Other
Issues
Notifications
Procedures and Obligations
 
The
main means of ensuring transparency in the multilateral trading system
is the notifications made by each Member and reviewed by the relevant
bodies of the WTO. The elaborate system of notification and cross-notifications
put in place under most Agreements, provides useful data in the lead-up
to negotiations.
At
the Singapore Ministerial meeting, Ministers noted that compliance
with notification requirements had not been fully satisfactory and
urged Members to renew their efforts. It is evident that many developing
country Members face problems with the expanded notification obligations
of the WTO Agreements. To address this, the WTO Secretariat has been
organizing a two-day Geneva-based workshop every year since 1995.
Additionally, specific technical missions on this issue have been
conducted.
Dispute
Settlement
Special
Training Courses on Dispute Settlement Procedures will continue
to be organized for Geneva-based Delegations at WTO Headquarters.
On request, these courses may be organized in the field.
Specialized
legal assistance will continue to be provided to developing
and least-developed countries, in pursuance of Article 27:2 of the
Understanding on Rules and Procedures for the Settlement of Disputes.
The
Trade and Development Website
Investment,
Competition Policy, and Government Procurement
Paragraph
22 of the Singapore Ministerial Declaration states that the technical
cooperation programme of the Secretariat will be available to developing
and in particular least-developed country members to facilitate their
participation in the new groups on the relationship between trade
and investment, the interaction between trade and competition policy,
and transparency in government procurement.
The
technical cooperation programme will increasingly cover these matters,
to provide information that will facilitate the participation of developing
and least-developed countries. Cooperation with other intergovernmental
organizations, in particular UNCTAD, will be required and the use
of outside experts. The focus would be not only on government officials
from capitals, through symposia, but also on Geneva-based delegations,
through events in the Geneva area.
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