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Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (May23/02) Geneva, 5 May (D. Ravi Kanth) — India has issued a comprehensive proposal called “30 For 30” for improving the functioning of various bodies/committees of the World Trade Organization so as to bring about efficiency and effectiveness, as discussions on reforming the WTO gather pace, said people familiar with the proposal. While the WTO Secretariat has apparently paid around one million Swiss Francs to McKinsey & Company, a private management consulting firm, for transforming the Secretariat, it is public knowledge that McKinsey’s report has never been made public. However, McKinsey & Company, which was offered a place to work from the WTO headquarters in Geneva, went about bringing changes somewhat stealthily, leaving the Secretariat in alleged chaos, said several people familiar with the ongoing happenings within the Secretariat. India’s proposal (WT/GC/W/874) submitted to the WTO General Council on 1 May contains 30 simple and doable proposals (actually 34 suggestions grouped under various themes) that coincide with the WTO’s completion of 30 years of its functioning by the end of 2024, said people, who preferred not to be quoted. CONTEXT Recently, the European Union tabled a comprehensive proposal on reinforcing the deliberative function of the WTO to respond to global trade policy changes, including discussing issues of trade and climate change. The EU is currently intensely lobbying for its proposal bilaterally in the face of opposition from a large number of developing countries. Yet, the EU is apparently finding it difficult to secure support for its proposal from developing countries. The United States is yet to table any proposals for reforming the WTO, except on improving the transparency function of all the WTO committees, said a negotiator familiar with the discussions. It is in this context that India’s proposal for “incremental” reforms instead of transformational changes, as subtly suggested by some major industrialized countries assumes significance, said people familiar with the development. PURPOSE OF INDIAN PROPOSAL In its proposal, India says that the WTO will complete 30 years of its functioning on 31 December 2024, after the signing of the Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995 while replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that lasted between 1948 and 1995. Of late, the WTO remains somewhat derailed as one of its core pillars, namely the enforcement function, remains paralyzed due to the allegedly obdurate positions adopted by the US since December 2019. Against this backdrop, in relation to the WTO’s proper functioning and reform of the WTO, paragraph three of the Outcome Document (WT/MIN/(22)/24) of the WTO’s 12th ministerial conference (MC12) issued in June 2022 states: “The General Council and its subsidiary bodies will conduct the work, review progress, and consider decisions, as appropriate, to be submitted to the next Ministerial Conference.” “Beginning next January, as we enter the thirtieth year of this organization as the central pillar of the global multilateral trading system, we have a collective opportunity to demonstrate Members’ continued commitment to the work of the WTO, thereby strengthening its effectiveness,” India said in its proposal. Towards this end, India proposed to “galvanize the collective resolve of this Organization behind an initiative we have dubbed as “30 For 30″ – a Member-led effort to bring at least 30 operational improvements to the WTO before the Organization completes 30 years, i.e., by 1 January 2025.” Actually, India’s proposal for bringing about operational improvements to the WTO contains 34 suggestions, covering areas ranging from the functioning of the WTO committees, the allegedly questionable work done by the WTO’s External Communications division, to changes in the WTO rules and procedures among others. India has argued that the WTO would be able to showcase these 30 “incremental yet collectively very significant transformational changes on completing 30 years of its existence.” According to India, “the WTO bodies can benefit from operational efficiency improvement through interventions which may include technology adoption, cross-pollination of best practices amongst WTO bodies and adapting the working conventions in a way which benefit delegates in Geneva and in the capitals on a day-to-day basis.” India said that its proposal contains a first list of ideas to help start the “30 For 30” discussions, adding that the suggestions are a preliminary list meant to guide the discussion. While “deliberations on the larger WTO reform agenda are ongoing,” India said that the suggested incremental changes “could be implemented quickly, as developing a common understanding on these would be easy considering the nature of these suggestions for enhancing (the) operational efficiency of the organization.” It proposed that the Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division of the WTO Secretariat collate the list of changes implemented, and accordingly, “communicate to the WTO Members and external stakeholders on a periodic basis on this collective initiative by the Members.” India’s suggestions grouped by themes are listed below: 1. Theme: WTO Regular Meetings – WTO Meeting Calendar: India wants a yearly meeting calendar to be published, with all divisions of WTO working together to streamline meeting schedule with best-efforts attempt to avoid clashes including publishing of the dates for General Council meetings throughout the year by 15 January of the particular year, so that other bodies can plan meetings around it. “Additionally, the holidays on account of festivals and other events should be taken into consideration the sensitivities of all Members.” The proposed time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 2. Theme: WTO Regular Meetings – Annotated Agenda: India wants all WTO regular bodies to adopt a standard annotated agenda format, which remains an informal document, while taking into account the sensitivities of Members. The proposed time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 3. Theme: WTO Regular Meetings – WTO Committee Meeting Minutes: India wants the minutes of the WTO Committee meetings to be made available within 2 weeks of completion of a one-day meeting, 3 weeks after the completion of a two-day meeting, and 4 weeks after the completion of meetings longer than two days. The proposed time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 4. Theme: WTO Digital Tools – WTO Digital Tools Overview Session: India wants the WTO to “Conduct two overview sessions on WTO Digital Tools every year – once for the Geneva-based delegates and once for the capital-based delegates (learning from the practice set by the Committee for Market Access and the Council [for] Trade in Goods in 2022).” The time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 5. Theme: WTO Digital Tools – WTO Website Management: India wants the WTO to “Ensure that all WTO regular bodies have a standardized set of information on the WTO website, and each page remains uniform (not look different) and provide time stamps to enhance the authenticity and the credibility of the website.