Activities Relating to the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

During the year 2006-2007, the WTO Membership increased to 150, with Viet Nam joining the WTO on 11 January 2007.

The Doha Round, which was launched in November 2001, achieved an important milestone with the Declaration issued at the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the WTO held in Hong Kong (China) in December 2005 wherein the WTO members agreed to establish modalities for agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) and to conclude the negotiations across all areas of the Doha Round by 2006 end. In respect of services, all Members were to file their revised offers and submit the draft Schedules by 31 October 2006. However, despite holding intensive negotiations, these deadlines could not be met.

The intensive discussions through January to July 2006 had focused mainly on the triangular issues of Domestic Support, Agricultural Market Access (AMA), and NAMA. During the last Ministerial meeting of the G-6 (Australia, Brazil, EU, Japan, India, and the US) held in July 2006, although

Hon'ble Commerce & Industry Minister addressing the International Conference on WTO and the Doha Round organized by
ICRIER in New Delhi on 6th April 2006

there were some indications of flexibilities in the positions held by all participants, one member did not reveal any flexibility either to improve its offer to cut its own domestic support or to lower its ambition on market access openings in other countries. As the gaps remain too wide, the informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) held on 24 July 2006, recommended for suspension of the negotiations across the Round as a whole. The WTO General Council, at its meeting held on 27 July 2006, supported this recommendation for suspension of the Doha Round of negotiations as a whole, to enable serious reflection and review of their positions by the WTO Member countries, with a view to resume the negotiations only when the environment is right. A soft resumption of negotiations across the board was agreed on the basis of the TNC decision of 16 November 2006. However, it was only at the meeting of the General Council held on 7 February 2007, that the Chairman of the TNC could report a full-scale resumption of negotiations across the board.

India has welcomed the soft resumption and the subsequent full-scale resumption of negotiations. Throughout the negotiations, India has continued to pursue its national interests across all the areas under the Doha Work Programme. It continued to work constructively with its coalition partners, particularly, the G-20 and the G-33 in agriculture, NAMA-11, and other developing country groupings including the African Group, ACP countries, CARICOM, and LDCs, in order to secure its development imperatives.

India is of the view that failure of the Doha Round would weaken the WTO's role as the anchor of the global trading system and lead to weakening the momentum of multilateralism. It favoured resumption of negotiations based on a shared understanding of clear principles that should guide the efforts, namely, (i) adhering faithfully to the Doha mandate, as further complemented by the July 2004 Framework Agreement and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration; and (ii) taking on board the progress embodied in important proposals and understandings reached among Members since the commencement of negotiations.

The state of play of negotiations on various issues covered by the Doha Work Programme is as under.

DG, WTO shaking hands with Commerce & Industry Minister, Government of India in New Delhi on 5th April 2006

Agriculture

Negotiations under the Doha Round in the WTO have been stalemated primarily over agricultural trade. Most Members find that while the proposals from some developed countries require little or no change in their own domestic support regime, the developed countries are seeking wide and deep market openings by their trading partners, in particular by the so-called advanced or emerging developing countries like India. An important political dimension surrounding the agriculture negotiations is also uncertainty regarding the extension of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) by the recently reconstituted US Congress beyond its scheduled expiry on 1st July 2007 and the determinations on the new US Farm Bill 2007. Until the outlines of a possible agreement in agriculture are visible, there may not be appreciable movement in other areas including Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) and Services.

