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Letting the sun shine in at the WTO: How transparency brings the trading system to life

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  • Wolfe, Robert

Abstract

Without transparency, trade agreements are just words on paper. Transparency as disclosure allows economic actors and trading partners to see how rules are implanted; transparency in decision-making ensures fairness and peer review. In the first section of this paper, I discuss the logic of transparency in general and the motivation for its use in the trading system. Considerable information on WTO transparency mechanisms is available in the Minutes and annual reports of the various WTO bodies, and in the Director-General's annual overview of the trading system, but comparative analysis is not easy. In the second section, therefore, I develop a framework in which different transparency mechanisms can be compared to each other using the metaphor of three generations in the evolution of transparency in the trading system as a means of explaining how transparency works in the WTO. For sunshine to work, at least two things must happen. Information must be made available, and Members have to use it. Probing the extent to which Members comply with their notification obligations, in the third section, and their efforts to improve the notification process, allow an assessment of their commitment to being transparent. In the fourth section I consider how WTO committees are used to ensure that Members are accountable for their commitments, including to notify. Since the committees differ, I use the metaphor of the great pyramid of the legal order to compare committees to each other. Assessment of whether these mechanisms work underpins observations in the conclusion on whether more sunshine is needed, and efforts underway to improve existing mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfe, Robert, 2013. "Letting the sun shine in at the WTO: How transparency brings the trading system to life," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2013-03, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd201303
    DOI: 10.30875/1ddcf17f-en
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    Cited by:

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    2. John C. Beghin & Heidi Schweizer, 2021. "Agricultural Trade Costs," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 500-530, June.
    3. Robert Wolfe, 2013. "First diagnose, then treat: what ails the Doha Round?," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/85, European University Institute.
    4. Sofía Boza & Jazmín Muñoz, 2017. "Factors underlying sanitary and phytosanitary regulation for food and agricultural imports notified by WTO members," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 712-723, August.
    5. Possada, Kian Cássehgari & Ganne, Emmanuelle & Piermartini, Roberta, 2022. "The Role of WTO Committees through the Lens of Specific Trade Concerns Raised in the TBT Committee," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 411-431, October.
    6. Cathleen Cimino & Gary Clyde Hufbauer & Jeffrey J. Schott, 2014. "A Proposed Code to Discipline Local Content Requirements," Policy Briefs PB14-6, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    7. Wijkström, Erik & McDaniels, Devin, 2013. "International standards and the WTO TBT Agreement: Improving governance for regulatory alignment," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2013-06, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    8. Robert Wolfe, 2020. "Reforming WTO Conflict Management. Why and How to Improve the Use of “Specific Trade Concerns”," RSCAS Working Papers 2020/53, European University Institute.
    9. Bogetoft Pedersen, Peter & Diakantoni, Antonia, 2020. "Lessons learned and challenges ahead for the WTO Trade Monitoring exercise," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2020-03, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    10. Dirk Bièvre & Ilaria Espa & Arlo Poletti, 2017. "No iceberg in sight: on the absence of WTO disputes challenging fossil fuel subsidies," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 411-425, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    international agreements; transparency; accountability; disclosure; decision-making; notification; peer review; surveillance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law

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