Trade monitoring
Report by the WTO Secretariat
During the period under review, Guatemala intensified its trade liberalization and economic reform efforts. An important step in this process was the elimination, at the beginning of 2016, of the export performance requirements for production under the free-zone and maquila regimes. At the same time, Guatemala updated its government procurement legislation to ensure greater transparency and efficiency, as well as its legislation governing certain aspects of intellectual property rights protection, and took steps to facilitate trade. A number of challenges remain, however, particularly in the competition policy area, where no legislation has yet been implemented.
Contact with the business community
In 2012, the WTO took a number of initiatives to bring the WTO and the business community closer together. The Director-General launched a panel of eminent persons, with a strong business presence, to analyse challenges to trade opening. The WTO also carried out a survey among business leaders on how to improve cooperation between business and the WTO.
Activités de recherche économique
En 2011, la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques a organisé 61 activités, souvent en collaboration avec d'autres institutions. Parmi ces activités, on peut citer le lancement du Rapport sur le commerce mondial 2011, le lancement d'une publication conjointe avec l'Organisation internationale du travail (OIT) et une série de séminaires organisés dans le cadre du programme d'ateliers sur le commerce et le développement à Genève.
Report by Canada
Trade is essential to Canada?s economy, with one in six Canadian jobs linked directly to exports. Canada is proud of the role that it has played in helping to build a global order based on the rule of law and an aspiration to free and more open trade. Unfortunately, the integrity of the global trading system, under which so many around the world have prospered, is currently facing unprecedented challenges. Growing concern that the benefits of trade have not been shared by all and that the existing rules no longer reflect an appropriate balance of rights and obligations has helped propel a rise in protectionism. This has taken the form of rising trade restrictive measures and unilateral actions that hinder and restrict international trade. Bilateral conflicts that give rise to unilaterally determined trade policies constitute a serious threat to a rules-based trade regime.
Introduction
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.