The global market of agricultural commodities is distorted by heavy subsidies provided by some developed countries to their own farmers and how the Doha Round tackles this core issue remains a matter of deep concern to developing countries. It directly impacts 90 per cent of the world's farming community. The developing countries have therefore emphasized that a substantial outcome on fair and equitable trade in agriculture must be ensured. In respect of domestic support, it was agreed during the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting that developing countries, such as India, without AMS (Aggregate Measurement of Support) would be exempted from any cuts on both the de minimis (entitlement to provide Amber Box subsidies up to 10 per cent of the agricultural production value each year) as well as the overall trade-distorting support (consisting of AMS, the Blue Box and de minimis). It was also agreed that development programmes of developing countries, like India, that have minimal distorting effects will be incorporated into the Green Box. It was further agreed upon that the three heaviest subsidizers, namely the European Communities, the United States, and Japan will attract the highest levels of cuts in their trade-distorting domestic support entitlements, and that these cuts must be effective. The proposal of the G-20 alliance of 23 developing countries, including India, on domestic support, both in terms of cuts and in disciplines to prevent box-shifting, provides for a substantial outcome and is favoured by almost all Members.

Some developed and developing countries have aggressive market access interests. However, developing countries like India's agriculture development strategy is based on livelihood security. India's special characteristics subsistence farms, extreme poverty, pressure on land, diversity of cropping patterns, poor infrastructure are well known. Given the diversities of interests, developing countries have attached importance to according mutual respect for each other's concerns. In market access in agricultural products, it was agreed during the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting that there will be four bands for structuring bound tariff cuts, but that the actual commitments and other issues, including the thresholds for developing countries will be taken up in the next phase of negotiation. To address their food security, livelihood security and rural development needs, the developing countries will be able to declare an appropriate number of Special Products (SPs) on a `self designation' basis. The developing countries will also be permitted to take recourse to Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), with both import quantity and import price triggers, to address a surge in imports and fall in international prices. From developing countries, the G-20 market access proposal has a substantial contribution of 36 per cent average tariff cut (50 per cent higher tariff reductions than in the Uruguay Round). The offer is conditional on full satisfaction on the essential defensive concerns of its constituent Members. Overall 2/3rd proportionality in tariff reductions, Special Products which are faithful to the three agreed criteria, and a simpler, more flexible Special Safeguard Mechanism than the existing Article 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture (available effectively for use by mainly developed countries) are fundamental components of the G-20 package on market access. These instruments are vital to the survival of the farming community and food and livelihood security concerns in countries like India.

The European Commission (EC) has shown movement towards the G-20 position of at least
54 per cent average tariff cuts by developed countries. However, the EC has not moved to agree to domestic consumption as a basis for expansion of the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) in the treatment of sensitive products of developed countries, which is the position of G-20 and the US. So far the EC has offered additional TRQ (market access) of around 2.5 per cent of domestic consumption as against the US demand of around 7.5 per cent of domestic consumption. In overall trade-distorting domestic support, the EC has offered a 75 per cent cut (as against the G-20 call for 80 per cent cuts). These cuts would entail around 45-50 per cent cuts on the current applied levels of trade-distorting domestic support in EU-25.

The US has offered to cut its overall trade-distorting domestic support by only 53 per cent resulting in an entitlement of US $ 22.7 billion against its current applied levels of around US $ 19.7 billion. At the same time, it has asked for a high level of agricultural market access (which works out to for example, average tariff cuts of 66 per cent for the EU, and of 70 per cent for India).

The G-20 and most other WTO Members, have sought cuts in overall trade-distorting support by 75 per cent from the US and Japan, and by
80 per cent from the EC. In market access, the offer by the G-20, of developing country overall average tariff cuts from bound rates of a maximum of 36 per cent, with 2/3rd the commitment by developed countries of 54 per cent, entails
50 per cent greater effort than that agreed in the Uruguay Round (24 per cent average cuts). The G-20 offer has been acknowledged by all, except a very few Members, as being balanced.

On Special Products (SPs), self-designation of an "appropriate number of tariff lines" guided by indicators based on the three agreed criteria of food security, livelihood, and rural development needs has been agreed to in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. The G-33 alliance of 46 developing countries, including India, which has articulated the demand for a meaningful Doha Round outcome on SPs to address the vulnerabilities of their low-income, subsistence and resource-poor farmers, has sought the right to designate at least 20 per cent agricultural tariff lines as SPs. In the treatment of SPs, the G-33 has offered bound tariff reductions of 5 per cent and 10 per cent on half the designated SPs, with the balance being exempted from any further commitment. On SPs for developing countries, the US has offered only 5 tariff lines (which are even below 1 per cent tariff lines they have offered for sensitive products of developed countries).

