WTO Doha Made Easy for UPSC and MBA Group Discussion Interviews 1. Tariff barriers 2.

Non-Tariff barriers 3. what was happening before WTO? 4. Why agreements? 5. Annex 6. #1 Annex : GATT 7. #2 : Annex of GATS (services) 8. #3 : TRIPS 9. TRIPS =Trade related intellectual property rights 10. What is TRIPS all about? 11. Why TRIPS is imp? 12. Indias Problem with GI 13. Time limit 14. What is the Use of these agreements? / What are the trading principles in WTO? 15. What was before WTO? 16. so WTO is better than GATT? 17. India & WTO 18. What did India Gain from WTO? 19. DOHA 20. what is DOHA? 21. items for new negotiations in Doha 22. What was Indias Problem in Doha? 23. Criticism of WTO 24. Timeline Evolution of WTO Tariff barriers

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Tariff = A government tax on imports or exports When Indian Govt. puts heavy import duty / custom duty on Foreign Products either that import item becomes very costly so people will buy desi* items. (and there will be smuggling of foreign items! Like Gold watches/ perfumes etc in the 80s.) *Desi= domestic / indian This protects domestic players. (= industrialists/ businessmen.) from competition from foreign players. Non-Tariff barriers

When Desi players are given subsidies / preference over the foreign players by Govt. of India. For example, o when Govt. is buying some phones/ Xerox Machines, in the tender itll mention that only Domestic companies can fill the tender. o making polices in such a way that its hard for foreign player to start factory / introduce his product in India o Intentionally setting the Quality standards so high that certain players cant sell their products here. Here no tariff (=tax/money) is involved but still there is a barrier for foreign players. Thats why its called Non-Tariff barrier. what was happening before WTO?

Nations would put heavy custom duties on foriegn items. (to protect the domestic / Swadeshi industries)- this is calledprotectionism / Tarrif Barriers this all sounds good from patriotic point but When there is less competition products will be expansive & customer wont have much choice. for Example.. compareprices of Mobiles in 1999, with current prices!

features of current mobiles with 1999 (was there any MP3, radio,Camera, Color Screen etc features, if yes- how expensive was it!) talk-time plans (in 1999 it was about 7 Rs./minute + incoming wasnt free, now its around 50 Paisa / minute + Free incoming/)

Today we have this fun, because of globalization + import of foreign products & Govt. doesnt put high custom / import tax on it. (no high tarrif barriers) So, The Primary objective of WTO is to remove the tarrif barriers / Custom duties. = integrate all nations in international economy. For this, WTO will consult with all member-nations, and will make legally binding agreements. Why agreements?

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there are total 19 Agreements in WTO, but most imp. are 3. (ill explain it later in this article.) these agreements talk about what is compulsory & what is non-compulsory for each nation. And what will be the penalties if a nation doesnt follow these agreements. Every Agreement has an Annex- in that youll find the detailed provisions & items included in the agreements. The Secretariat of WTO keeps an eye on every nation seeing whether agreements are followed or not.

But there will be some bad-nations who wont play by the rules & try to cheat such agreements. So second objective of WTO is Dispute Resolution thats like an international civil court. Now see the 3 most imp agreements of WTO. See this chart Annex #1 Annex : GATT

Now another mimp annex of GATT is, SCM = subsidies & counter veiling measures (=the Red, Green & Amber list) see this chart-

Apart from this, shipment inspection and anti-dumping are also included in GATT annex.

#2 : Annex of GATS (services)

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#3 : TRIPS like I said ago, TRIPS doesnt have any annex! But TRIPS is very imp agreement in todays world full of technologies-so lets see whats it about t. TRIPS =Trade related intellectual property rights Its one of the agreement between WTO member nations. TRIPS doesnt have any annexes. What is TRIPS all about?

In short, under TRIPS agreement, every member-nation has to make laws and tough punishments for anyone who breaks / copies other peoples copyright / patent etc. Why TRIPS is imp?

otherwise, there will be wide spread piracy & then Inventors of 1st world wont invest / come in 3rd world market. there are certain items whose actual price cant be counted based on physical material used in it (e.g. Books are not sold based on number of pages/ cost of paper but content & fame of author.) so we cant apply GATT (which is for physical goods ) and Book is not a service either (so cant apply GATS) Research & Development.(R&D) it takes years and billions of rupees to make a new drug. but retail price of one tablet of that drug would be about 5 Rs. here, if the patent / copyright wasnt protected, then inventors will not invest in R&D.& then world will be deprived of better products. the GI (Geographical indicator) like Darjiling tea- only the tea made in Darjiling can be sold as Darjiling tea otherwise, Britishers would also sell their tea claiming it to be Darjiling variety and then our tea makers will face unfair compitition. Indias Problem with GI

Pakis also claim GI for their Basmati Rice. TRIPS doesnt talk about trans-border GIs. Time limit

it came in force from 1st January 1995. and according to its provision Developed nations have to make such laws within 1 year. developing nations (like India) have to make such laws within 5 years.

