South Centre Paper, November 2013
Key Issues Still Under Brackets in the Trade Facilitation Text Presented to the Ministerial Conference in Bali (based on Room W-JOB/TNC/35)
The following document comments on the remaining bracketed articles in the trade facilitation (TF) draft text (Room W- JOB/TNC/35) presented to the ministerial conference in Bali. It includes five main sections, including:
1) One page summary note and recommendations on the TF draft text
2) General comments on the balance within the latest TF draft text;
3) Comments of Section I
4) Comments on the provisions under ‘institutional arrangements’ of the TF text;
5) Comments on the ‘general provisions’ of the TF text;
6) Comments on Section II
The document includes the following annexes:
- Annex (1): Recalling main parts of the Negotiating Mandate `
- Annex (2): Note on the scope of the ‘Expedited Shipments’ provision under Section I of the trade facilitation draft text; services liberalization from the backdoor.
- Annex (3): Note on the Reference to ‘Making Category B and C provisions an integral part of the Agreement’
- Annex (4): Comments on Bracketed Articles under TF text Section I
- Annex (5): What did LDCs get under Section II of the Trade Facilitation draft text raised to the Ministerial Conference in Bali?
This article was tagged: GATT, Government Procurement, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Ministerial Conference, Safeguards, Services, Trade Facilitation, World Trade Organization (WTO), WTO - MC9