In respect of the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), it was agreed at the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting that both import volume trigger and import price trigger would be available to developing countries. This is also the case with the existing Special Safeguard available effectively mainly to the developed countries. The G-33 has structured the SSM broadly around this existing Special Safeguard, but has addressed the concerns of exporters by improving upon the existing SSG by proposing to eliminate a number of loopholes in the SSM formulation. At the same time, the G-33 proposal on the SSM has defined the arrangements of the SSM to meet the specific circumstances of the agriculture sector of developing countries so as to render the SSM an effective and operable safeguard against import surges and international price declines. The G-33 proposal has been countered by some developed and developing country Members, who have proposed a safeguard mechanism which would have a complex and intertwined import and price trigger. They have also proposed that SPs should not be entitled to the SSM.

In respect of export subsidies, the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration had agreed to eliminate export subsidies by 2013, with a substantial part realized half way through the implementation period. The developing countries, like India, will continue to have the right to provide marketing and transport subsidies on exports for 5 years after the end date for elimination of all forms of export subsidies. Since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, discussions in the WTO focused mainly on the scheduling of the elimination commitments on all forms of export subsidies and on the disciplines in respect of export credits, guarantees, and insurance programmes, international food aid, and exporting state trading enterprises.

Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA)

NAMA deals with negotiations on goods related to the manufacturing sector. The main elements under the NAMA negotiations are:

Formula: Under the mandate, the tariff reductions on bound rates would be affected through a Swiss formula which is a non-linear formula intended to eliminate high tariffs and tariff peaks, especially on products of export interest for developing countries. However, the tariff reductions would follow the principle of less than full reciprocity (LTFR) wherein developing countries would undertake lower reduction commitments than developed countries. India and its coalition partners in NAMA-11 have been advocating that any selection of Swiss coefficients must satisfy the LTFR mandate.

Unbound Tariff Lines: For the tariff lines where no binding commitments were taken (also known as the unbound tariff lines), the mandate speaks of formula reductions being affected after taking a suitable non-linear markup on the applied customs tariffs of 2001.

Flexibilities: This is an important tool available only for developing countries to subject
[10 per cent] of the tariff lines (both number & value wise) to not less than 50 per cent of the formula cuts or keep [5 per cent] of the tariff lines (both number & value wise) either unbound or not subject them to any formula cuts.

This would address the domestic sensitivities of developing countries by enabling them to shield their sensitive tariff lines from formula reductions or bindings. The flexibilities are an inviolable part of the mandate.

Another element of the NAMA negotiations is the sectoral initiatives wherein the customs tariff is eliminated or harmonized at low levels in a specific sector that is of export interest for the country proposing the sectoral. Proposals have been made in sectors such as marine products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, gems & jewellery, ores, sports goods etc.

On non-tariff barriers (NTBs), there is yet another element of the NAMA negotiations where the focus has shifted from the notification of NTBs to seeking specific negotiating proposals from members. Some proposals cutting across sectors (known as horizontal proposals) relating to export duties, export taxes and remanufactured goods were made. On the other hand, vertical proposals pertaining to specific sectors have been made on automobiles, clothing, electronics, footwear, textiles and travel goods. In May 2006, India had proposed the resolution of NTBs through a Facilitative Mechanism which is intended to expedite resolution of disputes on NTBs through a fast track, informal, efficient and less adversial mechanism than the current dispute settlement mechanism in the WTO.

