The Doha Development Agenda

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The Doha Development Agenda

• Launched at MC 4 in Doha, Qatar.
• Needs interests of Dcgs at centre
• Mandate for negotiations under TNC
• Other areas of work programme under General
  Council

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PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF THE DDA

• Doha Declaration (WT/MIN/(01)/DEC/1)
• 1 August 2004, General Council Decision
  (WT/L/579)
• Hong Kong Declaration(WT/MIN(05)/DEC)
• Draft Modalities for Agriculture
  (TN/AG/W/4/Rev.4 6 Dec 2008) and NAMA
  (TN/MA/W/103/Rev.3 6 Dec 2008)

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AREAS UNDER NEGOTIATION

• Agriculture (including Cotton)
• Services
• Industrial products (NAMA)
• TRIPS (multilateral system for registration
  notification of GIs)
• WTO Rules (AD, Subsidies, RTAs)
• DSU (outside Single-Undertaking)
• Trade and Environment
• Special and Differential Treatment Outstanding
  Implementation Issues
• Trade Facilitation

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OTHER AREAS OF THE WORK PROGRAMME

• Electronic Commerce
• Small Economies
• Trade, Debt and Finance
• Trade and Transfer of Technology
• Technical Cooperation Capacity Building
• Least Developed Countries
• Work in different WTO bodies under the
  supervision of the General Council

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MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
GENERAL COUNCIL
TRADE NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE - TNC

• SPECIAL SESSIONS
• Council For Trade In Services
• TRIPS Council
• Dispute Settlement Body
• Committee On Agriculture( SS on Cotton)
• Committee On Trade And Development
• Committee On Trade And Environment

DOHA ROUND  DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA - DDA 

• NEGOTIATING GROUPS
• Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA)
• Rules
• Trade Facilitation

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NEGOTIATING PRINCIPLES

• Single Undertaking- nothing is agreed until
  everything is agreed single package with all
  Members participating
• Possibility of an early harvest
• Transparency and Inclusiveness
• Bottom-up approach
• Decisions to be taken by consensus
• Special Differential Treatment for Dcgs to be
  fully taken into account

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DDA Trajectory

• Negotiations should have been concluded by 1
  January 2005
• Modalities for agriculture expected to have been
  agreed by March 2003
• Deadline missed. Efforts to agree on the
  modalities in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003
  also failed
• A framework agreement reached in July 2004
• Efforts to reach agreement on full modalities in
  July 2005 failed
• Objective to achieve full modalities also proved
  elusive at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference
  in December 2005

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DDA Trajectory

• After intensive consultations in the first half
  of 2006, the negotiations were suspended in July
  2006
• Negotiations resumed in Feb 2007, but agreement
  on modalities for agriculture and NAMA still
  proved elusive
• Members positions on the key issues in
  agriculture and NAMA have evolved but not
  significantly
• Compromise proposals on Ag and NAMA tabled by DG
  Lamy during the July 2008 mini/Ministerial (25
  July 2008)

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DDA Trajectory

• Whereas considerable progress was made during the
  July 2008 mini-Ministerial, some difficult issues
  remain in Ag and NAMA
• Members currently working on the draft texts
  circulated on 6 December 2008 by the Ag and NAMA
  Chairpersons which reflect Lamys texts
• Attempts to convene a Ministerial in December
  2008 abandoned lack of convergence on the
  problematic issues

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Key issues in agriculture

• Market access
• SSM gaps in Members positions on the volume
  trigger
• SP Are the proposed flexibilities adequate?
• SeP Reservations by Canada and Japan
• Tariff capping
• Domestic support
• OTDS are the proposed cuts adequate?
• Product-specific AMS capping
• Cotton ambitious reduction in subsidies for
  cotton
• Export Competition
• Monopoly rights of STEs

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Key issues in NAMA

• Sectorals
• Core principles participation to be
  non-mandatory and results multilateralised
• Does participation in the negotiations mean
  acceptance to participate in a sectoral?
• Flexibilities for developing countries
• Anti-concentration clause
• Non-reciprocal preferences

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Key issues in Services

• Quality of offers on the table sometimes do not
  reflect current access how can the offers be
  improved? Plurilateral requests/offers
• Some developing countries yet to table offers
• Special and differential treatment for developing
  countries, particularly LDCs
• Lack of substantive progress on mode 4
• GATS rules domestic regulation, emergency
  safeguards, subsidies and government procurement
  lack of substantive progress

