GATT APPLICANTS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON TRIPS, SERVICES

6:42 AM Oct 20, 1993

GATT APPLICANTS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON TRIPS, SERVICES
Geneva 20 Oct (TWN) -- The GATT Council appears to be anticipating a successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round and its institutional structures in a proposal on the format for providing information by countries seeking accession on their foreign trade regimes.

GATT currently has competence only on 'trade in goods'.

An outline format proposed by the Council Chairman for the October Council meeting calls for information on their overall macro-economic policy directions (now and in the future) and on issues that will come under GATT purview if the Uruguay Round is successfully concluded and the new areas like IPR protection and services will be brought under the purview of a new Multilateral Trade Organization or a GATT-II (that the US is pushing for).

At present, countries seeking accession apply to the General Agreement and the application is referred to a working party which is provided by the country a memorandum on its foreign trade policy and the trade regime, and also answer questions addressed to it on various details.

With the breakup of the former Soviet Union, a number of the constituent republics have obtained observer status and have said they would seek accession. Some of the developing countries not now members of the GATT have also indicated their similar intention, with some as former colonies applying GATT de facto, trying to do this by an automatic process.

The US has been trying to slow down the new accession processes, pending the outcome of the Uruguay Round.

The initiative for a standard format to facilitate the accession process was mooted in the Council by Brazil.

While the proposed format addresses the various issues relevant to the existing GATT, it also goes beyond in taking on issues still being negotiated in the Uruguay Round.

Under general information on economy and foreign trade, the new format would ask countries to provide information on main directions of ongoing economic policies, tactical and strategic goals of economic policies, including information on pricing policy, economic development plans, privatization etc.

The applicants are also asked to provide detailed information under listed topics in respect of their import and export regulations.

The new issues, not under GATT competence now, on which information is also sought include: industrial policy; financial, budgetary and fiscal policy; foreign investment policy; services -- banking and insurance system, securities, telecommunications etc; and protection of intellectual property rights.

Some GATT sources said that information in these areas in effect anticipates the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and bringing of these on board the new multilateral trading system and its institutional framework.

These last depend not only on the successful conclusion of substantial negotiations of the Round by its currently set deadline of 15 December, the ratification by the US Congress of these arrangements including the MTO issue, and the entry into force of the agreements. It also would imply an element of automaticity in extinguishing the old GATT -- even though there may be a long period of need for co-existence, given the normal time that countries take to ratify international treaties and bring them into force.