Services

In pursuance of the Hong Kong Ministerial directives, plurilateral discussion under GATS were initiated at the WTO in Geneva. Based on

these negotiations, all members are expected to respond to the requests by improving upon their offers. The plurilateral approach has emerged as an important method of services negotiations in the post Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, though the `Request-Offer' approach still remains the primary method of negotiations. In the plurilateral approach, a group of WTO members (demandeurs) may place a collective request directly on a country, which is the recipient of that request. The request may be focused on a specific sector or a particular Mode of Supply. However, the offer emanating from a plurilateral request is to be given on an MFN basis to all WTO members and not only to the demandeurs of that particular request.

As a part of the plurilateral process, 21 plurilateral groups have been formed. India has also received plurilateral requests in 14 different services sectors, including Telecom, Finance, Maritime, Environment, Education, Air transport, Energy, Audio Visual and Retail. India is the coordinator of the plurilateral requests on Mode 1 (cross border supply) and Mode 4 (Movement of Natural Persons). India also co-sponsor the plurilateral requests on Computer & Related Services (CRS) and Architectural, Engineering and Integrated Engineering Services (AEI).

India's interest in the services sector lies in disciplining domestic regulations involving qualification and licensing requirements and procedures and technical standards, without which our Mode 4 access is severely impeded. Negotiations on this matter are underway at the WTO. Efforts are being made to put in place such disciplines before the end of the current Round as per the Hong Kong mandate. India has argued to strike a balance between the right to regulate and regulations becoming unnecessary barriers to trade.

India's core objectives in the services negotiations are to secure liberal commitments from our major trading partners in Mode 1 (Cross-border trade) and Mode 4 (Movement of natural persons) which are areas of our competitive strengths. In Mode 4, our efforts would be focused on getting our trading partners to undertake more liberal commitments with regard to admission of Independent Professionals (IPs) and Contractual Service Suppliers (CSS) for providing services. India has been striving to reduce impediments (like visa and immigration procedures, Economic Needs Tests, Work Permit Norms, non-recognition of qualifications) to the free movement of natural persons for supply of services. In Mode 1, our objective is to seek broad based commitments from our major trading partners, including fresh sectors in their Second Revised Offer.

All members, including India, were expected to respond to the plurilateral requests and bilateral requests placed on them by making improved Offers in their second revised offer before 31st July 2006. However, because of the suspension of talks in July 2006, the second Revised Offer has not been submitted.

Rules

The Doha Ministerial Declaration envisages that the negotiations in the area of WTO Rules would aim at "clarifying and improving disciplines under the Agreements on Implementation of Article VI of GATT 1994 and on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures". The Declaration enjoins that "the basic concepts, principles and effectiveness of these Agreements and their instruments and objectives" would be preserved and "the needs of developing and least-developed participants" would be taken into account.

The negotiations on the Anti-dumping Agreement and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures are being undertaken in the Negotiating Group on Rules (NGR). In the area of Anti-dumping, the proposals on `Standing Requirement', `Sunset Review', `Lesser Duty Rule', `Public interest', `Circumvention', `Changed Circumstances Reviews', `New Shippers Reviews', `Domestic Industry', `Prohibition on Zeroing', `Initiation', `Transparency', `Affiliation' etc. were considered. India actively participated in all these negotiations.

In respect of Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the NGR is considering various proposals for amendments to the ASCM. India's submission on Subsidies Agreement to NGR has so far been on Special & Differential (S&D) treatment provisions. India also actively participated in the negotiations on Fisheries Subsidies and is working closely with other members to seek effective S&D treatment in any new disciplines. On Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), India has tabled some proposals on S&D treatment to the developing countries.

The intervening period between suspension and resumption of negotiations was utilised for intensive and extensive consultations with the domestic stakeholders. Workshops were conducted on Rules governing Anti Dumping, ASCM and DSU to sensitise the domestic stakeholders on all aspects of the negotiations.

