In Brief

WTO MEMBERS TO MISS APRIL DEADLINE

WTO delegates on 24 April said that they would not meet an important end-April deadline for a framework deal on cutting agricultural tariffs, farm subsidies and duties on industrial goods as part of the Doha Round of negotiations. Citing wide divisions in the agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) talks, they agreed with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy's assessment that it would be pointless to summon national trade ministers to Geneva for a high-level meeting at the end of the month, as suggested by a previous deadline, since there was no realistic chance of striking a substantive agreement. Instead, Lamy asked delegates to engage in non-stop negotiations in the weeks to come on technical issues, such as exemptions from reduction commitments in agriculture and NAMA talks. This would, he suggested, allow ministers to make the necessary political decisions about the extent of tariff and subsidy cuts. Getting to text-based negotiations as quickly as possible should be Members' "immediate objective", he said.

The WTO chief did not specify any new deadlines, but warned that waiting until the end of July for detailed parameters in the two areas "would guarantee failure". In the agriculture negotiations, Chair Ambassador Crawford Falconer of New Zealand has outlined a schedule for six weeks of continuous negotiations that will be based on 'reference papers' that describe areas of agreement and divergence and are expected to evolve into draft text. NAMA Chair Ambassador Don Stephenson of Canada will also resume consultations next week. The priority assigned to these two negotiating areas by many Members, and the relatively slow progress in reaching consensus on the basic parameters of new rules ("modalities"), will in coming weeks lead delegations to focus their time and efforts on these talks, potentially at the expense of so-called "endgame" issues such as special and differential treatment or environmental goods and services.

For additional information on current negotiations at the WTO, see Bridges Weekly, 26 April 2006.

ICTSD Reporting.

THAILAND FILES NEW COMPLAINT AT WTO ON US SHRIMP DUTIES

On 24 April, Thailand filed a request for consultations under the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding regarding the antidumping measures that have been imposed by the US against shrimp from Thailand since January 2005 (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 11 November 2005). The consultations will attempt to address Thailand's complaints against the US' use of a 'zeroing' methodology to calculate anti-dumping duties and its bond requirement. Thailand has argued that zeroing is inconsistent with the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement because it distorts the determination of dumping margins by leaving out negative dumping margins and only including positive dumping margins when calculating anti-dumping duties (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 25 November 2005). A WTO Appellate Body ruling released on 18 April has indicated that the US zeroing methodology is WTO-illegal, a finding that Thailand will undoubtedly draw upon. Additionally, Thailand has charged that the US requirement that exporters give the US government more than 10 percent of the value of annual exports for holding for a year (the "bond") is not allowed by the WTO. In particular, they challenged an amendment that would calculate the required bond amount using a formula based on the value of imports of the product over the previous twelve months. The new case is the third that has been filed at the WTO regarding the US anti-dumping measures on shrimp. Thailand filed a first request in December 2004 (WT/DS/343/1), but as it was limited to the zeroing complaint and did not include the bond complaint Thailand decided to file this new, second case. Similarly, in November 2005 Ecuador filed a complaint with the WTO on the use of zeroing in calculating the shrimp duties, on which negotiations have been proceeding on the sidelines of the US-Ecuador free trade agreement talks. Dozens of exporting companies from Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Thailand and Vietnam have asked for the duties that were imposed on their countries in January 2005 to be reviewed by the US Department of Commerce (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 3 April 2006). As well, India is currently involved in legal proceedings before a US Federal Court where they are addressing issues similar to those raised by Thailand.

According to WTO dispute settlement procedures, the parties now have 60 days to complete the consultations after which, if unsuccessful, Thailand can file a request for the establishment of a panel.

ICTSD Reporting.

UNCTAD HIGHLIGHTS TRADE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

Stringent environmental, health and safety standards for everything from electronics to food are making it harder for developing countries to export products to lucrative markets in the developed world, according to UNCTAD's recently released Trade and Environment Review (TER) 2006. On a positive note, the report also noted that with the right approach countries could overcome many of these barriers and even turn some into trade opportunities. The TER recommends that developing countries adopt a strategic, anticipatory approach to new requirements in place of their current reactive, "fire-fighting" approach. Such a strategy has two key elements: firstly, developing country producers and exporters should actively participate in consultative processes on the development and review of new environmental, health and safety requirements created by Western governments or companies. Secondly, developing country governments should look beyond the costs of compliance to the domestic opportunities and benefits that may be gained. For example, establishing expertise in products such as organic agriculture could boost exports and provide domestic benefits such as improved soil fertility, reduced pollution and improved yields, while the removal of heavy metals from electronics manufacturing could reduce national levels of toxic waste and the health and environmental dangers associated with it. The Review recommends that developing-country governments gather and quickly analyse information on new requirements, forge effective partnerships with domestic businesses to devise adjustment strategies and identify market opportunities and work with other governments and organisations to share experiences on best adjustment practice.

The review is available at http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=6768&intItemID=1397&lang=1

ICTSD Reporting.

CITES ANNOUNCES LIMITS TO TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES IN 2006

The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on 10 April published a list of how much trade in the species covered by the Convention will be allowed in 2006. Included in the list is 150,000 kg of allowed exports of agarwood and 8,000 live humphead wrasse from Indonesia, but no quotas for the great white shark or hoodia plant, all of which were added to Appendix II of the Convention at the most recent Conference of the Parties (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 21 October 2004). On the controversial question of shared caviar stocks in the Caspian Sea, the Secretariat decided that only Iran will be allowed to export. The decision to allow Iran to export up to 44,370 kilogrammes of caviar comes after CITES decided in January 2006 to stop issuing certificates necessary for legal import of caviar from the region, saying that it did not have enough information to ensure that any country would be able to export and sustainably manage their stocks of sturgeon (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 20 January 2006). While the other Caspian Sea countries, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, failed to provide the required information proving that illegal harvesting and trade are not adversely affecting wild specimens, Iran's documentation passed the grade in April, and as such will be allowed to fish and export from the shared waters. According to CITES rules, potential exporters of threatened species protected under Appendix II of the Convention have to provide satisfactory information about the effectiveness of management and the sustainability of their use of the species based on scientific surveys and a regional conservation strategy in order to qualify for trade quotas backed up by certificates.

The listing of export quotas for trade in CITES species is available at http://www.cites.org/common/quotas/2006/ExportQuotas2006.pdf and for caviar at http://www.cites.org/common/quotas/2006/Sturgeon2006.pdf

"Hold the caviar: UN-backed body bans export of most endangered sturgeon", UN News, Service, 17 April 2006; "CITES finalizes 2006 caviar export quotas", CITES, 13 April 2006.