Trade monitoring

This Section focuses on standards-related WTO legal texts and relevant jurisprudence. The Section begins with a discussion of the texts themselves. This is followed by a detailed discussion of some of the key concepts relevant to standards in the TBT and the SPS Agreements as well as GATT 1994. The Agreements are then placed in the context of the economic discussion presented in the previous Sections and reference is also made to accumulated standards-related jurisprudence. Since the focus of the Report is on product standards, only WTO legal texts and jurisprudence bearing on “goods” will be discussed. It is important to note though that the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) also contains standards-related provisions on services, specifically, in Article VI paras. 4 and 5.

Real GDP growth in the European Communities (EC) was 3% on an annual average during 2006-07, but fell to an estimated 1% in 2008 partly due to the global financial crisis (and subsequently economic slowdown) that emerged in the second half of the year. While the moderation in growth was broad-based, performance at Member States level remained dispersed. Following an increase in government revenues and a decrease in expenditure related to, inter alia, the pension system reforms in several Member States, the EC fiscal deficit, as percentage of GDP, declined from 1.4% in 2006 to 0.9% in 2007 (its best fiscal performance in many years), but is estimated at 2% in 2008. Further efforts to address concerns about long-term fiscal sustainability would appear to remain needed, particularly in the light of the large costs of the measures envisaged to respond to the global economic downturn.

The WTO aims to help developing countries build their trade capacity and allows them a longer time to implement trade agreements. Hundreds of training courses are organized each year for officials from developing countries.

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 2016, el comercio mundial de mercancías en términos de valor disminuyó un 3%, después de una caída del 13% registrada en 2015, y el crecimiento del comercio continuó siendo negativo o se mantuvo estacionario en las principales economías comerciantes del mundo. China siguió ocupando el primer lugar, pero su participación en el comercio mundial de mercancías disminuyó por primera vez desde 1996. Los exportadores de productos básicos, especialmente de combustibles y productos de las industrias extractivas, siguieron acusando el descenso de los precios de los productos básicos. Europa fue la región que obtuvo mejores resultados en 2016: la tasa de crecimiento del comercio de mercancías en valor fue nula, mientras que en América del Norte disminuyó un 3%, y en Asia un 4%.