TRIPS Related Issues

On TRIPS-CBD Relationship and Protection of Traditional Knowledge, India, along with other developing countries, has demanded inclusion of "disclosure requirements" in the patent applications. These "disclosure requirements" are (a) disclosure of source and country of origin of the biological resource and of the traditional knowledge used in the invention; (b) disclosure of evidence of prior informed consent (PIC) under the relevant national regime; and (c) disclosure of evidence of benefit sharing under the relevant national regime. Inclusion of these disclosure requirements in the patent applications is imperative to prevent bio-piracy and misappropriation of traditional knowledge. For this, a proposal to amend the TRIPS Agreement (by inserting Article 29bis) was submitted to the TNC and to the General Council on 31 May 2006.

Many countries have supported this approach of text-based negotiations, including the EC, Switzerland and Norway. But the US, Japan and Korea continue to oppose this. They continue with their proposition of a contract system for access and benefit sharing arrangement between the patent applicants and the holders of the biological material and the traditional knowledge. But this may not be sufficient to achieve the objectives to prevent bio-piracy and misappropriation of traditional knowledge in an international setting.

India generally supports the extension of additional protection to geographical indications (GIs) other than wines and spirits as this would give higher level of protection to Indian GIs such as Basmati rice, Darjeeling tea, Assam tea, Nilgiri tea, and also non-agricultural products, such as Pochhampalli Ikat, Chanderi Sarees, Kotpad Handloom fabric, Kanchipuram Silk, Mysore Agarbatti, etc. The higher level of protection to Indian GIs would bring higher price realization to our farmers and artisans, besides enabling more market access. This will increase the welfare of our farmers and artisans. The Hong Kong Ministerial Conference has mandated to intensify the consultative process on this issue and has instructed the General Council of the WTO to review the progress and take appropriate action.

Box 10.1 : Proposed Article 29bis in the TRIPS Agreement

Disclosure of Origin of Biological Resources and/or Associated Traditional Knowledge

1. For the purposes of establishing a mutually supportive relationship between this Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, in implementing their obligations, Members shall have regard to the objectives and principles of this Agreement and the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

2. Where the subject matter of a patent application concerns, is derived from or developed with biological resources and/or associated traditional knowledge, Members shall require applicants to disclose the country providing the resources and/or associated traditional knowledge, from whom in the providing country they were obtained, and, as known after reasonable inquiry, the country of origin. Members shall also require that applicants provide information including evidence of compliance with the applicable legal requirements in the providing country for prior informed consent for access and fair and equitable benefit-sharing arising from the commercial or other utilization of such resources and/or associated traditional knowledge.

3. Members shall require applicants or patentees to supplement and to correct the information including evidence provided under paragraph 2 of this Article in light of new information of which they become aware.

4. Members shall publish the information disclosed in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article jointly with the application or grant, whichever is made first. Where an applicant or patentee provides further information required under paragraph 3 after publication, the additional information shall also be published without undue delay.

5. Members shall put in place effective enforcement procedures so as to ensure compliance with the obligations set out in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article. In particular, Members shall ensure that administrative and/or judicial authorities have the authority to prevent the further processing of an application or the grant of a patent and to revoke, subject to the provisions of Article 32 of this Agreement, or render unenforceable a patent when the applicant has, knowingly or with reasonable grounds to know, failed to comply with the obligations in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article or provided false or fraudulent information.

On the issue of TRIPS and Public Health, the Doha Ministerial Conference made a Declaration by giving directions to the TRIPS Council to find a solution, particularly for those WTO Members, especially Least Developed Countries (LDCs), who do not have manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector. It was also agreed to extend exemptions on pharmaceutical patent protection for least-developed countries until 2016. After deliberations, the Members arrived at a decision on 8 December 2005 which enjoined the TRIPS Council to work on an amendment in the TRIPS Agreement. This decision was later adopted at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of the WTO. These amendments have been inserted in the TRIPS Agreement as Article 31bis. India has accepted the Protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement. Our own Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005 had already made provisions for taking advantage of the waiver arising out of this amendment to the TRIPS Agreement.

