WTO【159 members on 2 March 2013 (with dates of
membership)】:
2013
NEWS ITEMS／5-7 December 2013
NINTH
WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
The
WTO’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded a day later than scheduled on 7
December 2013 with agreement on a package of issues designed to streamline
trade, allow developing countries more options for providing food security,
boost least developed countries’ trade and help development more generally.
In addition to the Bali Package, ministers
formally adopted a
number of more routine decisions at the end of a five-day meeting opened by
Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which also saw
Yemen accepted as a new member.
“We did it!” said
Indonesia’s Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, who chaired the conference. “We
achieved what many said could not be done. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told us on
Tuesday that the mystique of Bali would have a positive effect on our
negotiations. This is the place where deals get done. I am delighted that Bali
has not let us down.”
“For the first time in our history: the WTO
has truly delivered,” said
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo. “I challenged
you all, here in Bali, to show the political will we needed to take us
across the finish line. You did that. And I thank you for it.”
The Bali Package is a selection of issues
from the broader Doha Round
negotiations. Echoing calls from many delegations, Mr Azevêdo, said
members’ attention should now turn the rest of the round, known semi-officially
as the Doha Development Agenda.
“With the Bali package you have reaffirmed
not just your commitment to the WTO — but also to the delivery of the Doha
Development Agenda,” Mr Azevêdo said. “The decisions we have taken here are an
important stepping stone towards the completion of the Doha round.
“And it is very welcome that you have
instructed us to prepare, within the next 12 months, a clearly defined work
program to this end.”
The deal on the Bali Package was struck after
intensive consultations almost round the clock from Wednesday 4 December until
the early hours of Friday 6 December, followed by overnight meetings of heads
of all delegations the following night.
Happiness
and sadness
Ministers and other delegates greeted the
agreement enthusiastically, with repeated clapping and cheering. But the
conference was also tinged with sorrow at the news of the death of former
President Nelson Mandela.
Mr Azevêdo,
Mr Gita, and numerous ministers and delegates paid tribute to Mr Mandela as an
inspiration for all, including in the pursuit of the WTO’s difficult goals. Mr
Gita quoted him: “It always seems impossible, until it’s done.”
‘Flexible
time’
Mr Azevêdo had worked with ministers on a
handful of sticking points individually and in small groups, before revised
drafts were circulated for all members to consider. These were finally
agreed by consensus on 7 December after meetings were scheduled and
rescheduled.
“In the WTO, the concept of time is a
flexible one,” WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said when asked by
journalists on 6 December about the meeting extending beyond its
original schedule. “I think it will be a long day.”
During those final critical hours, almost all
members said the package should be adopted in full, even if they were not
completely happy with some parts of it.
They said the package was needed because of
the benefits it would give directly, but also because it would reinvigorate the
WTO and its trading system, and provide the momentum to conclude the Doha
Round, which was launched in 2001 and has seen little progress since 2008 until
work intensified on the Bali Package this year.
However a small group of countries — Cuba,
Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela — recorded serious reservations about what they
considered to be imbalances in the package in favour of richer countries, and
the absence of provisions barring discrimination in the form of trade embargoes
on goods in transit.
Their concern about embargoes delayed
consensus on the package until a compromise was struck in the form of a
sentence upholding the principle of non-discrimination in goods in transit was
added to the final declaration.
The Bali Package has sometimes been described
as the first major agreement among WTO members since it was formed in 1995
under agreements from the 1986-94 Uruguay Round negotiations. The most
significant for global commerce is the trade
facilitation part of the package, which is about cutting red tape and
speeding up port clearances.
Much of the rest of the package focuses on
various issues related to development,
including food
security in developing countries and cotton and
a number of other provisions for least developed countries.
The package also includes a political
commitment to reduce export subsidies in agriculture and
keep them at low levels, and to reduce obstacles to trade when agricultural
products are imported through quotas.
The trade facilitation decision is a
multilateral deal to simplify customs procedures by reducing costs and
improving their speed and efficiency. It will be a legally binding agreement
and is one of the biggest reforms of the WTO since its establishment in 1995 —
other agreements struck since then are on financial services and
telecommunications, and among a subset of WTO members, and agreement on free
trade in information technology products.
The objectives are: to speed up customs
procedures; make trade easier, faster and cheaper; provide clarity, efficiency
and transparency; reduce bureaucracy and corruption, and use technological
advances. It also has provisions on goods in transit, an issue particularly of
interest to landlocked countries seeking to trade through ports in neighbouring
countries.
