Economic research and trade policy analysis

This chapter explains how accession negotiations have helped to further the agricultural reform process by upgrading and deepening the existing multilateral rules on trade in agriculture. It provides a broad overview of the existing multilateral disciplines in the area of agriculture as contained in the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). Using the experience of the thirty-six concluded accessions the chapter suggests that a number of commitments such as extensive market access commitments ambitious domestic support commitments and comprehensive bindings with regard to export duties helped establish high benchmarks vis-à-vis the undertakings of the original members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In market access the commitments of acceded members are primarily in the form of reductions in tariff bindings with a very limited use of tariff rate quotas. In domestic support the commitments of the acceded members have been negotiated based on the respective recourse to such support during a recent three-year period dependent on the timing of the individual accessions. These commitments are generally more ambitious than the corresponding commitments of the original members under the AoA which were derived based on the domestic support policy framework existing in 1986–8. Similarly in the field of export subsidies the acceded governments’ ambitious efforts to eliminate these highly distorting subsidies helped to create a strong momentum in the broader agriculture negotiations leading to the eventual agreement on the global elimination of agricultural export subsidies at the Nairobi Ministerial Conference in 2015.

À l’ère numérique un nombre croissant de gouvernements a adopté des politiques visant à stimuler la croissance grâce à l’innovation et à la modernisation technologique. Les conséquences économiques intérieures liées à la COVID-19 conduisent les pays à renforcer ces politiques. Le présent rapport examine ces tendances ainsi que le rôle que peuvent jouer le commerce et l’OMC. Il montre que la coopération internationale pourrait jouer un rôle important pour aider les pays à atteindre ces objectifs plus efficacement tout en limitant autant que possible les retombées négatives des politiques nationales.

Cette section traite de la réglementation internationale du commerce des ressources naturelles. Elle commence par un aperçu du cadre juridique de l’OMC et examine brièvement comment les ressources naturelles s’inscrivent dans ce cadre. Cette section ne prétend pas examiner de manière exhaustive toutes les règles de l’OMC susceptibles d’avoir une incidence sur le commerce des ressources naturelles. Son but est plutôt d’exposer les règles ayant une pertinence particulière pour ce type de commerce et de voir si et dans quelle mesure elles sont adaptées aux principales caractéristiques des secteurs de ressources naturelles. Cette section présente en outre certains accords internationaux régissant le commerce des ressources naturelles et examine leur relation avec les disciplines de l’OMC. Enfin elle aborde plusieurs questions concernant ce secteur qui semblent avoir une pertinence réelle ou potentielle pour la coopération internationale et pour le système commercial multilatéral.

The year 2018 marked the 70th anniversary of the provisional application of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947). Although it was intended to be applied on a provisional basis the GATT 1947 governed international trade for almost half a century. Its principles rules and procedures evolved over this period to respond to the changing needs and challenges of GATT contracting parties providing the basis for today’s strengthened international trade rules under the GATT’s successor the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Desde la crisis financiera de 2008-2009 el empleo industrial en algunas economías ha registrado una disminución acelerada y la competencia internacional en sectores industriales maduros se ha intensificado; la evolución de la productividad y los salarios se ha ralentizado; y ha emergido una nueva economía basada en las tecnologías digitales. En este contexto las políticas industriales y de innovación han sido objeto de renovación y estas “nuevas políticas industriales” reflejan una dualidad inherente a todas las fases de la política gubernamental dado que su finalidad es abordar el difícil proceso de modernización de las industrias tradicionales tratando también de lograr la adaptación de las economías a la digitalización.

El Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial 2009 ha sido elaborado bajo la dirección general del Director General Adjunto Alejandro Jara y supervisado por Patrick Low Director de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística. Los autores principales del Informe son Marc Bacchetta K. Michael Finger Marion Jansen Alexander Keck Coleman Nee Roberta Piermartini Michele Ruta y Robert Teh. Las estadísticas comerciales fueron facilitadas por el Grupo de Estadística de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística bajo la coordinación de Hubert Escaith Julia de Verteuil Andreas Maurer y Jürgen Richtering. También han aportado contribuciones escritas Rudolf Adlung Lee-Ann Jackson Jesse Kreier y Hiromi Yano.

What specific obligations on transparency and notifications have been negotiated as part of the terms of accession to the WTO since 1995? What patterns and trends have emerged with regard to transparency and notification requirements in WTO accessions over time? What is the implementation behaviour on notification requirements of the states or separate customs territories that have negotiated their terms of accession pursuant to Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and joined the WTO in the period 1995 to 2013? How does the compliance of Article XII members on notification requirements under the WTO Agreements compare to the compliance behaviour of original members? By reviewing the empirical data available from more than thirty completed WTO accessions since 1995 representing about one-fifth of the WTO membership this chapter examines each of these questions assessing the extent to which the negotiated accession commitments on transparency have affected the existing transparency and notification obligations under the WTO Agreements. The results of this review suggest that the specific transparency and notification obligations resulting from accession negotiations have safeguarded and reinforced existing transparency requirements embedded across all WTO Agreements. They have also resulted in positive implementation behaviour with regard to notification requirements by WTO members that joined the WTO between 1995 and 2013 and have thus improved the compliance rate of the overall WTO membership. The number and scope of specific transparency commitments negotiated in WTO accessions underscores the importance that the WTO membership attaches to transparency one of its founding principles.

Global supply chains have transformed the world. They revolutionized development options facing poor nations; now they can join supply chains rather than having to invest decades in building their own. The offshoring of labour-intensive manufacturing stages and the attendant international mobility of technology launched era-defining growth in emerging markets a change that fosters and is fostered by domestic policy reform (Cattaneo et al. 2010 and Baldwin 2011b). This reversal of fortunes constitutes perhaps the most momentous global economic change in the last 100 years.