Trade and Environment

Doha Ministerial Declaration had provided a negotiating mandate on certain issues of trade and environment. One the issue of the relationship between existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set out in Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs), Indiabelieves that trade and environment should be mutually supportive of the objective of achieving sustainable development. India is one of the proponents of MEAs, and is party to all the major MEAs. The principles of no-hierarchy; mutual supportiveness and deference can be the guiding principle on the issue of relationship between existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set out in MEAs.  The discussions so far in the WTO Committee on Trade & Environment (Special Session) have been on submitting national experiences, so as to come up with a "bottoms-up" approach to the subject. Though a number of countries have given their experiences, but no actual conflict has come to notice so far between existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set out in MEAs.

On the other important issue of identifying environmental goods and services, developed countries had submitted a list of environmental goods. The list has the problems of being a "NAMA backdoor", and applying sectoral approach to the NAMA negotiations. Besides, it does not bring about the environmental benefit, which is central to the mandate. Besides focusing only on goods, it does not address the issues of environmental services. Further, most of the goods in the "list" have dual or multiple uses.

India submitted an alternate approach, called "environmental project approach" to the CTE of the WTO which clearly identified environmental benefits and eliminates, or at least reduces, dual or multiple uses. It brings in synergy between environmental goods and services, and by linking tariff concessions to a particular project mitigates the apprehension of "NAMA backdoor method". The approach was supported by the developing countries as well.

Trade Facilitation

Trade Facilitation is the only subject from the bundle of four Singapore Issues on which negotiation has started pursuant to the July Framework Decision of the WTO General Council of 1st August 2004. India has an inherent interest in reducing transaction cost for import and export by simplifying trade related procedures at the borders and enhancing transparency. The Framework aimed to (i) to clarify and improve relevant aspects of GATT Articles V (Freedom of Transit), VIII (Fees and Formalities connected with Importation and Exportation) and X (Publication and Administration of Trade Regulations); (ii) enhance technical assistance and support for capacity building in this area; (iii) to have provision for effective cooperation between Customs or any other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and Customs compliance issues. The outcome of the negotiation is expected to contribute towards more transparent and modernized international trading environment which would provide greater transparency and more efficient procedures for import, export and transit. It is also expected that the negotiation would take into account the inherent limitations of the developing and the least developed countries.

In the ongoing negotiation, a large number of proposals have come from both the developed countries (like EC, Japan, USA and Canada) and the developing countries (like Korea, People's Republic of China, Singapore, Hong Kong China, Paraguay, etc.). The proposals cover a wide range of issues connected with import, export and transit procedures and connected requirements of documentation and fees. The main thrust of the proposals is to impart greater transparency to laws and regulations concerning import and export, and to modernise and automate the customs clearance and transit procedures through automation and adoption of modern methods of customs control like risk management and post clearance audit. India's participation in this process has been quite positive and constructive. It raised several questions to clarify the scope of the proposals made so far.

The Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration on Trade Facilitation sets a good precedent for future work on this subject.

SPS and TBT issues

The rising incidence of non-tariff barriers, in the form of Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), has emerged as a major trade concern. New SPS and TBT-related measures are being formulated with the implicit objective of protecting the domestic industries. This has market access implications for us and hence, needs to be addressed adequately.

The SPS and the TBT Agreements provide that while WTO Members have the right to adopt measures to ensure appropriate level of protection for animal, plant and human lives & health (SPS Agreement) and also to achieve national objectives like protection of environment, consumer protection (TBT Agreement), the member countries do not use such measures to create unnecessary restrictions on international trade. In order to ensure this, adequate transparency provisions have been built in. To ensure compatibility with the transparency provisions, three SPS-related Enquiry Points were established to handle all reasonable queries/ comments on the SPS notifications/regulations viz. the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DoAC), Ministry of Agriculture for plant health and life, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for human health and life, and the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture for animal health and life. For the TBT related issues, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been designated as the National Enquiry Point. The Department of Commerce continues to be the National Notifying Authority to the WTO for both the SPS measures and the TBT regulations.

