Negotiating a Trade Facilitation Agreement: Considerations and Lessons from WTO Jurisprudence
This note discusses the lessons learned from WTO jurisprudence on trade facilitation articles under the GATT (i.e. Articles V, VIII and X GATT) and on other articles and WTO agreements that embody language similar to the one currently under negotiations. (more…)
Summary of South Centre Analysis of Implementation Issues Likely to Arise from Trade Facilitation Rules
How Far Does The Trade Facilitation Negotiation text (Rev.16) Go Beyond The WCO Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC)?
This Note assesses the extent to which the Trade Facilitation negotiation text (Rev.16) goes beyond the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC). The backdrop to this Note is the erroneous view that the TF Agreement only differs slightly from the WCO RKC. (more…)
Waving Or Drowning: Developing Countries After The Financial Crisis
Not only has the “Great Recession” led to a “Great Slowdown” in developing countries, but also their longer-term growth prospects are clouded by global structural imbalances and fragilities that culminated in the current crisis. (more…)
Access to Medicines and Intellectual Property: The contribution of the World Health Organization
The topic of intellectual property first appeared in the WHO in 1996 and coincided with the end of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the World Trade Organization. In 1995 the Charles III University of Madrid with the WHO Drugs Action Programme (DAP) organized a conference where Professor Carlos Correa presented a paper entitled “The Uruguay Round and Drugs”. (more…)
Summary Table of the Cancun Annex C 28, Special and Differential Treatment Proposals.
The Cancun Annex C containing 28 S&D proposals has been put forward for possible adoption at the WTO’s Ninth Ministerial Conference (MC9) in December 2013. (more…)
Operationalising the 2002 LDC Accession Guidelines: An Analysis.
Benchmarks to ‘further strengthen, streamline and operationalize’ the 2002 LDC Accession Guidelines have been developed. The following conclusions can be made regarding these benchmarks: (more…)
Capital Account Regulations and Investor Protections in Asia.
Since at least the early 1990s, countries that sought to regulate the capital account risked self-inflicted stigma in the international investment arena, even in the face of uncontroverted analytical reasons for their appropriateness.Subsequent events, including the Asian financial crisis in 1997, have not eliminated the stigma risk from capital account controls but the analytical discussion has shifted to when, not if, such controls are warranted. (more…)
LDCs seek exemption from WTO TRIPS agreement
By Kanaga Raja
The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have submitted a “duly motivated” request to the WTO TRIPS Council for an extension of the transition period for them to comply with the TRIPS Agreement “for as long as the WTO Member remains a least developed country”.
A proposed draft decision annexed to their request states that: “Least developed country Members shall not be required to apply the provisions of the Agreement, other than Articles 3, 4 and 5, until they cease to be a least developed country Member.”
LDCs seek exemption from WTO TRIPS agreement
By Mariama Williams
The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have submitted a “duly motivated” request to the WTO TRIPS Council for an extension of the transition period for them to comply with the TRIPS Agreement “for as long as the WTO Member remains a least developed country”.
A proposed draft decision annexed to their request states that: “Least developed country Members shall not be required to apply the provisions of the Agreement, other than Articles 3, 4 and 5, until they cease to be a least developed country Member.”
South Africa’s review and new policy on BITs
By Xavier Carim
Below is a speech on “A South African Perspective on International Investment Agreements” by Xavier Carim, Deputy Director General, Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa at the WTO Public Forum, 25 September 2012, Geneva.
The twists and turns of the Doha talks and the WTO
By Martin Khor
Welcome to this session on Doha and the Multilateral Trading System – From Impasse to development? which the South Centre is pleased to co-organise.
This session aims to look at what the future holds for the WTO, in particular in relation to the development dimension, and the interests of the developing countries.
After the Uruguay Round, the developing countries went into a mood of reflection because many of them were not active in the negotiations and did not fully understand what they had signed on to or the implications. So for a number of years after 1995, for the developing countries, their priority in the WTO was to understand the obligations they had entered into and the problems of implementation, particularly in new issues such as TRIPS, Services, TRIMS which they had been obliged to take on as new obligations, in exchange for the re-entering of agriculture and textiles into the GATT system. And to get the WTO to review and possibly reform its rules.
