Seattle Round

7/30/2019 Seattle Round

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TheWTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 was ameeting of the World Trade Organization, convened

at the Washington State Convention and TradeCenter in Seattle, Washington, USA, over the courseof three days, beginning November 30, 1999.

A week before the meeting, delegates admitted

failure to agree on the agenda and the presence ofdeep disagreements with developing countries.

Seattle Round


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The launch of a new round of trade negotiations that would have been

called "The Millennium Round", the negotiations were marred by poororganization and controversial management of large street protests.

Developing country representatives became resentful anduncooperative on being excluded from talks as the United States andthe European Union attempted to cement a mutual deal on agriculture.

The negotiations collapsed and were reconvened at Doha, Qatar, inNovember 2001. The Doha venue enabled on-site public protest to beexcluded. Necessary agenda concessions were made to include theinterests of developing countries, which were learning how to formtheir own powerful negotiating blocs. Thus, the current round is calledthe Doha Development Round.


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At the end of November 1999, Seattle saw major governments

meet at a WTO ministerial meeting to discuss various tradingrules. Seattle also saw free speech cracked down on in the nameof free trade. Enormous public protests ensued.

There were many differences in the perspectives of developingand industrialized nations on the current reality of free trade

and how it affected them. It resulted in a WTO failure to agreeon many issues, without adopting any resolutions.

Developing countries were sidelined and one delegate evenphysically barred from a meeting,


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AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP

WORKING GROUP ON IMPLEMENTATION

AND RULES

WORKING GROUP ON MARKET ACCESS

SINGAPORE AGENDA AND OTHER ISSUES

Issues covered in Seattle

Round


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The objectives of the negotiations whetheragricultural products should ultimately be treated thesame as industrial products.

Provisions for developing countries (to be discussed on2 December)

Further reductions in subsidies and protection.

"Multifunctionality" (how to deal with non-tradeobjectives such as environmental protection, foodsecurity, etc) and other issues.

A proposed timetable for the negotiations.

AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP


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Many developing countries expressed concern andcalled for action regarding :

1) difficulty in implementing certain WTOAgreements and asked for extension of deadlines inTRIPS, TRIMS, Customs Valuation; and

2) imbalance in certain Agreements and called forchanges in certain provisions of the Anti-Dumping,

Subsidies and Textiles Agreements. They supportedSeattle action on certain issues and for theremaining ones to be reviewed after Seattle andcompleted after one year.

WORKING GROUP ON

IMPLEMENTATION AND RULES


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The discussion broadly took two lines, although individual

countries emphasized different issues. One group favoured theultimate goal of complete integration of agricultural trade into

the same rules as other products, the total elimination of exportsubsidies, only providing support non-trade objectives throughpolicies that do not distort trade, and substantial increases inmarket access.

Another group said agriculture is different from other sectorsand therefore they rejected the ultimate goal of integrating thetrade into the same disciplines as other products. They said theycould not accept eliminating export subsidies, and stressed theneed to take specific account of "multifunctionality".


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The portion of the draft declaration on market access

(reductions in import duties, access to services

markets, etc.) contains a number of unresolvedissues, although the portion on access to servicesmarkets is less controversial. They include:

Coverage and scope of the negotiations whetherthey should cover all non-agricultural products orwhether some could be excluded (agriculturalproducts are negotiated under agriculture).

WORKING GROUP ON MARKET

ACCESS


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Non-tariff measures affecting access to markets (anti-dumping

measures, customs valuation, import licensing, rules of origin,safeguard measures, subsidies, etc.).

Differences of opinion exist on many of these issues.

How the negotiations should be organized.

How to address developing countries concerns one proposal isfor exports from least developed countries to be given "bound" zerotariffs in richer countries.

Afterwards ministers met in smaller groups to try to resolvedifferences.


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Ministers discussed two issues: investment and

competition policy. The Chairman asked whether

Members could agree to start negotiations oninvestment and/or competition as part of the roundof negotiations that will incorporate agriculture,services and other topics; if not, could they agree todevelop elements that might eventually be

incorporated in agreements on investment andcompetition and return to the question of whether ornot to undertake negotiations at the FourthMinisterial Session?

SINGAPORE AGENDA AND

OTHER ISSUES


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A large number of delegations called for negotiations tobe launched at this Ministerial Conference. Many other

delegations said the issue is not yet ripe, and that studyand analysis of these issues should continue in theWorking Groups on investment and competition, set upat the Singapore Ministerial Conference in

December 1996. Positions voiced today are very similarto those expressed in Geneva over this past year.


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In summing up, the Chairman said three points seemed tobe clear from Members interventions:

There was wide recognition that the issues of investmentand competition are important.

Because of the recognized importance of these issues,Members need to move forward on these issues.

This forward movement must be credible and notmerely an effort to save face.


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When a number of small economies refused to be

manipulated, marginalized and left out of the decision-

making processes and acquiesce in decisions cooked up in'secretive' so-called 'green room' processes;

When some of the other major developing countries 'refused'to pay a price to enable the Cairns Group of agriculturalexporters and the US to gain concessions from the EC on theagricultural front; and

When developing nations refused to be cowed - by some ofthe street protests and by the US administration - and said'no' to labour and environmental standards being linked totrade rights and obligations and open to 'sanctions'.

Seattle WTO Ministerial ends in failure


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Documents

Seattle Round