During the year 2006-07 (April 2006- January 2007), India notified 14 SPS related measures to the WTO. Out of this, nine related to food safety, issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare under the PFA Act; four from Ministry of Agriculture on plant health and life; and one from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture. During the same period, India notified 20 TBT related regulations. These were on various aspects, and were issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Ministry of Environment and Forests, BIS, Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution.

An analysis of the TBT notifications by various countries shows that the consumer protection and safety is an important aspect of the TBT notifications. The distribution (in per centage terms) of the objectives of TBT notifications is given below:

To address such challenges and prepare for appropriate response with the objective of trade enhancement and fulfilling socio-economic objectives, the Department of Commerce has identified the following strategy:

• identifying sectors or commodities which are of existing and potential export interest to us and take appropriate steps for preparing the firms to modify their production, post-harvest, processing and treatment technologies in these sectors or commodities;
• strengthening information system and preparing database of standards in these sectors and commodities and also developing a system for information dissemination to exporters and other stakeholders;
• ensuring effective participation in International Standards Setting bodies, evolving National Standards and strengthening accreditation & certification systems; resourcing universities to build databases for standards developments.
• improving coordination between industry and standards institute so as to encourage industry to carry out research and analysis to support standardization activities.
• building capacity for compliance, including testing activities, risk analysis and assessments; improving consumer awareness so that consumer associations start reacting to standards' development.

The Department of Commerce has also taken a number of steps to deal with such barriers to trade. For increasing the awareness among the various stake-holders, a number of seminars and workshops were organized during the year in collaboration with BIS, various industry bodies, etc. A workshop was also organized for the officials from the Central and the State Government Departments, scientists, and other technical persons on risk analysis and assessment on the issues related to human health and life, and animal and plant health and life. The workshop was organized under the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) of the WTO.

Activities Relating to other International Trade Organisations

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP)

India is one of the founding members of ESCAP, the regional development arm of the United Nations, which serves as the main economic and social development centre for the United Nations in Asia and the Pacific. Its mandate is to foster cooperation between its 53 members and 9 associate members. The ESCAP provides the strategic link between global and country-level programmes and issues. It supports Governments of the region in consolidating regional positions and advocates regional approaches to meet the region's unique socio-economic challenges in a globalising world. The major works of the Organisation are:

• Regional Economic Cooperation;
• Poverty Alleviation through Growth and Social Development;
• Environment and Sustainable Development;
• Development of Transport Communications, Tourism and Infrastructure Development in the region; and
• Enhancing capabilities of National Statistical Organisations.

The 62nd Annual Session of ESCAP was held in Jakarta between 6th and 12th April, 2006 with a theme "Enhancing Regional Cooperation in Infrastructure Development, including that related to Disaster Management". The Session was attended by delegates from 50 member countries and associate member countries. The Indian delegation was led by Shri Kamal Nath, Hon'ble Minister of Commerce & Industry. The Hon'ble Minister delivered a country statement at the session of the Ministerial Round Table on Financing for Infrastructure Development and other initiatives on Water, Energy etc. Various issues relating to poverty reduction, emerging economic and social issues, institutional reform managing migration, development of health systems etc. were also deliberated upon in the senior officials meetings of the Annual Session.

India has worked in close cooperation with ESCAP during the year and has committed financial support to the following four regional institutions of ESCAP:

• Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT), New Delhi, India;
• Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Secondary Crops Development in Asia and Pacific (CAPSA);
• Statistical Institute for Asia and Pacific (SIAP); and
• Asia and Pacific Centre for Agriculture and Engineering Machinery (APCAEM).

The 63rd Annual Session of ESCAP is scheduled to be held at Kazakhstan from 17 to 23 May, 2007 with a theme: "Health Systems Development in Asia and the Pacific".

