Trade monitoring

At the Fourth World Trade Organization Ministerial Meeting held in Doha in November 2001, Ministers launched a comprehensive set of multilateral trade negotiations and a work programme. This mandate is sometimes referred to as the Doha Development Agenda, reflecting a shared desire to ensure that the trading system is relevant and responsive to the needs of developing countries. Among the areas covered by the negotiations or the work programme are market access in manufactures, agriculture and services, certain rules (including anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures, and regional arrangements), trade and environment, trade-related intellectual property rights, the relationship between trade and investment, the interaction between trade and competition policy, transparency in government procurement, trade facilitation, and dispute settlement. Developing countries were particularly instrumental in putting certain issues on the agenda, including trade and technology transfer, trade, debt and finance, small economies, implementation issues (mostly pending from the Uruguay Round) and special and differential treatment. Views continue to differ on how and in some cases whether to include all the issues mentioned above in the negotiations, which are due for completion at the end of 2004.

En 2009, il a été fait appel de trois rapports de groupes spéciaux auprès de l'Organe d'appel, sur un total de cinq rapports susceptibles de faire l'objet d'un appel. L'un de ces appels portait sur des procédures de groupe spécial initial. Deux autres portaient sur des procédures de groupe spécial au titre de l'article 21 :5 (Surveillance de la mise en oeuvre des recommandations et décisions) du Mémorandum d'accord sur le règlement des différends (Mémorandum d'accord), concernant des affaires dans lesquelles les parties n'étaient pas d'accord sur le point de savoir si la décision initiale du groupe spécial avait été correctement mise en oeuvre.

En 2010, les relations avec les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) se sont encore développées grâce à diverses activités, comme le Forum public annuel de l'OMC, les séances d'information régulières à l'intention des ONG organisées par le Secrétariat de l'OMC, et une série de dialogues informels entre les présidents des différents groupes de négociation et les représentants de la société civile.

The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) was first established on a trial basis by the GATT contracting parties in April 1989. The Mechanism became a permanent feature of the World Trade Organization under the Marrakesh Agreement which established the WTO in January 1995.

En 2012, el Consejo General aprobó el conjunto de documentos de la adhesión de la República Democrática Popular Lao (Laos) y el de la adhesión de Tayikistán. Ambos países pasaron oficialmente a ser Miembros de la OMC a principios de 2013, tras haber notificado a la Organización que sus parlamentos habían ratificado sus respectivos Protocolos de Adhesión. En los Protocolos de Adhesión se recogen los compromisos asumidos respecto de todas las normas de la OMC.

Montenegro and New Zealand joined the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) in 2015 and negotiations were concluded on the accessions of Moldova and Ukraine. Work began on the accessions of Australia and Tajikistan while constructive discussions took place on China’s accession. Phase II of the e-GPA system, an automated market access information tool, was launched. The WTO Secretariat undertook technical assistance activities regarding GPA accession and procurement reforms, and deepened its partnerships with other international organizations.

The United States remains firmly committed to the World Trade Organization as the embodiment of the open, transparent, rules-based multilateral trading system. As the U.S Government undergoes its ninth Trade Policy Review, and as an active participant in the Trade Policy Review Mechanism, the United States steadfastly believes that transparency is a key component of robust world trade. As a key architect of the post-World War II trading system and a leader in the pursuit of successive trade-liberalizing rounds of trade negotiations, the United States shares a common purpose with our WTO partners: expanding economic opportunities for the world’s citizens by reducing trade barriers. The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is the ninth successive round of multilateral trade negotiations to be carried out since the end of World War II.