glossary terms wto

Amber Box Domestic support for agriculture that is considered to distort trade and therefore subject to reduction commitments.. Trade data conforming with national income accounting meth

Becoming a member of the WTO, signing on to its agreements New members have to negotiate terms:

— bilaterally with individual WTO members

— multilaterally, (1) to convert the results of the bilateral negotiations so that they apply to all WTO members, and (2) on required legislation and institutional reforms that are need to meet WTO obligations

ad valorem equivalent (AVE)

A tariff that is not a percentage (eg, dollars per ton) can be estimated as a percentage of the price — the ad valorem equivalent

Amber Box

Domestic support for agriculture that is considered to distort trade and therefore subject to

reduction commitments Technically calculated as “Aggregate Measurement of Support” (AMS)

Andean Community

Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela

anti-dumping duties

GATT’s Article 6 allows anti-dumping duties to be imposed on goods that are deemed to be dumped and causing injury to producers of competing products in the importing country These duties are equal to the difference between the goods’ export price and their normal value, if dumping causes injury

See Applied tariff

Applied tarif / Applied rates

Duties that are actually charged on imports These can be below the bound rates

automatic import licensing

when applications for import licences are approved in all cases

Balance of payments basis

Trade data conforming with national income accounting methods (the value of trade in goods and services changing hands between residents and non-residents sometimes without crossing borders); the figures for goods trade are derived and adjusted from customs data (the value of goods trade crossing borders).

Basel Convention

A multilateral environmental agreement dealing with hazardous waste

Berne Convention

Berne Convention A treaty, administered by WIPO, for the protection of the rights of

authors in their literary and artistic works

In agriculture, a category of domestic support Green box: supports considered not to

distort trade and therefore permitted with no limits Blue box: permitted supports linked

to production, but subject to production limits, and therefore minimally

trade-distorting Amber box: supports considered to distort trade and therefore subject to reduction commitments

Bracketed

In official drafts, square brackets indicate text that has not been agreed and is still under discussion

Common Agricultural Policy — The EU’s comprehensive system of production targets and marketing mechanisms designed to manage agricultural trade within the EU and with therest of the world

concentric circles

a system of small and large, informal and formal meetings handled by the chairperson, who is at the centre The outer “circle” is the formal meeting of the full membership, where decisions are taken and statements are recorded in official minutes or notes Inside, the circles represent informal meetings of the full membership or smaller groups

of members, down to bilateral consultations with the chair Members accept the process

so long as they all have input and information is shared See also “inclusive” and

“transparent”

counterfeit

Unauthorized representation of a registered trademark carried on goods identical or similar to goods for which the trademark is registered, with a view to deceiving the purchaser into believing that he/she is buying the original goods

Committee on Regional Trade Agreements

decoupled income support

Support for farmers that is not linked to (is decoupled from) prices or production

deficiency payment

A type of agricultural domestic support, paid by governments to producers of certain commodities and based on the difference between a target price and the domestic market price or loan rate, whichever is the less

de minimis

Minimal amounts of domestic support that are allowed even though they distort trade —

up to 5% of the value of production for developed countries, 10% for developing

Digits, digit-level (tariffs)

A reference to the codes used to identify products Categories of products are subdivided

by adding digits See Harmonized System

DSB

Dispute Settlement Body — when the WTO General Council meets to settle trade

disputes

DSU

Dispute Settlement Understanding, the WTO agreement that covers dispute settlement

— in full, the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of

Disputes

> More on DSU

dumping

Occurs when goods are exported at a price less than their normal value, generally

meaning they are exported for less than they are sold in the domestic market or country markets, or at less than production cost

exhausted if the product is imported from one market into another, which affects the owner’s rights over trade in the protected product See also parallel imports.