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 6. Theme: WTO Digital Tools – WTO Website Management: India wants the WTO to “Put in place a standard content management system, improving digital asset management, content management and change control processes for managing the WTO website.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. 7. Theme: WTO Digital Tools – STC Dashboard: India wants the WTO to “Create a Specific Trade Concern (STC) dashboard for Members (only for registered delegates), to check how STCs raised by and against each Member have evolved over time in different WTO regular bodies.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 8. Theme: WTO Digital Tools – Productivity App: India wants the WTO to “Develop a simple productivity app (Member Delegate Directory, Secretariat Directory, Meeting Calendar, Meeting Notifications, Meeting Room Booking) which is native to mobile platforms, to help increase institutional productivity and ease of communication.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. 9. Theme: WTO Digital Tools – WTO Website Content: India wants the WTO to “Develop a system that helps (the) user to search for Members’ positions in a particular Council/Committee based on parameters like year, and agenda items and compile.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. 10. Theme: WTO External Communication – WTO Reports Calendar: India wants the WTO to “Publish a yearly calendar for reports that WTO Secretariat intends to publish. The calendar can be revised quarterly as required.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 11. Theme: WTO External Communication – Disclaimer in WTO Reports/Publications: India said, “All WTO Secretariat reports prepared in partnership with external stakeholders should carry a disclaimer that the report is not endorsed by WTO Members and is authored on the responsibility of the Secretariat. WTO digital media communication on the reports should carry the same disclaimer.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 12. Theme: WTO External Communication – Public Forum Schedule: India wants the WTO to “Move the Public Forum dates to early July. So as to free up and utilize 2-3 weeks end- September/early October for WTO regular meetings (for widening the calendar window for regular meetings).” The time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 13. Theme: WTO External Communication – Review of Regular WTO reports: India said “WTO should institute a process to review the structure of all regular reports (Aid for Trade, Trade Forecast, etc) in a Member-driven process. This will help Members in re-evaluating the underlying assumptions and methodology, and also keep them relevant and non-partisan.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 14. Theme: WTO External Communication – Social Media: India wants the WTO to actively use and harness the reach provided by social media platforms. “With the proliferation of the number of platforms and their wide use by WTO Secretariat staff, the content disseminated and presented through these platforms needs to be neutral, objective, non-partisan, taking cognizance of diverse views of Members.” “Formulate a policy for the officials of the Secretariat with regard to their engagement on the social media especially in their capacity as WTO Secretariat staff”. The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 15. Theme: WTO External Communication – WTO News Scrutiny before Publishing: India said, “News items at times provide information that are factually inaccurate and partisan, not reflecting the discussions in the Council/Committees in (their) entirety. Therefore, there must be a proper procedure for ensuring balanced and factual drafting and accountability for the items reported.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 16. Theme: WTO External Communication – Transparency in WTO News Items: India said, “WTO news items published in media or on (their) own website make statements like “some Members agreed” or “some Members disagreed”. Such news items should clearly state the number of Members agreeing and disagreeing, rather than editorializing the text.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 17. Theme: WTO External Communication – LDC Experience Sharing: India wants the WTO to “Institute an annual LDC Experience Sharing day, where LDCs can present their gains made from trade and problems faced, so that they become inputs to ongoing improvements of the multilateral trading system.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 18. Theme: WTO External Communication – Member Driven Process for Identification of Studies Carried by WTO with International Organizations: India said, “WTO collaborates with other international organizations for various studies. However, Members do not play any role in either selecting such topics, identification of agencies for study, or the need for any such study or analysis of studies. These studies report often contain only select views and are released as fait accompli, thus creating distortion.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 19. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Geneva Hiring (and) Cooling-Off Period: India said, “WTO should institute a cooling-off period of 12 months before hiring any Ambassador and PR (Permanent Representative) to the WTO in any permanent or consulting roles in the WTO and for any consulting roles through third-party organizations.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. (This proposal appears to be directed at the manner in which former Colombia’s trade envoy, Ambassador Santiago Wills, who chaired the Doha fisheries subsidies negotiations, was expeditiously appointed as the Director of the WTO’s Council and TNC Division.) 20. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Binding Constraints: India said, “For the reform process to progress, binding constraints must first be identified and addressed under each pillar. The binding constraint is that constraint that has the predominant role to play if any outcome has to be achieved.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 21. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – One Step Backwards to Take Two Steps Forward: India said, “Outstanding issues are not resolved but new issues are added. Need to pause (and) resolve old issues before adding new ones.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 22. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Organization of Ministerial Conferences (MC): India said this format needs to be streamlined, taking into account the experiences gained from the previous MCs (Ministerial Conferences), including MC12. “Delegations had flagged a number of process and procedural issues with respect to MC12 organization and the WTO Secretariat was collating those suggestions. That collation could form the basis for preparing a standard and streamlined guidance document for the organization of future MCs. The Secretariat could consider placing the same before the Membership for discussion and adoption.