*{ http://www.foeeurope.org/press/millenium_round.htm 22 juillet 2002 PRESS BRIEFING World Trade Organisation THE MILLENNIUM ROUND } From November 29th to December 3rd 1999, Seattle will host the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This meeting will determine the future direction of world trade policy. In particular, it will consider whether or not to begin a new "Millennium Round" of trade negotiations. Although the Millennium Round is being promoted as a 'win-win' initiative by the European Union, there is widespread concern about the economic, social and environmental impacts of: existing WTO rules and agreements (particularly in relation to resource consumption, health, agriculture, employment, patents on life and intellectual property rights); and new 'Millennium Round' issues and concerns (especially in relation to biotechnology and investment). This concern is shared by many governments and civil society groups around the world and tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to converge in Seattle to voice their opposition to a Millennium Round. Trade disputes between the US and the European Union over bananas and hormone-treated beef, and the recent collapse of international negotiations to regulate trade in biotechnology products, illustrate the very real impacts of the WTO. A further row is now threatened over trade in genetically-modified food and crops. Friends of the Earth International is among the more than 1,100 groups, from 87 countries around the world, opposing the European Union's proposal to start a new round of negotiations. Given its track record, the scope and power of the WTO should not be expanded by including new issues such as investment, competition and government procurement. Governments meeting in Seattle should heed the voices of environmental, development and women's groups, farmers, workers, and churches and agree to an independent review of the global trade system. Trade needs to be both sustainable and equitable. *partie=titre What is the WTO? *partie=nil After World War II, a concerted effort was made to set up international institutions to manage the global economy. This effort resulted in the formation of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) - a set of rules governing international trade and a forum for agreeing cuts in border taxes/tariffs. Since the formation of the GATT in 1947 there have been eight ‘rounds’ of trade negotiations. The last and most important was the ‘Uruguay Round’, which took place between 1986 and 1994. This brought agriculture, services, intellectual property rights and investment under the umbrella of the WTO. It also focused on the removal of "non-tariff barriers" (NTBs), which can include environmental and health standards. The Uruguay Round also led to the formation of the WTO, a recognised intergovernmental body responsible for monitoring and enforcing the new set of global trade rules known as World Trade Agreement (WTA). The WTO currently has 134 members. China is negotiating with a view to joining before the meeting in Seattle. *partie=titre How does the WTO work? *partie=nil The WTO's highest decision-making body is the Ministerial Meeting which is scheduled to take place every two years. Between Ministerials the WTO is run by its General Council comprised of ambassadors from the member states. The ambassadors and the WTO's secretariat are based in Geneva. The WTO’s main functions are: • administering the WTA; • providing a forum for trade liberalisation negotiations; • handling trade disputes; and • monitoring national trade policies. In practice, the most important of these is the dispute settlement system, which is legally binding and which allows for financial retaliation by states whose rights have been infringed. This is what gives the WTO its power. *partie=titre What’s wrong with the WTO? *partie=nil The aim of the WTO is to deregulate international trade. WTO rules therefore seek to limit the ability of Government to impose either tariff or non-tariff barriers to trade between member states. This approach is based on the belief that 'free' trade will benefit all countries and that resulting wealth will 'trickle-down' to all sectors of society. However, these assumptions are wrong. The theory of comparative advantage has been debunked by a number of eminent economists; and the global gap between the richest and poorest continues to increase. Job security and employment rights are also diminishing, as companies and capital move with increasing ease between countries. WTO agreements on agriculture and intellectual property rights have had particularly dramatic impacts on farmers and rural and indigenous communities around the world. The WTO's Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) is heavily biased in favour of agribusiness and large farms, particularly in the richest countries. Small farmers in the North and the South have suffered as a result of the AoA, and the rights and respected traditions of communities that have bred locally-appropriate crop varieties are blatantly disregarded. Instead the TRIPs agreement attempts to impose intellectual property systems that threaten the culture and livelihoods of such communities. Negotiations to remove non-tariff barriers (NTBs) can also have wide-ranging environmental impacts, since NTBs can be held to include many national and international health and environmental safeguards. Examples are: international conventions on ozone depleting products (the Montreal Protocol), trade in endangered species (CITES) and Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste (Basel Convention) food safety regulations controls on tropical timber imports minimum recycling standards The WTA includes an agreement on "Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards" (SPS), which constrains governments' ability to impose domestic environmental and public health controls. On the basis of the SPS agreement, the WTO refused to back EU action to restrict imports of US hormone-treated beef, despite growing concerns over public health implications. The US has also blocked progress on a "Biosafety Protocol" to the Biodiversity Convention (which was intended to allow states to place certain restrictions on trade in genetically-modified organisms) partly