Looking for a meaningful duty-free, quota-free market access initiative in the Doha Development Agenda
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Looking for a Meaningful Duty Free Quota Free Market Access Initiative in the Doha Development Agenda PDF • 0.69 MB Appendix 7 MB
WTO DEAL CAN HELP THE POOREST COUNTRIES
A new study shows that Doha market access promises to least-developed countries (LDCs) would be undermined by barriers to key exports. This groundbreaking report was released in advance of the Mini-Ministerial trade talks held at the WTO headquarters in Geneva during the last two weeks in July.
As trade ministers gathered at the WTO to try and reach a compromise in the global trade talks, one of the main objectives was to help the world’s poorest countries expand their participation in global trade through the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round. But, promises by industrialised nations to grant unrestricted market access to exports from LDCs as part of a WTO deal would be rendered practically worthless unless they cover all products, according to this new study commissioned by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. In this paper, it is estimated how LDCs’ access to rich and selected emerging markets would be affected by excluding certain products from liberalisation.
WTO members agreed in 2005 to make it mandatory for developed countries, and optional for developing countries, to give duty- and quota-free market access to all exports from least-developed countries (LDCs). They insisted on being allowed to exclude up to 3% of tariff lines from this so-called ‘Duty Free Quota Free Market Access’ (DFQFMA) initiative, in order to protect sensitive sectors.
This recent study shows that this exception could suffice to cover the small handful of products that LDCs make and export competitively. “In most developed country markets, 3% of tariff lines cover between 90% and 98% of exports from LDCs,” found author David Laborde. “The 3 % exclusion manages to neutralize the initiative almost completely in developed country markets,” he wrote.
Extending duty- and quota-free coverage to all products, however, would minimise the harm caused to LDCs by multilateral tariff cuts under a Doha agreement, the study found. When rich countries lower import barriers to products from China, India, Brazil, and the industrialised world, it inevitably erodes the trade preferences that LDCs enjoy in their markets. But with full duty and quota-free market access for LDCs, these losses are confined to a much smaller number of countries.
The study demonstrates that giving LDCs duty-free market access and simple rules of origin leads to export growth and diversification. As the Director of Programmes at ICTSD, Christophe Bellman, said, “Quite simply, duty-free quota-free access for LDCs works.”
4 responses to “Looking for a meaningful duty-free, quota-free market access initiative in the Doha Development Agenda”
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This is interesting that you have highlighted the major concern of the LDCs i.e. DFQF issue. Would you also provide some information on Preference Erosion, particularly the Para 30 of the Draft NAMA Modalities, where Sri Lanka and Pakistan would receive better treatment than Bangladesh and Cambodia? Is this violation of MFN or main spirit of Hong Kong Declaration
ICTSD has developed a Toolkit for TRIPs Needs Assessment. The Toolkit asked to analyse the domestic laws with TRIPs in respect of S&D provision, flexbilities and Safeguard. Would you please help us by mentioning which Provisions of the TRIPs Agreements mention S&D, which are flexibilites and which are the safeguard. This would help us to prepare our TRIPS needs.
I still don’t think that Duty and Quota free access to the Eurepean markets (on Agricultural products) will help poor African countries if the EU continue to support farmers with heavy subsidies
How can a poor country like Malawi its farmers benefit from World Trade while a farmer in the UK is receiving heavy subsidies.