First of all what is Ministerial Conference??
The topmost decision-making body of theWTOis theMinisterialConference, which usually meets every two years. It brings together all members of the WTO, all of which are countries or customs unions. The Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateraltrade agreements.
As for example: Bali, 3-6 December 2013 ,Geneva, 15-17 December 2011
How WTO is different from other instituitions:
The WTO is member-driven, withdecisionstaken by consensus among all member governments. In this respect, the WTO is different from some other international organizations such as theWorld BankandInternational Monetary Fund. In the WTO, power is not delegated to a board of directors or the organizations head.
Highest authority: theMinisterialConference
So, the WTO belongs to its members. The countries make their decisions through various councils and committees, whose membership consists of all WTO members. Topmost is the ministerialconferencewhich has to meet at least once every two years. The Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateraltrade agreements.
Second level: General Council in three guises
Day-to-day work in between the ministerial conferences is handled by three bodies:
TheGeneral Council
TheDispute SettlementBody
The Trade Policy Review Body
All three are in fact the same the Agreement Establishing the WTO states they are all the General Council, although they meet under different terms of reference. Again, all three consist of all WTO members. They report to the Ministerial Conference.
Third level: councils for each broad area of trade, and more
Three more councils, each handling a different broad area of trade, report to the General Council:
The Council for Trade in Goods (Goods Council)
The Council for Trade in Services (Services Council)
The Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council)
As their names indicate, the three are responsible for the workings of the WTO agreements dealing with their respective areas of trade. Again they consist of all WTO members. The three also have subsidiary bodies
.
Fourth level: down to the nitty-gritty
Each of the higher level councils has subsidiary bodies. TheGoods Council has 11 committees dealing with specific subjects (such as agriculture, market access, subsidies, anti-dumping measures and so on). Again, these consist of all member countries. Also reporting to the Goods Council is the Textiles Monitoring Body, which consists of a chairman and 10 members acting in their personal capacities, and groups dealing with notifications (governments informing the WTO about current and new policies or measures) and state trading enterprises.
TheServices Councilssubsidiary bodies deal with financial services, domestic regulations, GATS rules and specific commitments.
At the General Council level, theDispute Settlement Bodyalso has two subsidiaries: the dispute settlement panels of experts appointed to adjudicate on unresolved disputes, and the Appellate Body that deals with appeals.
HODs and other bodies: the need for informality
Important breakthroughs are rarely made in formal meetings of these bodies, least of all in the higher level councils. Since decisions are made by consensus, without voting, informal consultations within the WTO play a vital role in bringing a vastly diverse membership round to an agreement.
WTO structure
All WTO members may participate in all councils, committees, etc, except Appellate Body, Dispute Settlement panels, and plurilateral committees.
Ministerial Conference
General Council meeting asGeneral Council meeting as
Dispute SettlementGeneral CouncilTrade Policy Review
BodyBody
Appellate Body
Dispute Settlement panels
Committees onCouncil forCouncil forCouncil for
Trade and Environment
Trade in GoodsTrade-Related AspectsTrade in Services
Trade and Development
of Intellectual
Subcommittee on Least-
Developed CountriesProperty ights(TRIPS)
Regional Trade Agreements
Balance of Payments
Committees onCommittees on
Restrictions
Market AccessTrade in Financial Services
Budget, Finance and
AgricultureSpecific Commitments
Administration
Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Working parties on
Working parties onMeasures
Domestic Regulation
AccessionTechnical Barriers to Trade
GATS Rules
Subsidies and Countervailing
Working groups on
Measures
Plurilaterals
Trade, debt and financeAnti-Dumping Practices
Trade and technologyCustoms ValuationTrade in Civil Aircraft Committee
transferRules of OriginGovernment Procurement Committee
(Inactive:Import Licensing
(Relationship betweenTrade-Related Investment
Trade and InvestmentMeasuresDoha Development Agenda:
(Interaction betweenSafeguards
TNC and its bodies
Trade and CompetitionWorking party on
Policy
(Transparency inState-Trading EnterprisesTrade Negotiations
Government Procurement)Committee
Special Sessions of
Services Council / TRIPS Council / Dispute Settlement
Body / Agriculture Committee and Cotton Sub-
Committee / Trade and Development Committee /
Trade and Environment Committee
PlurilateralNegotiating groups on
Information Technology Agreement
Market Access / Rules / Trade Facilitation
Committee
Key
Reporting to General Council (or a subsidiary)
Reporting to Dispute Settlement Body
Plurilateral committees inform the General Council or Goods Council of their activities, although these agreements are not signed by all WTO members
Trade Negotiations Committee reports to General Council
The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and Dispute Settlement Body
Overview
About two thirds of the WTOs around 150 members are developing countries. They play an increasingly important and active role in the WTO because of their numbers, because they are becoming more important in theglobal economy, and because they increasingly look to trade as a vital tool in their development efforts. Developing countries are a highly diverse group often with very different views and concerns. The WTO deals with the special needs of developing countries in three ways:
* theWTO agreementscontainspecial provisionson developing countries
* theCommittee on Trade and Developmentis themain bodyfocusing on work in this area in the WTO, with some others dealing with specific topics such as trade and debt, and technology transfer
* theWTO Secretariatprovidestechnical assistance(mainlytrainingof various kinds) for developing countries.
