About the WTO
Ayuda para el Comercio
El Comité de Comercio y Desarrollo adoptó el Programa de Trabajo sobre la Ayuda para el Comercio 2016-2017 relativo al fomento de la conectividad. Los desembolsos de ayuda para el comercio ascendieron en 2015 a 39.800 millones de dólares EE.UU. el monto más alto para un solo año. La OMC y la Organización de Cooperación y Desarrollo Económicos pusieron en marcha el ejercicio de vigilancia y evaluación de la ayuda para el comercio de 2016 cuyo objetivo es examinar las prioridades en esta esfera antes del Examen Global de la Ayuda para el Comercio que tendrá lugar en la OMC del 11 al 13 de julio de 2017.
Marco Integrado mejorado
En 2010 el Marco Integrado mejorado (MIM) para la asistencia relacionada con el comercio en favor de los países menos adelantados (PM A) que comenzó a desarrollar sus funciones efectivamente en 2009 registró avances notables en relación con la ejecución de proyectos la difusión y el fomento institucional. A finales del año el MIM trabajaba con 46 PM A y un país que había superado esa condición y los 22 donantes actuales al fondo fiduciario habían aportado 120 millones de dólares EE.UU.
Coopération technique et formation
La conception et la fourniture de l'assistance technique et de la formation ont connu une période de transition en 2009. Une nouvelle stratégie et une nouvelle vision ont été définies ; si elles n'ont été que partiellement prises en considération dans la mise en oeuvre des activités en 2009 elles sont présentées de manière plus détaillée dans le plan d'assistance technique 2010–2011 établi au cours de l'année. Étant donné que les programmes d'assistance technique de l'OMC sont déterminés par la demande ce plan met à profit les enseignements tirés de la mise en oeuvre du premier plan biennal (2008–2009) et introduit des changements visant à améliorer le contenu et la fourniture.
Economic research activities
In 2014 the WTO’s Economic Research and Statistics Division (ERSD) organized more than 20 events many in collaboration with other institutions. Events included policy lectures the launch of the WTO flagship publication the World Trade Report 2014 the third Annual Trade Workshop co-hosted by the WTO the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and a number of seminars and workshops. WTO economists reported on world trade growth in 2014 and made their forecasts for 2015.
Regionalism under the WTO and the prospect of an East Asian free trade area
Regional trade agreements (RTAs) were permitted under Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947 and the Decision on Differential and More Favourable Treatment Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (Enabling Clause). RTAs are classified into customs unions free trade areas and interim agreements leading to the formation of either based on the criteria of ‘substantially all the trade’ and ‘not on the whole higher or more restrictive’. RTAs formed by developing countries are afforded more favourable treatment. Article XXIV of the GATT 1947 and the Enabling Clause were incorporated into the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements together with a new Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) adds another dimension to these exceptions from the most-favoured nation (MFN) principle namely RTAs involving trade in services with similar conditions applying as to RTAs on trade in goods.
Trade in goods
The Council for Trade in Goods addressed a large number of trade concerns in 2015 reflecting its increasing role as a forum for airing concerns about measures policies and practices considered potentially discriminatory or trade-restricting. It also considered a number of waiver requests and took note of an updated and comprehensive list of notifications submitted by WTO members. The Philippines delivered a statement about the obstacles faced by micro small and medium-sized enterprises in participating in regional and global markets. Colombia presented the conclusions of a panel on illicit trade and money laundering.
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS)
The TRIPS Council continued its discussion on topics such as access to medicines for the poorest countries promotion of transparency and least-developed countries’ needs for assistance as part of its regular review of intellectual property (IP) matters. The Council also exchanged information on and debated a number of policy issues raised by individual countries such as national innovation strategies and the role of IP in fostering market-based innovation.