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) aims at development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy. The UNCTAD serves as the focal point within the United Nations for the integrated treatment of trade and development and the interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development. The Ministerial Conference, which meets in every four years, is the UNCTAD's highest decision making body. It sets priorities and guidelines for the organization and provides an opportunity to debate and evolve policy consensus on key economic and development issues.

The three pillars of UNCTAD's existing mandate are: (a) independent policy analysis; (b) consensus building; and (c) technical assistance. The main goals of UNCTAD are to maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis. It serves as a forum for intergovernmental consensus building in the areas of international trade, investment, enterprise development and technology, globalization and development, services infrastructure, transport and trade efficiency, human resource development and least developed, landlocked & island developing countries. It also undertakes research, policy analysis and data collection in order to provide substantive inputs for the discussion of experts and government representatives. In co-operation with other organisations and donor countries, it provides technical assistance tailored to the needs of the developing countries, with special attention being paid to the needs of the least developed countries and countries with economy in transition.

Eleven Conferences of UNCTAD have taken place so far. The UNCTAD XI was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 13-18 June, 2004 with a Theme: "Enhancing coherence between national strategies and the global economic processes towards economic growth and development, particularly of developing countries". The Conference mainstreamed three related issues-trade and poverty, trade and gender and trade and creative industries which were discussed both in the inter-governmental meetings and in a series of seminars and workshops designed to enrich the Conference dialogue and debate. India, as a member of UNCTAD, participated in the Conference. The Indian delegation was led by Shri Kamal Nath, Hon'ble Minister for Commerce & Industry. The Conference provided India a unique opportunity to participate in the international policy dialogue and analysis of the current process of globalisation, how this will impact on developing countries and the policy responses required both at the national and international level, to ensure that globalisation is responsive to and serves the development needs of developing countries. The discussions and the outcome of the Conference reflected our concerns on trade and development, including on specific issues relating to the international trading system and trade negotiations. A major achievement of the Conference was the launching of the Third Round of Negotiations under the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP). The new round of negotiations through broader and deeper exchange of tariff preferences amongst developing countries has commenced in November 2004 and is expected to revitalize the GSTP Agreement.

Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP)

The Agreement establishing the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) among developing countries was signed on 13th April, 1988. The GSTP establishes a framework for the exchange of trade concessions among the members of the Group of 77. It lays down rules, principles and procedures for conduct of negotiations and for implementation of the results of the negotiations. So far, only two Rounds of negotiations have been held under GSTP. The third round of negotiations is underway. A meeting of the senior officers of the Negotiating Committee on GSTP was held on 11-12 December 2006 in Geneva. Several countries including India have indicated their preference to conclude the Third Round by end of 2007.

Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA)

The Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) was signed on 2nd November, 2005 in Beijing, China. The Agreement is operational among five countries namely, Bangladesh, China PR, India, Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka. Three Rounds of Trade Negotiations have taken place so far. The third round of tariff concessions were implemented from 1st September 2006 which has consolidated the concessions granted in all the three rounds of negotiations. The revised Rules of Origin under APTA have been notified on 31st August, 2006.

Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)

The Frame work Agreement on the BIMST-EC Trade Area was signed in 2004 with a view to establish economic cooperation among Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal. With the admission of Bhutan and Nepal as its member in 2004, the initiative was named as Bay of Bengal Initiative of Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). The Cooperation involves 5 members of SAARC (India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal & Sri Lanka) and 2 members of ASEAN (Thailand, Myanmar). BIMSTEC is visualized as a `bridging link' between two major regional groupings i.e. ASEAN and SAARC. BIMSTEC is an important element in India's "Look East" strategy and adds a new dimension to our economic cooperation with South East Asian countries. It was agreed that the Cooperation should aim and strive to develop into a Free Trade Area, and should focus on activities that facilitate trade, increase investment & promote technical cooperation among member countries. The Framework Agreement signed includes provisions for negotiations on FTA in goods, services and investment. The negotiations on FTA in goods are at an advanced stage. The negotiations on the agreement on services & investment have also commenced.