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 23. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Reforming Green Room Meetings: India said, “The meetings held in the Green Rooms have come in for criticism for exclusivity. Process and modalities for Green Room have to be reformed.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 24. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Text-based Negotiation: India said there are two ways in which text-based negotiations are conducted, the texts are either proposed by Members/Groups of Members or by the Chair (which reflects common position/views), which is negotiated. “In the former, if the text is not stabilized, the positions of Members are attributed to them. Therefore, there is transparency of what a particular Member’s position is. The latter, however, does not reflect the position of Members and therefore is a non-transparent process. Transparency in text-based negotiations is sine qua non and therefore, positions attributable to Members always need to be reflected, whether in text-based or Chair’s text.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 25. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Adopt UN Accounting Practices: India wants the WTO to align WTO accounting and audit practices to the UN system in terms of auditor selections, procedures, and reporting. The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 26. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – WTO Bodies – Rules and Procedures: India said the WTO should undertake a one-time study to harmonize (the) rules and procedures of the WTO regular bodies, so that a common code of behaviour and conduct emerges for the WTO Chairs. This will help reduce the time and effort for Members to understand operational differences between different WTO bodies. The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. 27. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Review Work of “Facilitative” WTO Bodies: India wants the WTO to “Undertake a one-time review of the work of “facilitative” WTO regular bodies and explore opportunities for the reinvigoration of their work – e.g., Committee on Balance of Payments, Working Group on Trade, Debt, and Finance, Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. 28. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – WTO Documents: India said, “Undertake a one-time project to harmonize WTO document series across WTO regular bodies (e.g., M for Meeting Minutes, N for Notification etc.) Assign a revised symbol to old WTO documents where required and ensure that the search facility works for old as well as new symbols for a transition period – maybe 5 years – after which the new symbols should be used exclusively.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. 29. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Ethics – Refining Conduct Rules: India said eliminating conflict of interest is a core element of ethical code conduct across all corporate and government organizations. This needs immediate attention in the WTO, both in Committee’s Chair’s appointments and staff position appointments. The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. 30. Theme: WTO Rules and Procedures – Efficient Chairs Selection: India wants the WTO to “Publish appropriately a list of chairs of all WTO bodies since inception, so that an evidence-based decision-making process may be facilitated for Chairs select in the future.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 31. Theme: WTO Committee-Specific Suggestions – Time-Bound Work Program on Making Dispute Settlement Accessible: India wants the WTO to “Constitute a time-bound work program – say 3 years – via a General Council declaration on specific steps required to make dispute settlement more accessible for the developing countries, including the LDCs.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is six months. 32. Theme: WTO Committee-Specific Suggestions – Committee on Budget, Finance, & Administration: India said, “WTO, unlike other national governments and International Organizations, does not have a contingency measure to handle the situation when the WTO regular budget is not timely approved by the Members. There are proposals that have been under discussion to address this issue, but no decision has been taken yet. It is important that WTO Membership addressed this important housekeeping issue at the earliest, by adopting a provision that will keep the organization running, whenever there is a delay in adoption of the WTO regular budget.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 33. Theme: WTO Committee-Specific Suggestions – Capacity Building and Legal Assistance in Dispute Settlement: India argues that, “Capacity building in WTO law and dispute settlement procedures for national lawyers should be increased. For instance, there could be a separate component for dispute settlement in the WTO’s technical assistance and training program and after recommencing of the Dispute Settlement Body, a system of hiring legal assistants can be introduced. The intention is to provide high-quality, independent legal advice to panelists and Appellate Body Members. There can be various models which can be considered. For instance, a panelist can have the option to select her own law clerk, or the WTO can have a panel of law clerks who can be allotted to various panels.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 12 months. 34. Theme: WTO Committee-Specific Suggestions – Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM): India wants the current TPRM to be reformed in such a way that its revised format becomes an enabler for developing countries to frame and better implement trade policies, than merely as a forum to criticize Members’ policies. “This can be done by utilizing the intervening day between the TPR meetings to organize informal discussions between the Reviewed Member and other WTO Members, for a free and frank exchange on issues that the Reviewed Member wishes to take up with other Members, with a view to learn from others’ best practices in the area of Trade Policy. The use of digital tools in the TPRM process needs to be enhanced, especially with respect to (the) handling of the Advance Written Questions by Members.” The time frame for implementing this proposal is 24 months. In conclusion, India has paved the way for important micro- and macro-changes to be effected for the smooth functioning of the WTO and for bringing about overall efficiency. Surely, India’s proposal may not have cost a million Swiss Francs as was the case with the allegedly controversial work of McKinsey & Company, said a person, who asked not to be quoted. +
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