Export competition

In Doha Round agriculture: export subsidies and the “parallel” issues, which could

provide loopholes for governments’ export subsidies — export finance (credit, guaranteesand insurance), exporting state trading enterprises, and international food aid

When the nutritional needs of a country or population are met consistently This is

commonly described as when people or populations “at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy life” “Food security” and “self-sufficiency” are not the same, and a key debate is whether policies aiming for self-sufficiency help or hinder food security

negotiations under the most-favoured-nation principle

free trade area

Trade within the group is duty free but members set their own tariffs on imports from non-members (e.g NAFTA)

Group of developing countries set up in 1964 at the end of the first UNCTAD (originally

77, but now more than 130 countries)

Place names (or words associated with a place) used to identify products (for example,

“Champagne”, “Tequila” or “Roquefort”) which have a particular quality, reputation or other characteristic because they come from that place

Domestic support for agriculture that is allowed without limits because it does not distort trade, or at most causes minimal distortion.

Green Room

The informal name of the director-general's conference room It is used to refer to

meetings of 20-40 delegations, usually at the level of heads of delegations These

meetings can take place elsewhere, such as at Ministerial Conferences, and can be called

by the minister chairing the conference as well as the director-general

additional digits indicate sub-divisions into more detailed definitions Six-digit codes are the most detailed definitions that are used as standard Countries can add more digits fortheir own coding to subdivide the definitions further according to their own needs

Products defined at the most detailed level are “tariff lines”

import licensing

the need to obtain a permit for importing a product; administrative procedures for

obtaining an import licence

inclusive

Ensuring all members have input into a process even when meetings involve only some

of them In WTO negotiations and other decision-making, ideas are tested and issues are discussed in a variety of meetings, many of them with only some members present Members approve of this process so long as information is shared and they have input into it either by being present or being represented by a group coordinator The final decision can only be taken by a formal meeting of the full membership See also

“concentric circles”, “transparent”

Independent entity

Constituted jointly by the International Federation of Inspection Agencies (IFIA),

representing preshipment inspection agencies, and the International Chamber of

Commerce (ICC), representing exporters, this body admisters an independent review procedure under the Agreement on Preshipment Inspection to resolve disputes between

an exporter and a PSI agency

intellectual property rights

Ownership of ideas, including literary and artistic works (protected by copyright),

inventions (protected by patents), signs for distinguishing goods of an enterprise

(protected by trademarks) and other elements of industrial property

> More on intellectual property rights

internal support

See “domestic support” (agriculture)

International Office of Epizootics

Deals with international standards concerning animal health

The International Trade Centre, originally established by the old GATT and is now

operated jointly by the WTO and the UN, the latter acting through the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Focal point for technical cooperation on trade

promotion of developing countries

local-content measure

Requirement that the investor purchase a certain amount of local materials for

incorporation in the investor’s product

a system for granting “exclusive marketing rights” for the products whose patent

applications have been filed.)

MFN

Most-favoured-nation treatment (GATT Article I, GATS Article II and TRIPS Article 4), the principle of not discriminating between one’s trading partners

MFN (most-favoured-nation) tariff

Normal non-discriminatory tariff charged on imports (excludes preferential tariffs under free trade agreements and other schemes or tariffs charged inside quotas)

modality

A way to proceed In WTO negotiations, modalities set broad outlines — such as formulas

or approaches for tariff reductions — for final commitments

non-trade concerns

Similar to multifunctionality The preamble of the Agriculture Agreement specifies food security and environmental protection as examples Also cited by members are rural development and employment, and poverty alleviation

notification

A transparency obligation requiring member governments to report trade measures to the relevant WTO body if the measures might have an effect on other members

NTBs

Non-tariff barriers, such as quotas, import licensing systems, sanitary regulations,

prohibitions, etc Same as “non-tariff measures”

NTMs

Non-tariff measures, such as quotas, import licensing systems, sanitary regulations, prohibitions, etc Same as “non-tariff barriers”

nuisance tariff

Tariff so low that it costs the government more to collect it than the revenue it generates.Sometimes, a tariff that does not have any protective effect — some countries defend this as necessary in order to raise revenues.

nullification and impairment

Damage to a country’s benefits and expectations from its WTO membership through another country’s change in its trade regime or failure to carry out its WTO obligations

offer

In a negotiation, a country’s proposal for its own further liberalization, usually an offer to improve access to its markets

open-ended

In the WTO, meetings — usually informal — open to all members

overall trade-distorting domestic support (OTDS)