Least Developing countries (like Zimbabway/ Somalia) were given time limit upto 11 years (=2006) , but now the time is extended upto 2016 for pharmaceutical patent laws.

Apart from above 3 agreements (GATT, GATS, TRIPS) other 3 imp agreements are-(see this diagram)

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What is the Use of these agreements? / What are the trading principles in WTO? Without Discrimination a. MFN = Most favored nation b. In WTO, every nation is MFN c. So, if India grants a special favor to one nation India will have to give that special favor to all member-nations of WTO. d. India will have to treat locals & foreign players equally. (e.g. you cant have a system like Local businessmans file will be cleared first or local man will be given preference in contract / tenders/ 3G frequency allocation.) Exception to this principle 1. Group of nations can form FTA = Free trade agreements 2. Country can give special favors to 3rd world / poor nations. 3. A nation can impose high import duty/ prevent entry of goods from a nation thats doing unfair trade practices (like dumping* / Products dangerous to health**) 4. But there are strict conditions in WTO, before you can do above things. a. *Dumping =China intentionally sends extremely cheap toys in india, so Indian toy makers collapse and toy market in India is captured by China. b. ** Products dangerous to health like Chinas milk powder which had melamine. Freer Trade (bringing down barriers in international trade)

WTO agreements try to abolish following thingscustom duties Quota subsidies non-tariff barriers* (explained later.) red tape Artificially propped up exchange rates o like China intentionally keeps the value of Yuan low, so Americans will find it cheap to buy from China compared to other nations.) Predictability

When there are legally binding agreements between member nations of WTO- it means, even after change in Govt. (BJP / Congress / whatever) the Indian policy of international trades wont alter very much. This gives confidence of foreign investors because of Promise of stability (=Ceilings on customs tariffs.) policy environment is predictable.(= Transparency in trade rules) Equal treatment to Local players & foreign players. (=open access to markets)

binding commitments (WTO keeps an eye on each nation so Govt. cant cheat. And if you cheat- youll have to pay fines.) And foreign investment helps the domestic economy as well. Fair competition

WTO agreements prevent unfair dumping, subsidies, government procurement Economic Reforms to implement WTO Agreements, the 3rd world nations have to change their policies. = reform (remember the pre-LPG Era quota,licence,inspctor raj) What was before WTO?

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Before WTO, there was GATT. GATT was criticized for being Rich mens club Everything in GATT used to work in a manner thatd suit the rich nations. so WTO is better than GATT?

Yes, because of following reasons. WTO dispute resolution is quicker than GATT (disputes have to be solved within 18 months) in GATT, the bad-nation was free to determine its own penalty. but in WTO, bad nation has to pay high penalties for not following the rules. GATT talked only about goods (physical products) . WTO talks about services (phone lines, BPO) & Intellectual property rights, along with those goods. The working of WTO is more transparent. In WTO, every nation has one vote only. Unlike IMF where rich nations have more voting powers. India & WTO

First lets see what positive things happened then we talk of Doha Rounds and finally about Whats Indias problem in Doha rounds. What did India Gain from WTO? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. India got boom in exports because WTO gradually lowered Barriers internationally. our export was only $33.22 billion in 1998-99. right now Indias exports are worth more than $100 billion India won multilateral dispute settlement against such powerful economies as USA because of TRIPS, India had to adopt international standards in Intellectual property rights.= flow of Foreign investment & technology. 6. (because Foreigners established research labs/ manufacturing units in India & started selling their products here.) 7. Textiles boom (because MFA = Multilateral Fiber Agreement was scrapped under WTOs ATC=Agreement on Texttile clothings.) otherwise previously UK and other nation had put quantitative limits on Indian Cottons Entry in their market. DOHA what is DOHA? Doha is capital city of a small nation called Qatar. 4th Ministerial conference of WTO was held in that city in Nov.2001. and they (member nations) started talking about some new agreements & issues- and the talks continued.. so this entire package is called Doha round of talks. aka DDA = Doha Development