Part of the deal involves assistance for
developing and least developed countries to update their infrastructure, train
customs officials, or for any other cost associated with implementing the
agreement.
The benefits to the world economy are
calculated to be between $ 400 billion and $1 trillion by reducing costs
of trade by between 10% and 15%, increasing trade flows and revenue collection,
creating a stable business environment and attracting foreign investment.
The text adopted in Bali is not final,
although the substance will not change. It will be checked and corrected to
ensure the language is legally correct, aiming for the General Council to adopt
it by 31 July 2014.
Agriculture and cotton
Agreement on the agriculture part of the Bali
Package required sorting out two issues. Much of the focus was on shielding
public stockholding programmes for food security in developing
countries, so that they would not be challenged legally even if a country’s
agreed limits for trade-distorting domestic support were breached.
The proposed solution will be interim, and
much of the discussion was about what would happen at the end of the interim
period. The outcome of consultations was for the interim solution to exist
until a permanent one is agreed, with a work programme set up aiming to produce
a permanent solution in four years.
The other issue was about “tariff
quota administration“, how a specific type of import quota (a “tariff
quota” where volumes inside the quota have a lower duty) is to be handled when
the quota is persistently under-filled. Members have agreed on a combination of
consultation and providing information when quotas are under-filled. The one
remaining issue to be settled was which countries would reserve the right not
to apply the system after six years: they will be Barbados, Dominican Republic,
El Salvador, Guatemala and the US.
Meanwhile, three texts remained unchanged
from the versions negotiated in Geneva. One is on adding some development and
land-use programmes to the list
of general services that are candidates for being allowed without
limit because they cause little trade distortion.
Another is a strong political statement to
ensure export
subsidies and other measures with similar effect are low. A third
deals with improving market access for cotton products
from least developed countries, and with development assistance for production
in those countries.
Four documents remained unchanged from their
Geneva versions.
l
Duty-free, quota-free access
for least
developed countries to export to richer countries’ markets. Many
countries have already implemented this, and the decision says countries that
have not done so for at least 97% of products “shall seek to” improve the
number of products covered.
l
Simplified preferential rules
of origin for least
developed countries, making it easier for these countries to identify
products as their own goods, and qualify for preferential treatment in
importing countries.
l
A “services waiver”, allowing least
developed countries preferential access to richer countries’ services
markets.
l
A “monitoring
mechanism” consisting of meetings and other methods for monitoring
special treatment given to developing countries.
The Ministerial Conference adopted five
decisions on the WTO’s regular work. They can be found here. They
are the following:
In intellectual property, members agreed not
to bring “non-violation” cases to the WTO dispute settlement process — “non-violation“
is shorthand for the technical question of whether there can be legal grounds
for complaint about loss of an expected right under the WTO’s intellectual
property agreement, even when the agreement has not been violated.
A similar extension was agreed in electronic
commerce, members agreed not to charge import duties on electronic
transmissions. The Work Programme also encourages continued discussions on
electronic commerce in relation to commercial issues, development and new
technology.
Ministers decided to give special
consideration to issues of small
economies. Ministers instructed the Committee on Trade and Development to
consider proposals on small economies and make recommendations to the General
Council.
Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to Aid
for Trade, an initiative that assists developing countries, and in
particular least developed countries, trade. They welcomed progress on Aid for
Trade since its launch in 2005 and mandated the Director-General to continue
support of the programme.
Ministers directed their Geneva delegations
to continue examining the link between trade and transfer of technology and
make possible recommendations on steps that might be taken to increase flows of
technology to developing countries. The mandate was given at the 2001 Doha
declaration.
WTO: 2013 NEWS ITEMS
6 December 2013
NINTH
WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Ministers
attending the WTO’s Bali Ministerial Conference received on 6 December 2013
revised draft decisions on a package of issues designed to streamline trade,
allow developing countries more options for providing food security, boost
least developed countries’ trade and help development more generally.
The latest draft texts, available here,
are the product of weeks of intensive negotiations in Geneva before the
Ministerial Conference. They were further refined after round-the-clock
consultations at the conference and are now being presented to ministers from
the full membership to consider. Under WTO rules, a consensus is required for
the decisions to be adopted.