In agriculture, Amber Box + de minimis + Blue Box support See “box”

A “waiver” and pending amendment allowing generic medicines to be made under

“compulsory licences” exclusively for export to countries that cannot produce the

medicines themselves The system deals with a problem identified in Paragraph 6 of the

2001 Doha Declaration on the TRIPS (intellectual property) Agreement and Public Health

by removing a limit in the TRIPS Agreement’s Article 31(f) on the amount nations can export under a compulsory licence to countries needing the medicines

parallel imports

When a product made legally (i.e not pirated) abroad is imported without the permission

of the intellectual property right-holder (e.g the trademark or patent owner) Some countries allow this, others do not

Paris Convention

Treaty, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), for the protection of industrial intellectual property, i.e patents, utility models, industrial

designs, etc

peace clause

Provision in Article 13 of the Agriculture Agreement saying agricultural subsidies

committed under the agreement cannot be challenged under other WTO agreements, in particular the Subsidies Agreement and GATT Expired at the end of 2003

> More on peace clause

Member countries are encouraged to use international standards, guidelines and

recommendations where they exist When they do, they are unlikely to be challenged legally in a WTO dispute However, members may use measures which result in higher standards if there is scientific justification They can also set higher standards based on appropriate assessment of risks so long as the approach is consistent, not arbitrary And they can to some extent apply the “precautionary principle”, a kind of “safety first” approach to deal with scientific uncertainty Article 5.7 of the SPS Agreement allows temporary “precautionary” measures

price undertaking

Undertaking by an exporter to raise the export price of the product to avoid the

possibility of an anti-dumping duty

> More on protocols

prudence, prudential

In financial services, terms used to describe an objective of market regulation by

authorities to protect investors and depositors, to avoid instability or crises

The Uruguay Round Agriculture Agreement starts a reform process It sets out a first

step, in the process, i.e a programme for reducing subsidies and protection and other

reforms Current negotiations launched under Article 20 are for continuing the

Labour Organization (ILO), for the protection of the works of performers, broadcasting organizations and producers of phonograms.

> More on rules of origin

agriculture, and “transitional safeguards” in textiles and clothing.

sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS)

Measures dealing with food safety and animal and plant health

sanitary: for human and animal health.

phytosanitary: for plants and plant products

schedule

In general, a WTO member’s list of commitments on market access (bound tariff rates, access to services markets) Goods schedules can include commitments on agricultural subsidies and domestic support Services commitments include bindings on national treatment Also: “schedule of concessions”, “schedule of specific commitments”

schedule of concessions

List of bound tariff rates

sensitive products

In Doha Round agriculture (available for all countries): would have smaller tariff cuts thanfrom the formula, but with quotas allowing imports at lower tariffs (“tariff quotas”) to provide some access to the market

Singapore issues

Four issues introduced to the WTO agenda at the December 1996 Ministerial Conference

in Singapore: trade and investment, trade and competition policy, transparency

in government procurement, and trade facilitation.

special and differential treatment (S&D,

Temporary increase in import duty to deal with import surges or price falls, under

provisions that are special to the Agriculture Agreement

special safeguard mechanism (SSM)

In Doha Round agriculture: a tool that will allow developing countries to raise tariffs temporarily to deal with import surges or price falls

Higher import duties on semi-processed products than on raw materials, and higher still

on finished products This practice protects domestic processing industries and

discourages the development of processing activity in the countries where raw materials originate

Tariff line (TL in the tables)

A product as defined in lists of tariff rates Products can be sub-divided, the level of detailreflected in the number of digits in the Harmonized System (HS) code use to identify the product

tariff peaks

Relatively high tariffs, usually on “sensitive” products, amidst generally low tariff levels For industrialized countries, tariffs of 15% and above are generally recognized as “tariff peaks”

tariff quota

When quantities inside a quota are charged lower import duty rates, than those outside (which can be high)

> More on tariff quota

tariff rate quota (TRQ)

See tariff quota