Team Members: B. Argo and A. Pattillo*

*Note: The team members contributed equally and are listed in alphabetical order.

Blog Post

Lack of transparency within the WTO!

What does this mean for the future of the WTO?

International organizations can have high levels of inequity between member states. In the WTO this is especially apparent in the disparities of autonomy between members, which in turn harms transparency within the organization. Lack of transparency within the World Trade Organization is resulting in more countries refusing to comply with the obligations and agreements set by the WTO, weakening the organization and global trade overall.

For a state to join the WTO, it must have full autonomy over its trade policies and members must agree on the terms. This, relating to transparency, includes clear language and communication surrounding a member’s own obligations and agreements, understanding obligations and agreements of other members, along with this information being readily available in a timely manner, and freedom from the pressure of executive authorities in these matters. States lacking active autonomy, or the ability to properly translate their preferences into action, are failing to meet these guidelines of basic transparency (Charnovits 2004).

For transparency to improve within the WTO, information must be made readily available for all members to access and disperse regardless of their levels of development. However, more and more members are neglecting notifications. So much, in fact, that in February 2009, The chairperson of the General Counsel wrote to all WTO members to, “consult on ways to improve the timeliness and completeness of notifications and other information flows on trade measures”(Csukasi, 2009). Good efforts were made but some reports are still submitted late or incomplete, failing to meet the criteria for adequate autonomy and transparency.

This is the case for many developing countries that lack knowledge, data, technological means, and proper, stable government structures. As a result of their lack of autonomy and transparency, these members are often caught in multiple disputes. Guatemala, for example, has been a complainant in ten disputes since becoming a WTO member and has been a third party or a respondent in over sixty (World Trade Organization).

To remedy this, the WTO created technical assistance for members that have promoted some success, as the lack of widely available internet access and technology in these countries heavily contributes to and exacerbates their issues with transparency (Wolfe, 2013). However, not all states have the same governments and some have more impaired structure than others. Technical assistance in these instances is simply not enough to fully squash the problems with transparency within the WTO. To help alleviate this incapacity, notification formats should be simplified to properly accommodate all members. In return, the governments of developing countries will find an easier time filling out forms, and a lack of duplication hinders their time and autonomy.

An approach of simplification, along with technical assistance could increase levels of transparency, autonomy, and overall compliance of the World Trade Organization and strengthen the future of world trade as a whole.

References

Csukasi, V. (2009, October 9). REPORT (2009) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE  COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE (REGULAR SESSION). 

G/L/894. Retrieved from https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Search/FE_S_S009-DP.aspx?language=E&CatalogueIdList=135398%2C128619%2C119885%2C109576%2C97882%2C101822%2C78634%2C99029%2C66567%2C108779&CurrentCatalogueIdIndex=7&FullTextHash=

Wolfe, R. (2013). Letting the sunshine in at the WTO: How transparency brings the trading system to life. ms, School of Policy Studies Queen's University. 

Retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd201303_e.pdf.

“World Trade Organization.” WTO. https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_by_country_e.htm (March 1, 2022). 

Charnovits, Steve. (2004). Transparency and Participation in the World Trade Organization. Washington D.C.: Scholarly Commons. Retrieved from

 https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1432&context=faculty_publications