TheWTOand the Millennium Development Goals
TheUnited NationsMillennium Development Goals(MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 192 members and a number of international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015 to end poverty. They includereducingextreme poverty, reducing childmortality rates, fighting disease epidemics, such as HIV/AIDS, and creating a global partnership for development.
The main goal thatconcernsthe WTO isMDG 8,buildinga global partnership for development. However, WTO activities are also relevant to other goals, such as MDG 1, whose aim is to eradicate extremepoverty and hunger. In fact, the MDGs cannot be seen in isolation: they are all interconnected.
In Short
The WTO can ...
1 ...cut living costs and raise living standards
2 ...settle disputes and reduce trade tensions
3 ...stimulate economic growth and employment
4 ...cut the cost of doing business internationally
5 ...encourage good governance
6 ...help countries develop
7 ...give the weak a stronger voice
8 ...support the environment and health
9 ...contribute to peace and stability
10 ...be effective without hitting the headlines
Following gains in MC @ BALI
1. India secured a deal which would allow it to offer farm subsidies for public stockholding and food security programs without inviting any censure. It will now be able to smoothly implement its ambitious Food Security Act, which would otherwise have led to breaching of the farm subsidy limit allowed under theWTO pact of 1994.(Doha Round)
1. Food Security Law may push Indias minimum support prices above WTO limits, but interim mechanism provides safeguards till WTO rules are corrected
2. Agreement on Trade Facilitation could boost Indias exports
3. India spearheads first agreement in the nine Ministerial held after the Doha Round
4. India gains global leadership by getting a crucial poor-rich country imbalance corrected on a multilateral forum
5. Support subsidies to poor farmers across all developing countries get safeguards against WTO rules
6. PEACE CLAUSE- The developed countries were offering a 4-year "peace clause" to developing countries. In the meanwhile a working group will submit a proposal for suitable modifications in AoA before MC 10 (next one), decision on the same will be considered in MC 11.(making it 4 years, of 'peace clause' again, if I may say). India's demand for 'permanent solution' (farm subsidies by developed countries) is agreed in principle, but the decision regarding the same is to be on the agenda of MC 12, that's 6 years from now on, that's after 4 years of 'peace clause.' That means India gets FSA but developed countries get to keep their farm subsidies with no time limit, no conditionality, no reporting to WTO. It's difficult to call it 'victory' or 'historic' as Anand Sharma called it. It honorable face saving at the most
7. MSPs for existing food grain items freeze. No more addition to food grain items or MSPs.
8. 10% limit for protective measures for essential agricultural products, as under the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) also remains in place. India is to report to WTO when Indian food grain procurement with MSP, for stockpiling to implement FSA, begins to go near or beyond that 10% limit. Other countries claiming to suffer from India's TDS (Trade Distorting Subsidies) are still, strictly legally speaking, free to sue India under Agreement on Subsidies & Countervailing Measure. But under this deal such countries 'shall refrain from' (exact phrase in the deal) doing so, for 4 years, that's de-facto 'peace clause.
9. Another neglected but important part of the deal is the Trade Facilitation Agreement which binds India to amend the 'Customs Act' to simplify, standardise the procedures & make them transparent. This is a welcome change. It will reduce corruption & increase trade.
Aditya Prasad
