Peter Ungphakorn (also @coppetainpu.bsky.social) Profile picture
Mainly trade stuff. Journalist. WTO Secretariat 1996-2015. Usual disclaimers on RT etc. Member: https://t.co/rT8p25bU4a https://t.co/uEajzJ5YfZ @coppetainpu.bsky.social

Nov 12, 2021, 7 tweets

18 days until the WTO Ministerial Conference starts, a slew of new/revised drafts have arrived.

1. TRANSPARENCY IN ROUTINE WTO WORK—notifications and discussion in the committees.

A proposed General Council decision but it comes under “WTO reform”

1/7 docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/S…

The proposal: improve transparency to help the system work better

New—Iceland, Paraguay now in; minor changes

Consensus seems unlikely for now. China, India, most developing countries are not on board, many complaining they are already over-burdened

2/7 docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/S…

If ministers agree to set up a working group to look at #WTOreform, then this would be part of the discussion.

The EU has proposed setting one up.

USTR @AmbassadorTai has called for discussions at the ministerial conference and after

3/7 insidetrade.com/share/172631

2. SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES (SPS)—food safety and animal/plant health

A group of countries—now adding Ukraine—is proposing a ministerial declaration on “responding to modern SPS challenges”.

Much of this is uncontroversial, but …

4/7 docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/S…

… Notably absent—EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, UK.

Why? Perhaps this bit ⬇️ about “science” often used as an attack on the Europeans’ “precaution-first” approach. Think hormones in beef, ractopamine in meat, etc

China, India, etc, also absent

5/7 docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/S…

3. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE—repeating previous declarations, to continue working, while electronic transmissions (downloads, streaming) would stay duty-free.

Not to be confused with separate talks on digital trade among a sub-set of WTO members.

6/7 docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/S…

4. TRADE FACILITATION—a proposed ministerial decision on “deep and robust implementation” of the WTO agreement, including “further disciplines and flexibilities” to deal with future crises.

From: Costa Rica, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Uruguay, US

7/7 docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/S…

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