Modi Goes Back on Bali – No TF, Demands Food Security Deal by Dec 2017, Cannot Wait for Three Years Till 2017 Ministerial

Question Mark on TF Deadline of 31 July

Indian officials indicated late on Wednesday, 23 July that they would not be able to support the implementation of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) unless they see their concerns on food security addressed.

The 24 July meeting of the WTO General Council was a check-in point for members to discuss eventually concluding the Doha Round trade talks. Members have until the end of this year to negotiate such a programme.

The TFA was one of the main deliverables from the WTO’s Ninth Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia last December, and marked the organisation’s first global trade deal since opening its doors in the mid-1990s.

31 July deadline for TFA in Bali

Trade ministers had agreed in Bali that the General Council – the WTO’s highest decision-making body outside of ministerial conferences – would have until 31 July of this year to adopt the Protocol of Amendment that would bring the Trade Facilitation Agreement into the organisation’s legal framework.

By that date, WTO members would also annex Category A notifications – in other words, those commitments developing countries will implement immediately upon the deal’s entry into force – and open the pact for ratification by the membership over a one-year period, ending on 31 July 2015.

Once the deal is ratified by two-thirds of the membership, the TFA will take effect for those members. The agreement would then take effect for those remaining members once they ratify it themselves.

India’s representative told a meeting of the Preparatory Committee on Trade Facilitation that it would not be able to back the adoption of the Protocol until it saw more movement on addressing New Delhi’s concerns on public food stockholding.

After several days – and nights – of negotiations, the stand-off had appeared resolved when WTO members committed to undertake a work programme that would develop recommendations for a “permanent solution” on the public stockholding subject in time for the organisation’s eleventh ministerial conference, expected in 2017.

In the meantime, trade ministers signed off on an interim solution that would provide a “peace clause” preventing members from bringing legal disputes against existing public stockholding programmes in this area. Countries with such programmes would need to ensure that their programmes do not distort trade or “adversely affect” the food security of other members, and are required to provide information on said programmes.

India has revived a proposal featuring provisions relating to “special products,” where developing countries would be given extra flexibility to make small or no tariff cuts, as well as a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) that would allow developing countries to increase tariffs in certain situations.

WTO launches TF facility

In a related development, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo announced earlier this week the launch of a new initiative aimed at ensuring that developing and least developed countries (LDCs) receive the assistance they need to implement the trade facilitation pact.

The new WTO Facility, officials explained, would build upon existing efforts by other stakeholders, such as bilateral donors or multilateral agencies, in the area of technical assistance and capacity-building support.

Functions of the Facility would include, for instance, helping LDCs and developing countries assess their needs and identify potential development partners; providing support to identify sources of implementation assistance; and providing project implementation grants for implementing TFA provisions when efforts to get funding elsewhere have failed.

South Africa Calls for “Balance” on TF

The Facility’s launch was announced jointly with the coordinators of the African, Least Developed Country (LDC), and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Groups, in what sources say appeared to be a tacit indication that they are likely to back the adoption of the Protocol.

The African Group had appeared to back down from this stance in recent weeks. South Africa, which has also expressed concerns over a perceived lack of balance in the Bali deal, has continued to call for provisional implementation of the TFA. One developed country source noted that it is unclear what exactly South Africa is looking for, in terms of balance.

Whether members will try to salvage a consensus in time for the end-July deadline – or instead decide on an extension – is an open question