Market access for non-agricultural products

Possible Modalities for Negotiations on Non-Tariff Barriers

Submission by Chile

Addendum

            The following communication, dated 14 March 2003, has been received from the Permanent Mission of Chile.

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Introduction

1.                   The purpose of this document is to put forward some of Chile's ideas on how to approach the negotiation of non-tariff barriers (NTBs).  These ideas have benefited from the discussion in the Negotiating Group on Market Access (NGMA) for Non-Agricultural Products on 21 February, as well as from the contributions by Canada[1] and New Zealand[2] and the NTB notifications submitted by a number of Members.

2.                   Any discussion on possible modalities calls for a clear idea of the scope of the mandate.  This is a complex task, for two reasons at least.  First, the wide range of measures that can be classed as NTBs.  If we regard NTBs as all trade measures other than tariffs, the scope for negotiation is almost infinite.  Second, the fact that – as New Zealand has noted – many of these measures are tied in with legitimate public policy objective.

3.                   The Chilean export sector has identified a number of NTBs which affect it in various markets.  However, the majority of the NTBs reported correspond to measures regulated by several WTO Agreements for which there is no existing negotiating mandate.  Again, some of these NTBs may correspond to measures inconsistent with those or other WTO Agreements.  Consequently, Chile has not deemed it appropriate to provide notification of these specific measures at this stage.

4.                   Canada and New Zealand have made a valuable effort to identify possible courses of action that will enable the NGMA for Non-Agricultural Products to fulfil its mandate.  Chile feels that both approaches are not mutually exclusive.  The first element common to both documents, and one which Chile endorses, is that NTBs – given their complex and varied nature – cannot be addressed through only one approach, but rather through several complementary approaches.

Possible approaches to addressing NTBs

5.                   We refer first to those measures which are notified as NTBs and covered by WTO Agreements for which there is no existing negotiating mandate.  This is the case with the measures covered by the Agreements on Customs Valuation, Import Licensing, Preshipment Inspection, Techncial Barriers to Trade, and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, among others.

6.                   Chile understands that it is inappropriate to negotiate measures such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph, either in the NGMA for Non-Agricultural Products or in any other Group, insofar as this involves the creation of new disciplines.  Agreements should not be re-opened if there is no mandate to do so.

7.                   However, various Members have identified implementation problems in some of the aforementioned agreements.  Such problems should be examined by the relevant subsidiary bodies, as this avoids any duplication of work and also allows for more efficient use of the little time for negotiation that is available to the NGMA for Non-Agricultural Products.  Furthermore, in this way the different problems are addressed in forums which are technically capable of solving them.

8.                   A second approach relates to the trade facilitation agenda that is under discussion in the Council for Trade in Goods.  A signficant proportion of the NTBs identified by the export sectors of various Members, both developed and developing, is found in measures which can be placed under the umbrella of trade facilitation, for example, consular transactions and charges;  excessive customs processing procedures;  excessive penalties for minor offences;  double or triple inspections of imported cargo.

9.                   Consequently, achieving a consensus on trade facilitation-related negotiating modalities at the forthcoming Ministerial Conference in Cancún would be a signficant step towards fulfilling the Doha mandate for NTBs.  Moreover, consensus exists between WTO Members on the advantages of more efficient customs administration systems, not only to expedite the flow of goods but also to promote investment and improve public policies.

10.               Chile is not proposing that any sort of formal link be established between the NGMA for Non-Agricultural Goods and a future negotiating group on trade facilitation.  We are merely emphasizing that, in the light of the available evidence, a signficant proportion of the NTBs reported by the Members should – by their very nature – be addressed within the framework of a future negotiation on trade facilitation.

11.               A third approach would be appropriate if neither of these two proves applicable.  The NTBs which are covered by WTO Agreements for which there is no negotiating mandate could be the subject of request-and-offer negotiations between the Members concerned, provided that this does not involve negotiating new disciplines.  The results of these multiple bilateral or multilateral negotiations, which could deal with specific measures, types of measures, or specific production sectors, would be included in the Members' new schedules of commitments and applied on a most-favoured-nation basis at the end of the current Round.

12.               We can clearly see the limitations of a request-and-offer approach in negotiations with more than 140 participants and with a fixed end date less than two years off.  However, this approach might be the only available alternative in the cases mentioned in the previous paragraph.

13.               Finally, there are certain new measures capable of being considered as NTBs and for which a negotiating mandate was indeed issued at Doha.  To take the Table of Contents of the Inventory of Non-Tariff Measures (TN/MA/S/5) as a reference, one example of such measures would be anti-dumping and countervailing duties.  These NTBs should be negotiated in the relevant negotiating groups.

Conclusion

14.               Non-tariff barriers are an important part of the negotiating mandate of the NGMA for Non-Agricultural Goods.  There are two elements which make addressing this part of the mandate especially complex.  First, the wide range of NTBs and the technical complexity of many of them.  Second, the fact that many measures identified as NTBs are already regulated by a significant number of WTO agreements for which there is no negotiating mandate.  Therefore, the problems which have been identified in relation to these measures fall within the ambit of either dispute settlement or implementation, but not within that of negotiations which could result in the creation of new disciplines.

15.               Again, the business communities of all WTO Members regard NTBs as a matter of great importance and hope to see concrete results at the end of the Doha Round.  This reality compels us to think of ways to fulfil our mandate in the face of the objective constraints that exist, one of which is that only 22 months remain until the end of this Round, a time-limit set by the Ministers at Doha.  In this communication, Chile has proposed some negotiating approaches that we feel would allow us to move forward in that direction.

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