S&D REVIEW BACK UNDERWAY

The review of special and differential treatment (S&D) provisions for developing countries recommenced on 21 and 23 May, as General Council (GC) Chair Perez del Castillo (Uruguay) held informal meetings with Heads of Delegations (HOD). Following the 21 May meeting, Members were able to agree on accepting two additional proposals (based on language that differed from the original proposals), bringing up the total of proposals 'accepted for agreement' to 14, out of 88 (see BRIDGES Weekly, 14 May 2003). Prior to these meetings (on 20 May), Chair Perez del Castillo also circulated a letter to the various Chairs of other relevant WTO bodies, requesting that they consider 'as soon as possible' the proposals selected to be dealt with by subsidiary bodies (his category II of proposals; see full proposal at http://www.ictsd.org/issarea/development/resources/Latest-SDT-proposals.pdf). The circulation of this letter, indicated one trade source, marked the acquiescence of a number of developing countries who had opposed sending the S&D proposals to subsidiary bodies (and thus making them part of the broader round of negotiations).
Process

The HOD process of reviewing the proposals in category I, aimed at augmenting the number and impact of those proposals to be agreed upon at/before Cancun, has already covered, inter alia, TRIPs, elements of GATT 1994, Measures in Favour of LDCs, and Import Licensing Procedures. The more contentious (and meaningful) proposals in this category -- including those on Article XVIII of GATT 1994 (dealing with active measures taken by governments for economic development), sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and the Enabling Clause (which enables developed countries to offer preferential treatment to developing countries) -- are to be tackled at an upcoming 5 June meeting. Certain key developed countries, reported one trade source, have already indicated that this latter group of proposals are generally not acceptable in their view.

One developing country delegate from Africa, commenting on the prospects for this revived process, said that most African countries are waiting until the first report back from the GC Chair (expected 15 June) before passing judgment. In the meantime, they are willing to give the Chair "the benefit of the doubt," trusting that something new and substantial can materialise. The delegate repeated the Africa Group's concerns over the nature of the Chair's process -- all informal meetings, carried out 'on the Chair's own responsibility' -- as well as the impact of sending proposals to subsidiary bodies.

On this latter concern that S&D will go the way of implementation issues (i.e. generally absorbed into the heavy mandate of the subsidiary bodies), Chair Perez del Castillo has requested the other Chairs to notify delegations in advance that S&D is being dealt with at a specific upcoming meeting. This, it is hoped, will help ensure that smaller delegations are able to keep track of S&D throughout the WTO's various arteries. In addition, Chair Perez del Castillo added as a condition that these subsidiary bodies must report to the final GC prior to Cancun, and that any of these items are open to 'early harvest', regardless of date of completion of the round.

Adding two makes fourteen

With 12 proposals arguably ready for acceptance (a few developing countries have stated they do not agree entirely on these 12), two more proposals were added at the 21 May meeting (both coming from the Africa Group's first submission TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2, available at http://docsonline.wto.org). These two proposals both relate to Part IV of GATT 1994, which deals with trade and development.

The first touches on Article XXXVII (entitled 'Commitments'). The original proposal aimed to strengthen the binding nature of the commitments developed countries had undertaken in assisting with developing countries' economic development. The final language agreed upon offers Members the right to "initiate discussions on the basis of Article XXXVII", and that Members "shall, upon request, provide a detailed explanation [...] with a view to reaching a solution" satisfactory to all Members. This new language however limits the scope of the explanation to matters relevant only to paragraph one. The original language was stronger, and covered both paragraphs one & three, the latter dealing with, inter alia, exploring all possible constructive remedies before applying "other measures" allowed under WTO rules -- which could include market defence measures such as anti- dumping and countervailing measures.

The second proposal touches on Article XXXVIII (entitled 'Joint Action'). The final language agreed upon would see the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) receive studies and reports from relevant international agencies "that may assist Members in analysing the development plans and policies of individual developing and least- developed country Members, [… and] measures that could be taken in the WTO framework and by other international agencies and organisations […] to help achieve their respective development goals". The original language would have had the UN and its agencies, as well as all international and regional organisations with observer status at the WTO, provide annual studies and reports pertaining to the elements touched on in the article (including, inter alia, measures to stabilise commodity markets and the relationship between trade and aid). Most importantly, based on these reports and studies, the CTD would have been tasked with making recommendations to the General Council on the relevant issues. The issue of making recommendation has thus been removed, making the studies and reports, posited one trade source, more academic in nature and less useful as an input into trade rule formulation.

ICTSD reporting.