WTO Reform
WTO Reform

Author: Teddy Soobramanien

Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat

Published: 2019-04-29

Total Pages: 101

ISBN-13: 1849291861

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The publication provides historical and up-to-date insights into how reform can be transformational and progressive in nature and broadens the debate by focusing not only on new pathways for decision-making but also on important issues such as the environment and the SDGs. Finally, it highlights the importance of keeping the multilateral trading system alive for the benefit of all states, particularly for small states, Least Developed Countries and sub-Saharan African countries. WTO Reform: Reshaping Global Trade Governance for 21st Century Challenges, is designed to serve as a valuable resource for government officials, trade negotiators, journalists, academics and researchers who are attempting to sort through the complexities of the organisation and the role they can play in supporting a fairer, more inclusive WTO and multilateral trading system.

The Appellate Body of the WTO and Its Reform
The Appellate Body of the WTO and Its Reform

Author: Chang-fa Lo

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-11-18

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 9789811502545

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This is the first book that critically examines the reform of the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in light of the current crisis resulting from the U.S. blocking of the appointment of its members. The reform of the AB is critical, as the appointment crisis could lead to the demise of “the jewel in the crown,” which may even cause the dismantling of the WTO as a whole. This book covers various aspects of the crisis and its reform. Specifically, as the crisis cannot be fully understood without reviewing the role of the AB from the broader perspectives of the other functions of the WTO, the book examines the reform of the AB from the broader perspectives of the WTO governance. Additional focus is on the reform of the AB in relation to its specific functions. Available options are provided to address the AB crisis, as well as discussion of wider implications beyond the WTO. Contributed by world-renowned academics, experts, and practitioners in the field of international economic law, this volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the AB crisis and its solutions.

The Doha Blues
The Doha Blues

Author: Kent Jones

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 0195378822

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The Doha Blues investigates the failure of WTO members to conclude the Doha Round of trade negotiations, focusing on the "institutional friction" that has developed since the Uruguay Round. The legacy of GATT traditions, new WTO rules, the expanding scope of the trade liberalization agenda and the expanding WTO membership, have combined to make it extremely difficult for countries to reach consensus. The book concludes with recommendations for improving the environment for trade liberalization.

Radical Overhaul Or Pragmatic Change? The Need and Scope for Reform of Decision-Making in the World Trade Organization
Radical Overhaul Or Pragmatic Change? The Need and Scope for Reform of Decision-Making in the World Trade Organization

Author: P. van den Bossche

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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In 2005, the World Trade Organization ('WTO') celebrates its tenth anniversary. While the WTO is thus still a young organisation, the issue of its reform is already the subject of much debate. In recent years the functioning of the WTO has been severely criticized by opponents as well as by partisans of economic globalisation and trade liberalisation. The opponents have argued that the WTO is 'pathologically secretive, conspiratorial and unaccountable to sovereign states and their electorate'. Partisans of economic globalisation and trade liberalisation have openly questioned whether the current institutions and procedures of the WTO are adequate to fulfill its mission of managing and regulating economic globalisation. After the unsuccessful Ministerial Conference in Cancún in September 2003, the then EC Trade Commissioner and now newly elected WTO Director General Pascal Lamy characterised the WTO as 'a medieval organisation' and called for careful reflection and consultation on the reform of the WTO's institutional structure and procedures. Earlier, in June of that year, WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi requested a group of eight eminent persons, under the chairmanship of former GATT/WTO Director-General Peter Sutherland, to study and clarify the institutional challenges that the WTO faced and to consider how the WTO could be reinforced and equipped to meet these challenges. According to Dr. Supachai, at the time the WTO was established there was 'too little serious thinking on whether the institutional design and practice that had served the GATT [the WTO's de facto predecessor] so well would do the same for the WTO'

China and the WTO
China and the WTO

Author: Deepak Bhattasali

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2004-07-09

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 082138371X

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China's accession to the WTO requires a great many specific policy reforms. However, if the best results are to be obtained, it is important that these reforms be implemented as part of a consistent development program, rather than simply by treating them as a recipe. To do this, policy makers must understand the range and nature of the policy changes required by accession, their implications for the economy, and the availability and effects of supporting policies. 'China and the WTO' analyzes the nature of the reforms involved in China's accession to the WTO, assesses their implications for the world economy, and examines the implications for individual households, particularly the poor. Its key objective is to provide the information that will allow policy makers to implement WTO commitments and formulate supporting policies to contribute strongly to economic development and poverty reduction. Individual chapters by leading scholars analyze the nature of the reforms in key areas, such as agriculture, services, intellectual property and safeguards and anti-dumping. These chapters form the building blocks for later chapters which analyze the implications of reform for the economy. The book also includes a series of studies that assess the implications for households, taking into account the social safety net policies applying in China, and the impacts of complementary policies in areas such as labor market reform and investments in human capital. Of interest to policymakers, academe and students studying international trade issues and to practitioners in the area of trade and development, 'China and the WTO' is a valuable addition to the wealth of information provided by the World Bank Trade and Development Series.

Redesigning the World Trade Organization for the Twenty-first Century
Redesigning the World Trade Organization for the Twenty-first Century

Author: Debra P. Steger

Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press

Published: 2010-05-06

Total Pages: 498

ISBN-13: 1554587956

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Two high-level commissions—the Sutherland report in 2004, and the Warwick Commission report in 2007—addressed the future of the World Trade Organization and made proposals for incremental reform. This book goes further; it explains why institutional reform of the WTO is needed at this critical juncture in world history and provides innovative, practical proposals for modernizing the WTO to enable it to respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century. Contributors focus on five critical areas: transparency, decision- and rule-making procedures, internal management structures, participation by non-governmental organizations and civil society, and relationships with regional trade agreements. Co-published with the International Development Research Centre and the Centre for International Governance Innovation

What's Wrong with the WTO and How to Fix It
What's Wrong with the WTO and How to Fix It

Author: Rorden Wilkinson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0745686443

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We need a world trade organization. We just don't need the one that we have. By pitching unequally matched states together in chaotic bouts of negotiating the global trade governance of today offers - and has consistently offered - developed countries more of the economic opportunities they already have and developing countries very little of what they desperately need. This is an unsustainable state of affairs to which the blockages in the Doha round provide ample testimony. So far only piecemeal solutions have been offered to refine this flawed system. Radical proposals that seek to fundamentally alter trade governance or reorient its purposes around more socially progressive and egalitarian goals are thin on the ground. Yet we eschew deeper reform at our peril. In What's Wrong with the World Trade Organization and How to Fix It Rorden Wilkinson argues that without global institutions fit for purpose, we cannot hope for the kind of fine global economic management that can put an end to major crises or promote development-for-all. Charting a different path he shows how the WTO can be transformed into an institution and a form of trade governance that fulfils its real potential and serves the needs of all.