WTO General Council: Document Derestriction, High-Level Meetings

Volume

2,

Number

48

-

14 December 1998

WTO General Council: Document Derestriction, High-Level Meetings

14 December 1998

Meeting for its last session of 1998 last week, the WTO General Council had a busy agenda. Items of interest to BRIDGES readers included the High-Level Symposia on Trade and Environment and on Trade and Development, the review of the 1996 document derestriction decision, the appointment of the new...

EU Expected to Move on Bananas This Week

14 December 1998

The EU this week is expected to extend an olive branch to the U.S. in an effort to settle the two sides' dispute over whether the EU has gone far enough in its revised banana import regime to comply with the spirit of a 1997 WTO Panel ruling. The proposal could revive EU-U.S. banana talks, which...

OECD Talks on Mai Officially End

14 December 1998

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) December 3 announced, "Negotiations on the MAI are no longer taking place," officially ending three years of frustrating negotiations toward a Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). The end to ailing negotiations was...

WTO Dispute Settlement Review to Continue into 1999

14 December 1998

The WTO General Council last week agreed to the request submitted to it by the Dispute Settlement Body, to prolong the review of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) until mid-1999. According to the provisions of the DSU, the review should have been concluded by the end of this year, but the...

EU Applies Precautionary Principle to Ban Animal Feed Antibiotics

14 December 1998

An EU ban on the use of four antibiotics used in animal feed moved forward last week as the proposal won approval from ten out of 15 ministers to the European Commission (EC). (See BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest Vol. 2, No. 44, November 16, 1998.) EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler...

Mercosur Summit: Social-Labour Declaration Signed

14 December 1998

Officials from the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and associate members Bolivia and Chile) met last week for their semi-annual summit. The meeting yielded agreements on two sectors, sugar and autos, which have been the source of much internal...

World Bank Carbon Trading Plan Under Fire

14 December 1998

The World Bank has delayed - pending further consultation with non-governmental and other interested organisations, a plan to control the US$150 billion annual global carbon trading market. The World Bank plan details a scheme in which the Bank would charge five per cent commission on all pollution...

Japan Pressing Ahead With Rice Tariffication

14 December 1998

Japan continues to move forward with a plan to implement a rice tariffication scheme in spring 1999 (See BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest Vol. 2, No. 46 November 30, 1998). The proposed scheme would replace the current Japanese "minimum access" policy for rice imports, implemented as part of its...

WTO In Brief

14 December 1998

The EU last week renewed its call to use the WTO as the forum for harmonisation of customs procedures and documentation around the world. Canada offered support for the proposal, but the U.S. noted that existing WTO bodies could reach the same end. South Korea noted the EU proposal went beyond the...

In Brief

14 December 1998

Four environmental groups last week filed suit to force the U.S. government to apply the Endangered Species Act and the Environmental Policy Act to the 1996 Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) between the U.S. and Canada. The environmental groups argue that the SLA encourages overcutting in British...

Events & Resources

14 December 1998

• EVENTS WTO Meetings 15 and 17 December 1998: Trade Policy Review Body (Canada). For information, contact Lucie Giraud, WTO, tel: (41-22) 739 50 75. 16-17 December 1998: Working Party on Russia. For information, contact Hans-Peter Werner, WTO, tel: (41-22) 739 52 86. 18 December 1998: General...