WTO Ministerial Section • Volume 2 • Number 19 • 25th May 1998

Public participation / global governance / WTO parliament

Do More

Subscribe to Bridges

* required

Email Address: *

Country: *
Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua And Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas, The Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democractic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia (Hrvatska) Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Islands Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia, The Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong S.A.R. Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Korea, North Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau S.A.R. Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, The New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua new Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Island Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts And Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent And The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad And Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks And Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State (Holy See) Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (US) Wallis And Futuna Islands Yemen Yugoslavia Zambia Zimbabwe

Employment Sector: *

First Name:

Last Name:

Organisation:

Enter the letters shown above:*

See also

A workshop convened by the Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations examined the initiative of establishing a WTO Parliament in the light of the trade body’s increasing role as a ‘focal point of global governance’. While participants agreed that a legislative structure along the lines of the European Parliament was a distant goal, they concluded that there was scope for approaching parliaments in several countries through national NGOs, with the aim eventually garnering government support for the concept. Contacting international associations of parliamentarians might offer another avenue. Short of a parliament with legislative powers, an interim goal might be to form a parliamentary group with just an advisory role. Some participants voiced concern over NGO representation if the WTO were to rely on the parliament only for interaction with civil society. Calling the project ‘interesting but ambitious’, a government representative pointed out the difficulty of gathering the necessary resources to support the meetings and infrastructure needs of a dynamic parliament. One participant proposed that a ‘cross-cutting’ parliament could monitor other multilateral commitments besides the WTO.

During the Ministerial Meeting and the 50 Year Anniversary celebrations, many calls for increased interaction between the WTO and civil society were made by government and inter-governmental leaders ranging from President Clinton to Renato Ruggiero. On their side, NGOs held several meetings around the issue, resulting in a decision to develop a collective message on transparency in the WTO, to be forwarded to the General Council before it takes up the review of the WTO’s document restriction policy on 18 July. Participating organisations will offer their input and disseminate the proposed message to their constituencies prior to finalising the text. (For participation in a proposed consultation process aimed at the production of this collective message, please contact Miguel Jimenez- Pont at ICTSD)

In addition to a more expedient and transparent document distribution system, access to WTO dispute settlement proceedings through open hearings and submissions such as amicus briefs has been a priority for many citizen’s groups for a number years. As the US has announced its intent to seek such changes during the upcoming review of the Dispute Settlement Understanding, several civil society groups now feel there is a window of opportunity for significant changes. However, support from all WTO member governments must be sought.

Another much-discussed point was possible permanent NGO accreditation to the WTO along the lines of many UN agencies. It was generally felt that such accreditation would offer a more equitable solution prior to setting up a standing consultative mechanism such as the proposed contact group consisting of representatives of the WTO Secretariat, member states and NGOs. The WTO currently grants observer status to other intergovernmental bodies who request it, but accredits non- governmental organisations only for specific events such as the Ministerial Meetings or consultations on the Secretariat’s initiative. Even then, the secretariat is not under an obligation to arrange such consultations. The current WTO accreditation system only applies to the event at hand and the criteria remain ad-hoc and, by and large, vague. Several models from the UN system were examined as a basis for NGO-WTO relations. Many NGOs made the point that it was now up to the Secretariat to produce a policy and a scheme for developing and implementing Article V of the agreement Establishing the WTO which calls for relations with non-governmental organizations. Participants also highlighted the contrast between the sound and democractic proposals for public participation contained in the original Havana Charter (the 1948 document creating the International Trade Organization out of which the GATT/WTO system was born) and the undisputedly closed nature of today’s system.