because some other governments refused to acknowledge that WTO rules should govern the Protocol. The WTO is not an equal club. It is heavily biased in favour of rich and powerful countries, and in favour of the interests of multinational corporations. Most trade negotiations are conducted in secrecy. Agreements are frequently made between developed countries (particularly the 'Quads' - Canada, the EU, Japan and the US) and then presented as a fait accompli to others. In effect, developing countries often face an ultimatum - accept an agreed package of trade proposals or face isolation in the global economy. Earlier this year, the major US banana multinational Chiquita - whose bananas are grown mainly in Latin America - gave a $500,000 donation to the US Democratic Party. The US Government subsequently lodged a complaint with the WTO about the EU’s banana import regime, which favours poor growers in the Caribbean. The Seattle Host Organisation (SHO), an industry-led group responsible for the logistics of the Seattle meeting, has been selling access to ministers in return for high levels of sponsorship for the Seattle Ministerial. The SHO is chaired by Bill Gates of Microsoft and Phil Condit of Boeing. In Europe, the principal losers from world trade rules are small farmers (disadvantaged by subsidies that favour larger farms); workers (whose job security and employment rights are being continuously eroded); small businesses (who are required to compete with large transnationals and who may be subject to trade sanctions); and consumers (who are increasingly under pressure to accept food and other imports they do not want). *partie=titre What is the Millennium Round? *partie=nil The Millennium Round is an attempt to begin another "comprehensive round" of trade negotiations, which would add new issues to the WTO’s existing rules and remit. A certain number of negotiations have already been planned, including agriculture, services, investments, standards and intellectual property rights (most of which are likely to be highly controversial, potentially leading to further reform of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy; and the deregulation of education, health and water services, for example). The new issues are in addition to these 'built-in agenda' items. The Millennium Round proposal was initiated by the EU, with support from Japan, Canada and some Latin American countries. The intention is to push for even more "deregulation" in a number of areas, including: foreign direct investment government procurement competition policy trade facilitation electronic commerce Investment discussions could focus on removing the controls that governments place on inward investment, including joint venture requirements. This could hit developing countries, as could restrictive rules on government procurement (in many of the poorest developing countries, governments are the main economic agents). The deregulation of government procurement also has the potential to constrain local authority purchasing decisions. The EU want to discuss environmental issues in the Millennium Round, and the US wants to discuss minimum labour standards. However, many experts predict that these plans will either be dropped in the course of negotiations or used to enforce the primacy of global trade rules over all other legislation on environmental and employment standards. The US administration also appears to be seeking to score a PR success with Congress, before the Seattle Ministerial, by getting agreement on liberalising trade in "forest products". This news has been greeted with horror by campaigners to save the world’s dwindling old forests. Any attempt to restrict "non tariff barriers" to the wood trade could hit the Forest Stewardship Council and its certification scheme, currently the only reliable guarantee that wood products are from sustainable sources. *partie=titre Can the Millennium Round be stopped? *partie=nil Yes. A number of Governments have made clear their opposition to bringing any new issues into the WTO as part of a Millennium Round. These include Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Pakistan and various Southern African countries. The US Congress may fail to give the fast-track negotiating authority needed for agreement. France has made it quite clear that it will not give up its 'cultural exemption' under any circumstances. NGOs across the world played a key role in stopping the attempt to reach agreement on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which would have sharply restricted the right of Governments to place environmental or social conditions on inward investment. At least 1,100 NGOs from 87 countries around the world have signed a statement opposing the Millennium Round. (The statement can be viewed at http://www.foeeurope.org/trade/about.htm) Friends of the Earth wants to see a major review of the existing world trade rules, with a view to making them environmentally sustainable and socially fair. There should be no new issues such as investment, competition and government procurement and no Millennium Round. In addition, Friends of the Earth International is calling on governments to: prevent local, national and international environmental and social laws from being weakened because of trade rules; agree to a moratorium on WTO challenges to environmental protection and health standards until the precautionary principle and the need for high environmental and social standards is recognised; state that multilateral environmental agreements to take precedence over WTO rules; oppose the patenting of life; improve democracy and transparency in the trade system; and in parallel, reject export-led development policies, forgive bilateral debt and agree to substantial multilateral debt forgiveness for the poorest countries by the year 2000. Friends of the Earth International will be in Seattle throughout the Ministerial meeting. We can be contacted at any time for advice, news and opinion on the WTO and the Millennium Round. *{ Contacts: Ronnie Hall, Friends of the Earth International, +44- 171 490 2665 (London), +44-7967 17281 (mobile) Alexandra Wandel, Friends of the Earth Europe, +32-2-5420185 (Brussels) Ian Willmore, Press officer: +44-171 566 1648 (London), +44-0385 236 974 (mobile) }