented the ‘quasi-automatic’ elements of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism (DSM), which were designed to address the weakness of the DSM under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Moreover, it is through the DSB that WTO members have ensured that WTO dispute settlement is compulsory and that its results are binding. The DSB also serves as a forum where members express their views on systemic, substantive and procedural issues.