From afterthought to centrepiece: The WTO Appellate Body and its rise to prominence in the world trading system
Since February 1996 when the first appeal was filed the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has heard and decided 65 appeals from panel cases. The body of case-law generated by the Appellate Body over the past nine years is both in quantitative and qualitative terms impressive. From 1996 to 2004 the Appellate Body has issued twice as many decisions as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) did during the same period. The Appellate Body’s case-law is highly authoritative and has made a significant contribution to the development of international trade law. The decisions of the Appellate Body in for example EC – Bananas III and US – Shrimp have effectively put an end to politically as well as economically complex and sensitive disputes between WTO Members. Both panels and parties in WTO disputes have shown and continue to show much deference to the case-law of the Appellate Body. The Appellate Body is undoubtedly the most important organ of WTO dispute settlement. The Appellate Body is all but in name the World Trade Court. In recent years a few authors have accused it of exceeding the authority conferred on it and of engaging in judicial legislation especially in cases on anti-dumping and safeguard measures. More generally WTO Members after losing a case allege not infrequently that the Appellate Body has added to or diminished the rights and obligations of Members. This paper does not seek to verify whether this is indeed the case. These accusations and the ‘emotional’ terms in which they are often expressed are however clear evidence of the importance that the Appellate Body and its case-law now have in the WTO system. The key question addressed in this paper is what explains the prominent status which the Appellate Body and its case-law have achieved since 1996. Was the ‘success’ of the Appellate Body ‘predetermined’ by its constituent instruments or is it primarily the result of other factors that have affected the Appellate Body and its case-law in the past nine years?
Budget, finance and administration
The Committee on Budget Finance and Administration reviewed reports on the financial and budgetary situation of the WTO and continued its discussion of the Strategic Review of the organization which was launched in 2013. An Office of Internal Insight (OIO) was established in November.
Introduction and Summary
This Handbook is intended for readers wanting detailed information on the process of accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). It will be of practical use to people involved in one way or another with the process and with the negotiations on accession to the World Trade Organization. The Handbook provides the general reader with a basis for informed discussion and analysis of the WTO’s membership process. It first places accession in the context of the WTO. It then sets out the basic provisions governing accession before going on to look at the standard procedures followed and then at the terms on which applicants have acceded to the Organization. Finally its annexes bring together the main documents used in the accession process.
Budget, finances et administration
En 2012 la construction de l’annexe au siège genevois de l’OMC a été achevée ce qui a permis de réunir pour la première fois l’ensemble du personnel sous le même toit. Le Comité du budget des finances et de l’administration a régulièrement examiné la situation budgétaire et financière de l’Organisation les arriérés des contributions des Membres et observateurs la gestion des ressources humaines et la situation du Régime des pensions.
Dispute settlement activity in 2014
Dispute settlement had one of its most active years in 2014 since the inception of the WTO in 1995 with 34 active panel compliance and arbitration proceedings and six appeals. A highly anticipated dispute against Australia’s tobacco plain packaging requirements got under way. The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) which met 14 times received 14 requests for consultations – the first stage in the dispute settlement process – and established 13 panels.
The WTO at Ten
Bringing together articles by some of the leading policy-makers including previous WTO Director-Generals practitioners scholars of international trade law government officials international civil servants Members of the WTO Appellate Body and judges from a number of international tribunals this volume assesses the dispute settlement system during the first ten years of the World Trade Organization. It examines the relationship and balance between political governance and dispute settlement; the functioning of the dispute settlement procedures and various reform proposals; the contribution of the Appellate Body to the development of international trade law; and treaty interpretation in a number of international dispute settlement fora such as the WTO the International Court of Justice the European Court of Justice and the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The book has its origins in a series of events commemorating the tenth anniversary of the creation of the WTO dispute settlement system and the Appellate Body.
Los Acuerdos de la OMC
La presente publicación contiene el texto del acuerdo fundacional de la OMC el Acuerdo de Marrakech por el que se establece la Organización Mundial del Comercio de 1994 y sus Anexos con inclusión de todas las modificaciones y adiciones desde su entrada en vigor hasta septiembre de 2017. Entre ellas se encuentran una enmienda del acuerdo de la OMC sobre propiedad intelectual (Acuerdo sobre los ADPIC) destinada a mejorar el acceso de los países en desarrollo a los medicamentos el Acuerdo sobre Facilitación del Comercio de la OMC que entró en vigor en febrero de 2017 además de una enmienda adoptada en 2017 para ampliar los plazos entre los exámenes por homólogos realizados en el marco del Mecanismo de Examen de las Políticas Comerciales a partir de 2019 y el Acuerdo sobre Contratación Pública revisado. La presente publicación actualiza y sustituye a Los Textos Jurídicos: Los Resultados de la Ronda Uruguay de Negociaciones Comerciales Multilaterales título publicado por primera vez en 1994.