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Rules

• Chairmans text circulated in November 2007.
  Widely criticised by many Members because of
  provisions on zeroing in anti-dumping
  calculations, which has been found on numerous
  occasions to be inconsistent with the ADA by the
  AB
• Chair issued a working document on 28 May 2008
  (A/D SCM and FS) and followed it up with a new
  text in December 2008 (TN/RL/W/236)
• Key issues in Anti-dumping zeroing, model
  matching, public interest, lesser duty rule,
  causation, anti-circumvention, material
  retardation, injury determinations initiation of
  investigations due process/transparency reviews
  and duration of measures

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Rules

• Key issues in Subsidies benefit definition,
  specificity and regulated prices, scope of
  illustrative list, benefit calculation for
  regulated prices, upstream subsidies, allocation
  of benefits, export financing, export credits
• With respect to fisheries subsidies, progress has
  been made but there are still outstanding issues.
  The challenge is how to achieve a balanced
  outcome one the one hand, strengthening
  disciplines by outlawing some subsidies and on
  the other providing effective SDT to developing
  countries
• With respect to RTAs, initial review of the
  Transparency Mechanism yet to be completed not
  enough experience
• Substantive disciplines no substantive
  progress. Text-based proposals expected

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Special and Differential Treatment

• Not much progress since the Cancun Ministerial
  Conference. Impasse over whether the 28
  Agreement-specific proposals should be harvested
• Decisions on 5 Agreement-specific LDCs proposals
  in HK, the most significant being the decision on
  DFQF for LDCs
• Issues about implementation of the DFQF decision
  remain.
• Category II proposals not much progress in the
  relevant WTO bodies.
• 16 remaining category I and III proposals focus
  on 7 proposals. Out of the seven proposals,
  progress being made on six.

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Trade Facilitation

• Text-based contributions from Members covering
  Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT 1994 as
  compiled in TN/TF/W/43/Rev.19
• Main challenge would be how to come up with
  effective disciplines while at the same time
  giving effect to the broad provisions on SDT for
  LDCs and developing countries
• Three scenarios envisaged Regulations that will
  apply immediately after entry into force of the
  Agreement those that will apply after expiration
  of a transition period and those that will apply
  subject to proper and adequate provision of TACB
• Emphasis on building the technical and financial
  capacities to implement any new disciplines.
  Importance of needs assessments

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Other Issues

• Dispute Settlement (outside the single
  undertaking) Progress has been made on a number
  of issues, including third party rights,
  sequencing, remand authority, post-retaliation
• Chair circulated consolidated draft legal text
  (Job(08)/81 on 18 July 2008. Although the DSU
  negotiations are outside the single undertaking,
  but it appears Members are making the linkage
• Trade and Environment Progress has been uneven
  across the three parts of the mandate. With
  respect to paragraph 31(i), work has primarily
  focused on the identification of specific trade
  obligations (STOs) in Multilateral Environmental
  agreements (MEAs).

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Other Issues

• With respect to paragraph 31(ii), work has
  progressed. Concrete suggestions have been put
  forward regarding information exchange sessions
  with MEAs to be held under the auspices of the
  CTE document exchange future collaboration in
  the context of TACB activities
• Some outstanding issues, including the issue of
  observer status in the CTE.
• Regarding paragraph 31(iii), some modest progress
  has been made. Proponents of the list approach
  have submitted a potential convergence set of
  environmental goods
• Some alternatives approaches put forward
  integrated approach a request and offer
  approach combination of proposals thus far
  submitted

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Other Issues

• Work has proceeded on parallel tracks
  determination of the universe of eligible goods
  on the basis of the following criteria air
  pollution control renewable energy waste
  management environmental technologies etc.,
• Work on the elaboration of modalities has also
  picked up some pace how account should be taken
  of SDT in any new disciplines
• TRIPS Issues Extension of the additional
  protection provided to wines and spirits to other
  products. Members positions are widely
  divergent. Progress dependent on the results of
  the agriculture negotiations and overall balance
• TRIPS Register Legal effects presumption of
  protectability?
• Issue of participation- should it be mandatory or
  voluntary?

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Process Forward

• Establish modalities in Ag and NAMA in the first
  quarter of 2010?
• Preparation of schedules based on modalities
• Verification of schedules
• Concluding negotiations in other areas including
  services, rules, development etc
• Legal drafting
• Signing of Final Act
• Domestic ratification processes