doha round in brief

7/31/2019 Doha Round in Brief

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THE DOHA ROUND


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INTRODUCTION

Its aim is to achieve major reform of the international trading systemthrough the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised traderules.

The work programme covers about 20 areas of trade.

The Round is also known semi-officially as the Doha DevelopmentAgenda as a fundamental objective is to improve the tradingprospects of developing countries.

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BEFORE DOHA

The first WTO ministerial conference, which was held in Singaporein 1996, established permanent working groups on fourissues: transparency in government procurement, tradefacilitation (customs issues), trade and investment, and trade andcompetition. These became known as the Singapore issues.

The negotiations were intended to start at the ministerialconference of 1999 in Seattle, USA, and be called the MillenniumRound but, due to several different events including protestactivity outside the conference (the so-called "Battle of Seattle"), thenegotiations were never started. Due to the failure of the MillenniumRound, it was decided that negotiations would not start again untilthe next ministerial conference in 2001 in Doha, Qatar.



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The compromise deal struck in the 1986 94 Uruguay Roundincluded commitments to continue the reforms agreed in the round,in three subjects.The first to take effect was the Agreement on Trade RelatedAspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).Of broader interest were negotiations in agriculture and services.These resumed in 2000, as agreed in Article 20 of the AgricultureAgreement and Article 19 of the General Agreement on Trade inServices.Meanwhile, in 2000, the General Council adopted a decision on anumber of issues arising from the implementation of the WTOspresent agreements.



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DOHA 2001

The 9 13 November 2001 Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar,was the fourth meeting of the WTOs topmost, decision -makingbody.The declarations that WTO members adopted in Doha set up awork programme the Doha Development Agenda, which includestrade negotiations (the Doha Round) and the issues arising fromthe implementation of the existing agreements.In Doha, ministers also decided to postpone the deadline for somedeveloping countries to eliminate export subsidies and for least-developed countries to provide protection for pharmaceuticalpatents and test data, and to tackle problems faced by countriesunable to make generic versions of patented medicines.



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Committing all countries to negotiations opening agriculturaland manufacturing markets, as well as trade-in-services (GATS)negotiations and expanded intellectual property regulation (TRIPS).The intent of the round, was to make trade rules fairer fordeveloping countries.

The original aim was to reach agreement on almost all subjects inthe negotiation by 1 January 2005. The only exceptions were thenegotiation on improving and clarifying the Dispute SettlementUnderstanding (with a deadline of 31 May 2003) and thenegotiations on a registration system for geographical indicationsfor wines and spirits (with a deadline of the Fifth MinisterialConference in 2003). Those deadlines were missed and the datesare now history.



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Importance of US presidential 'fast-track' authority

The round had been planned for conclusion in December 2005,after two more ministerial conferences had produced a final draftdeclaration. The WTO pushed back its self-imposed deadline toslightly precede the expiration of the U.S.President's Congressional Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority.Any declaration of the WTO must be ratified by the U.S.Congress to take effect in the United States. Trade PromotionAuthority prevents Congress from amending the draft. It expired on30 June 2007, and congressional leaders decided not to renew thisauthority for President George W Bush.



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DOHA ROUND AFTER DOHA

Geneva 2003:- The first major agreement in the Doha Round afterthe Doha Ministerial Conference was on special treatment inservices for least-developed countries.

Geneva 2004:- The General Councils decision of 1 August 2004narrowed the gaps, focused the negotiations and raised them to anew level. This July [2004] Package decision included a number of annexes for the negotiations in agriculture and non-agriculturalmarket access, a term that is sometimes used for the entirepackage.



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Hong Kong 2005:- The next major agreement was the declarationfrom the 13 18 December 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Conference,which locked in a further narrowing of differences in thenegotiations.



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COLLAPSE OF NEGOTIATIONS

The negotiations collapsed on 29 July 2008 over issues ofagricultural trade between the United States, India, and China. Inparticular.

There was insoluble disagreement between India and the UnitedStates over the special safeguard mechanism (SSM), a measuredesigned to protect poor farmers by allowing countries to impose aspecial tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an importsurge or price fall.

The United States, China and India could not agree on thethreshold that would allow the mechanism to be used, with theUnited States arguing that the threshold had been set too low.



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The United States and some European Union members blamedIndia for the failure of the talks. India claimed that its position (i.e.that the U.S. was sacrificing the world's poor for U.S./Europeancommercial interests) was supported by over 100 countries.

Then-European Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson said thatIndia and China should not be blamed for the failure of the Doharound



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doha round in brief

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