They come under three headings:
Trade
facilitation
Trade
facilitation is cutting red tape and streamlining customs and port
procedures. The latest draft is here
Agriculture
Four issues in agriculture out
of a larger set negotiated in the Doha Round, are
on the table. They are:
l
General services: a proposed
list of general services of particular interest to developing countries that
would be added to the “Green Box” — the category of domestic support that is
considered not to distort trade (or to distort minimally) and therefore allowed
without any limits.
l
Developing countries’ public
stockholding of food for food security.
l
Tariff quota administration: a
proposal to deal with the way a specific type of import quota (“tariff quotas”)
is to be handled when the quota is persistently under-filled.
l
Export competition, the
collective term for export subsidies and other policies with similar effects.
The latest drafts are here
Cotton
The draft on cotton deals both with improving
market access for cotton products from least developed countries, and with
development assistance for production in those countries. The latest draft is here
Development
This covers:
l
Duty-free, quota-free access
for least
developed countries to export to richer countries’ markets
l
Simplified preferential rules
of origin for least
developed countries, making it easier for these countries to identify
products as their own products and qualify for preferential treatment in
importing countries
l
A “services waiver”, allowing least
developed countries preferential access to richer countries’ services
markets
l
A “monitoring
mechanism”, consisting of meetings and other methods for monitoring special
treatment given to developing countries
The latest drafts are here
Other
decisions
The ministers will also consider routine
decisions passed on by the General Council. The latest drafts are here
新聞來源：自由時報 2013 年 12 月 8 日財經焦點
可為全球經濟挹注1兆美元
〔編譯楊芙宜／綜合報導〕世界貿易組織（WTO）成立十八年來，首度達成全球貿易協議！在古巴放棄杯葛後，WTO 一五九個會員七日上午於印尼峇里島的第九屆部長會議通過歷史性首份多邊貿易協議，包括貿易便捷化措施節省各國轉運與進出口成本，可為全球經濟挹注一兆美元、創造二一ＯＯ萬個工作機會，也為已談判長達十二年的「杜哈回合」重啟帶來新希望。
對台效益 如同洽簽 160 個協定
經濟部對協議通過表示欣慰，指出台灣因為不是世界關務組織會員，且對外洽簽的自由貿易協定（FTA）不多，貿易便捷化對出口導向的國家十分重要。經濟部官員日前評估，效益將是「如同台灣一次對外洽簽了一六Ｏ個關務合作協定」。
WTO 會員三日起展開密集協商，一開始因印度堅決反對相關農業補貼規則的提案，讓達成協議與否出現不明朗情勢。六日午夜各國代表挑燈夜戰、召開團長會議，經三小時討論後，印度與美國最後一刻分別在貿易便捷化、農業補貼上讓步，古巴領導的拉丁美洲國家也宣布不再反對協議草案，終於在七日上午達成稱為「峇里套案（Bali Package）」的協議。
這份協議挽救了 WTO 信譽、避免瀕臨瓦解命運，並讓其倡導的多邊貿易體制起死回生。
WTO 秘書長阿茲維多（Roberto Azevedo）激動表示，「這是
WTO 歷史上頭一遭」，真正地達到目標，我們又把「世界」名副其實地拉回到「世界貿易組織」裡面。
「峇里套案」涵蓋貿易便捷化、農業與發展議題，為
WTO 推動消除全球貿易障礙的「杜哈回合」談判縮小版協議。根據經濟合作暨發展組織（OECD）分析，貿易便捷化協議生效後，可節省已開發國家、開發中國家的貿易成本分別達十％、十五％。
經濟部表示，根據 OECD 今年針對貿易便捷化協定執行成效之分析，預估協定生效後，已開發國家及開發中國家之貿易成本約可分別減少十％及十五％；另推動實施貿易便捷化措施，可降低我國廠商之進出口成本、創造工作機會、以及提升國家競爭力。
經濟部指出，我國在貿易便捷化與關港貿單一窗口等體制完善，海關及邊境管理機關的相關措施已符合 WTO 協議的規範。
中華經濟研究院 WTO 及 RTA （雙邊及區域貿易協定）中心副執行長李淳指出，這對 FTA 洽簽比較少的台灣效益特別顯著，因為它要求各國簡化通關程序，有助於台灣出口減少通關成本、中小企業受惠最多。
農業與發展議題方面，各國同意在 WTO 十一屆部長會議協商農業補貼的永久解決方案出爐前，印度等開發中國家得在糧食安全考量下持續補貼農作物，免於遭受其他會員控訴，而對低度開發國家提案，包括優惠原產地待遇、服務業豁免、免關稅免配額等。
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