Implementation
issues
- Special and differential treatment for developing countries:
For some months now, India has been articulating the view that special and differential
provision of WTO Agreements for developing countries should be more clearly defined and
implemented fully by the developed countries, so that the full benefits of the
multilateral trading system accrue to the developing countries. For creating a consensus
on this issue in the WTO, a Symposium of G-15 Group was also held in New Delhi on 10-11
December 1998. Specific examples have been cited by India to show that intentions of the
negotiators have not been translated into practice: In respect of the Agreement on
Textiles and Clothing (ATC), while the provisions have been implemented in letter,
meaningful market access has not accrued to the developing countries. Another example
relates to Article XVIII:B of the GATT’94 dealing with Quantitative Restrictions on
Imports maintained by developing countries for BOP considerations, which is distinguished
from Article XII by the fact that it explicitly provides for assessment of the adequacy of
foreign exchange reserves after taking into account the long-term development needs of a
developing country. In actual practice, however, Article XVIII:B and Article XII are
treated similarly. Again, Article 15 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of
GATT (1994), which related to anti-dumping, urges developed countries to seek constructive
remedies before imposing Anti-dumping measures against developing countries. In actual
practice, anti-dumping measures are virtually being used by certain developed countries to
deny access to the products of developing countries, with repeated anti-dumping
proceedings being initiated on the same commodity, as with some textile export items in
the EU. Similarly, the injunctions to advanced countries contained in Article 10 of the
Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and that contained in Article 12 of the
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade for taking into account the special needs of
developing countries in their formulation and application of standards, are hardly ever
honoured in implementation. Similar insenstitivity to the constraints of the developing
countries mark the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, which considers
non-actionable the subsidies used by developed countries, but considers actionable the
kinds of subsidies usually deployed by developing countries for development,
diversification and upgradation of their industry. The Understanding on the Settlement of
Disputes is another instrument where provisions for special and more favourable treatment
of developing countries remain at the level of ‘best endeavour’ type of
provisions. There is no way to ensure that preferential treatment is accorded to
developing countries in practice. India has emphasised that procedures must be developed
to make sure that the interests of developing countries are protected and that developed
countries do not use dispute settlement proceedings as instruments for coercion of less
privileged member countries.
- Other implementation issues highlighted by India related to
food security concerns of developing countries like India vis-a-vis the Agreement on
Agriculture; concerns about Unilateral Trade Restrictions imposed by countries which are
inconsistent with their WTO obligations; provisions relating to Regional Trading
Arrangements that are tending to threaten the thrust towards global free trade; imbalances
in the TRIPs Agreement; the question of transfer of technology at fair and reasonable cost
in the context of Trade and Environment, the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade, and also in connection with the new subject of
Electronic Commerce; national regulations on rules of origin threatening the market access
of developing countries particularly in the area of textiles; the pressure on developing
countries to liberalise areas of interest to the industrialised world, while delaying
meaningful market access in areas of comparative advantage to developing countries, such
as Textiles and on the matter of movement of professionals and skilled personnel.
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