News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, February 4, 2023
World Trade Organization members are aiming to make a final push this year towards their objective of reaching an agreement on ground rules to govern digital trade by the end of 2023. But despite the delivery of a revised negotiating text just before Christmas, there are still multiple obstacles to …
Negotiations on a plurilateral agreement to set global ground rules for digital trade are still moving forward – but the pace of progress is glacial.
Welcome back to our WTO Corner column! WTO members have begun follow-up work on some of the commitments set out in the so-called ‘Geneva package’ agreed at MC12 back in June. By Chris Horseman and Iana Dreyer.
WTO trade ministers have brought the institution’s 12th ministerial to a successful conclusion with a compromise deal on a package of measures on a TRIPS waiver, agriculture, fisheries and WTO reform. The deal, which has been christened the ‘Geneva Package’ by diplomats, also includes a 2-year extension of the existing …
The Global Services Coalition calls on World Trade Organization members to prolong the institution’s moratorium on duties on cross-border digital transmissions – and explains why.
The strictly ‘multilateral’ dimension of the World Trade Organization seems to be in a rut, with the postponement of the 12th ministerial conference having thrown negotiations on issues such as fish subsidies or agriculture into further uncertainty. But, postponement or not, WTO crisis or not, a large subset of members …
You don’t need a ministerial conference to take important decisions at the World Trade Organization. Despite the 12th ministerial conference not happening this week as planned there has been movement in quite a few areas this week.
An update on recent WTO developments by Rob Francis and Iana Dreyer.
News of agreement on the Joint Statement Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation were a highlight of last week’s World Trade Organization’s Public Forum. Given that full-blown multilateral deals look unlikely in the immediate future in the global trade institution, deepening the trade rulebook among selected countries is better than the …
Negotiations towards a plurilateral agreement on e-commerce at the World Trade Organization moved another small step forward on Monday (13 September). Parties found a definitive settlement on two more sub-chapters in the area of ‘open government data’ and ‘online consumer protection’. It remains unclear what type of deliverable negotiators will …
