Trade monitoring
Activités statistiques
En 2016, l’OMC a apporté de nouvelles améliorations à ses produits statistiques. Le Portail intégré d’information commerciale (I-TIP) a été mis à jour pour élargir la gamme des renseignements disponibles, et la publication statistique phare de l’OMC, l’Examen statistique du commerce mondial, a été remaniée. Des améliorations ont aussi été apportées aux deux autres publications statistiques annuelles de l’OMC, les «Profils commerciaux» et les «Profils tarifaires dans le monde». L’OMC a organisé trois grands événements statistiques pendant l’année.
Offshoring services: Recent developments and prospects
Despite the recovery in the world economy in 2003 and 2004, unemployment remained high in many industrial countries. Even in those countries which reported a strong recovery, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, employment levels recovered only moderately, leading many observers to wonder about a “jobless recovery”. Although employment growth typically lags behind in each cyclical output recovery, sluggishness in services sector employment seemed to be a new development. In previous downturns, the services sector continued to generate new jobs. The information communications technology (ICT) sector – one of the most dynamic sources of new employment in the 1990s – not only slowed down in terms of job growth, but actually experienced a decline in the payroll after the ICT crash in 2000-01. Many dot.com companies and telecom firms closed down or had to downsize as investment outlays in IT hardware and software decreased in OECD countries.
Acuerdo sobre Contratación Pública
Croacia se adhirió al Acuerdo sobre Contratación Pública (ACP) cuando pasó a ser miembro de la Unión Europea en 2013. Se registraron importantes novedades con respecto a la adhesión al ACP de varios otros Miembros de la OMC, entre ellos China, Montenegro y Nueva Zelandia. Se otorgó la condición de observador a otros dos países. El Comité de Contratación Pública, que se ocupa de administrar el ACP, trabajó para lograr la entrada en vigor en abril de 2014 del Acuerdo revisado adoptado por las Partes en 2012 (véase la página 41). La asistencia técnica prestada alcanzó un nivel sin precedentes.
Preface
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.
Standards and Trade Development Facility
The Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) – the Aid for Trade vehicle to help developing countries implement sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards – continued to increase awareness, mobilize resources, strengthen collaboration and identify and disseminate good practice to enhance the effectiveness of SPS-related technical cooperation. It also focused on providing support and funding for the development and implementation of projects that promote compliance with international SPS requirements. Contributions to the STDF totalled USD 4.7 million in 2012.