Regional approaches, regional facilities get nod

Robert Sisilo
Ever since the Work Programme on Small Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) found its way into the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in 2001, nobody was sure if it was going to withstand the gusting tradewinds that blow along the corridors of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO)—the body that sets and enforces the rules of international trade. Nobody, not even the proponents of the work programme—which includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands—ever thought they would be the first to tame such winds, and become the first beneficiaries of any deal reached.

But as it turned out, we were wrong. After four years of protracted negotiations, the WTO General Council on October 10, 2006, finally gave the small islands countries in the Caribbean and the Pacific the right to designate regional bodies to assist them implement their obligations under the following WTO Agreements:

• The agreement on Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) - this relates to food safety as well as animal and plant health;
• The agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)—this seeks to ensure that technical, testing and certification procedures, do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade in industrial goods; and
• The agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which deals with intellectual property law in international trade. 
• And to put icing on the cake, the council also agreed for members and WTO to consider the advantage of providing technical and financial assistance to such regional bodies.

So despite the suspension of the DDA negotiations in July, the WTO is still at work addressing the concerns of small vulnerable economies that are not part of the DDA Single Undertaking where nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

And this is particularly welcomed at a time when negotiations remained suspended. It shows that progress in some areas of importance to small, vulnerable economies, may still be achievable.

While the council’s decision may appear simple and a small concession to many, it is in fact a valuable boost for SVEs who wish to use regional approaches and regional facilities to assist them implement and honour their obligations under these agreements.

Regrettably, there still remains very little understanding among WTO members of the capacity constraints faced by SVEs with small administrations.

In countries with populations of less than one million, the capacity cost of implementing WTO obligations is huge.

Take the TRIPS agreement as an example. It provides obligations covering all seven main areas of intellectual property: copyright, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patents, layout designs of integrated circuits, and undisclosed information (including trade secrets). The agreement also sets out the minimum standards that WTO members are to accord in respect to the availability, scope and use of intellectual property rights under each of these seven areas.

The task of meeting these obligations at a national level is just insurmountable.

Regionalism therefore constitutes the only way to ensure that these and possible future obligations can be effectively implemented by SVEs with very small administrations.

It provides them with the economies of scale needed to ensure effective, cost efficient and timely implementation of WTO obligations.

Since the end of the Uruguay Round, large amounts of technical assistance has been deployed to assist national authorities implement SPS, TRIPS and TBT disciplines.

But this has not been effective in SVEs because of the inherent resource constraints faced by these countries.

But now that WTO members have agreed that regional bodies can assist SVEs implement some of these very onerous obligations, this would give a very important signal to donors that there are cost-effective alternatives to national strategies of implementing WTO obligations.

But legal certainty, institutional understanding and an appreciation of the challenges faced by small countries are not the only benefits of this exercise. The confidence of foreign investors in regional markets, the cost effectiveness of pooling resources, and the political signal that the WTO is willing to consider the unique problems of SVEs and frame appropriate responses to address them, are all foreseeable consequences of the decision the council took.

It’s ironic that since the suspension of the Doha Development Round in July, the only agreement in Geneva is over small economies.

While for many this is a very small concession, for small islands countries it is a symbolic victory. For this is the first time they have been recognised through a change in law and practice at the WTO since the small economies work programme began.

For the Pacific Islands Forum Countries, this strengthens the Pacific Plan as it recognises the vital role of regional institutions in implementing WTO obligations and that technical assistance can also be given to regional institutions. The regional institutions should now establish dialogue with donors on how they intend to help establish and strengthen regional bodies to implement these obligations in future. Or better still, come up with projects and submit these to donors requesting them to help establish regional bodies on TBT, SPS and TRIPS or incorporate them as additional activities of existing regional bodies.

It’s just a start! A lot of work on SVEs’ other proposals that fall within the Doha mandate however remains to be done once negotiations resume.

The co-ordinator of SVEs in Geneva, Ambassador Trevor Clarke of Barbados, summed it up nicely when he told the General Council on October 10 that, “Today reminds me of the words of Astronaut Neil Armstrong 37 years ago as he stepped on the moon: “One small step for a man”. But on this occasion the giant leap for SVEs anxiously awaiting the resumption of the negotiations.”

• Robert Sisilo is the Permanent Representative of the Pacific Islands Forum to the WTO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The views expressed here are his own.