The U.S. has a new proposal to crack down on WTO Members who do not provide notifications on time:
4. It is broadly recognized that compliance with the notification requirements of the various WTO Agreements is inadequate. For example, the most recent report by the WTO Secretariat for the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures indicates that less than half of the WTO Members have provided their 2015 subsidy notification. ...
20. The Annex includes a draft Ministerial Decision that sets out proposed actions intended to improve compliance with, and the quality and effectiveness of, notification requirements in general, as well as under specific agreements. The United States proposes that Members consider adopting this decision at MC11 as an important contribution to improving the functioning of the WTO. If timing does not permit agreement to be reached for MC11, the United States proposes that Members consider continuing work on this proposal as a part of broader institutional reform post-MC11.
As set out in the draft Decision in the Annex to the document, the following penalties would apply to non-compliance:
5. That beginning in 2018, a Member that fails to provide a required notification under an agreement listed in paragraph 1(b) by the relevant deadline or has failed to provide any prior required notification shall submit to the relevant committee by 1 November 2018 and by 1 November of each subsequent year an explanation for the delay, the anticipated time-frame for its notification, and any elements of a partial notification that a Member can produce to limit any delay in transparency. If a Member fails to provide the complete notification within one year of the deadline, the Secretariat shall research the matter and, in consultation with the relevant delinquent Member, provide a notification on its behalf.
6. For an agreement listed in paragraph 1(b), if a Member fails to provide the complete notification within one year of the deadline and the delinquent Member fails to cooperate with the Secretariat so that the Secretariat is unable to obtain enough information to provide a notification, the following administrative measures shall apply to the delinquent Member:
(a) After one but less than two full years from a notification deadline, the following measures shall be applied to the delinquent Member at the beginning of the second year:
(i) representatives of the delinquent Member cannot be nominated to preside over WTO bodies;
(ii) documentation will not be provided to delinquent Member delegations in Geneva nor to the Member's capital;
(iii) the delinquent Member's access to the WTO Members' web site will be discontinued;
(iv) the Director-General will contact annually the Minister of the delinquent Member responsible for the WTO, or any other official at the appropriate level emphasizing the question of notifications;
(v) the Secretariat will report annually to the Council on Trade in Goods on the status of the delinquent Member's notifications; and
(vi) the delinquent Member will be subject to specific reporting at the General Council meetings.
(b) After two but less than three full years following a notification deadline, the following measures shall be applied to the Member at the beginning of the third year, in addition to the measures in paragraph 6(a):
(i) the Member will be designated as an Inactive Member;
(ii) the Inactive Member will be denied access to training or technical assistance other than that necessary to meet their WTO Article XIV:2 obligations; and
(iii) when the Inactive Member takes the floor in the General Council it will be identified as such.
A couple thoughts on all this:
-- Is this a sign that the U.S. is trying to improve the WTO rather than abandoning it?
-- Is this overkill and impossible for the WTO Secretariat to manage? (Bob Wolfe suggested this on twitter).
-- Why not just file complaints against countries who do not notify? (Not all of them, but the big economies that matter most).