agenda. Fifth Ministerial Conference was held in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003. What were they talking in Doha? Developing nations were complaining that theyre facing difficulties in implementing WTO agreements. so concessions were given to them. 1. SPS annex added under GATT (hope you saw the previous diagram of GATT annex) i. a. SPS: Sanitary+ Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (on farm products) ii. b. Each nation can make its own Quality control rules iii. c. but theyve to be scientific. 2. Earlier TRIPS (intellectual property rights) was strict. a. now it was relaxed- and agreement changed saying that Laws should be made which supports existing medicines and public health interest at large. items for new negotiations in Doha 1. Multilateral environmental agreements 2. Trade barriers on environmental goods & services 3. Fisheries subsidies =they harm environment, by encouraging too many fishermen to chase insufficient fish the Doha conference failed because it ended with out any consensus.

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Members were divided on competition policy & transparency in Govt. procurements. First world blames India to be the main villain for failure of Doha talks. What was Indias Problem in Doha? SSM=special safeguard mechanism

its a measure designed to protect poor farmers by allowing countries to impose a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall For example, if USA sends so much cheap corn to India, that price of Corn become 50 paisa per kg. then India can put tariff barrier (= increase import duty on American Corn) so that prices become high again. otherwise, no one would by Indian Corn, and our farmers will starve. United States arguing that the threshold had been set too low. (e.g. if it was decided that if price fall to 5 Rs. / kg corn, then India could do this. but US wants that India shouldnt be allowed to act, unless price of corn falls very low, something like 50 paisa / kg.!) India doesnt agree with US on this.

Apart from this, India has insisted on a large number of special products that would not be exposed to wider market opening Like I said ago, more mobile companies are good. Because it increases employment. (you can be a representative of some mobile co. or if youve retail store, you can sell pre-paid cards etc. or you can start your own mobile repair shop and so on) But same is not true about agriculture sector, since 70% of Indias population depends on one way or another with the agriculture sector. So if cheap foreign items are allowed, then itll create huge problem for their employment. Its easy for each American farmer to produce tonnes of grain (and sell his produce cheap), because every farmer has huge farms, latest machinery, fertilizers & great seeds+ continuous water supply + subsidy. But same is not true in India.

However the problem of food-price inflation should also be taken into account. (= read editorials, youll face such topics in mains / essay.) More trouble for India NAMA= Non-agricultural market access negotiations European Union has threatened to approach the World Trade Organisation (WTO) again if India does not remove the inter-state tariff disparities. We want India to get rid of its taxes on wines and spirits in different states to allow easier access to European wines, failing which we will approach the WTO again, Criticism of WTO Mostly comes from environment activities. 1. WTO promotes industries, MNC (Multi-national corporations) a. But these MNCs sometimes are involved in bad things. Eg. They pay huge bribes to Burmas military regime for operating the gas lines, nickel mines etc. and employ forced laborers in it. 2. The infrastructure boom because of WTO (more foreign companies making factories in India) leads to habitat / bio-diversity loss & pollution etc. 3. Its hard to put barriers on imported items, thus the domestic industries face tough competition which sometimes ruins them. (e.g. its not possible for Indian Toy maker to compete with Chinese toys in retail price.) and yet not much the Indian Govt. can do. If they put some ban on it, then China will go to WTO, and WTO will impose heavy fines on India. 4. 3rd world has to open its market for first world product without much benefit in the reverse process. (=3rd worlds products lag in race in 1st worlds market.) 5. e.g. as you know in colonial era, when India was under British Rule, if we exported our Indian Textiles to Britain, theyd put huge import tax on it. Thus our cloths would become very expensive in their market. So Britishers would only buy locally made cloths from Manchester. This sort of protectionism in old times (almost upto 1995) = their companies made lot of profit during that era & had lot profit invested in Research and technology, so currently their products will be technically and in quality far superior than ours. So even if there is no barrier today, British people will buy their product and not ours. This argument runs on the same line like of climate change. America allowed its factories to pollute the atmosphere and thus became a developed nation but now, it wants the developing nations to stop polluting the world & cut their emissions! Timeline Evolution of WTO 1944 Bretton Woods conference, they wanted to make ITO (International Trade Org.) but it didnt happen. 1947: GATT (General Agreement on Trade & Tariffs) established It was criticized as being RICH MENS CLUB 1986 Uruguay Round of Talks Service & Intellectual Property rights related topics included in the debate 1993, everyone agreed on it 1994 (Marrakesh, Morocco) All nations signed on agreement & WTO was established

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2004 148 nations are members of WTO, covering 94% of international trade

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