./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/359
12 October 1999
(99-4300)
General Council Original:  English/
French
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Proposal for Establishment of a Working Party on Biotechnology in WTO
Communication from Canada
The following communication, dated 4 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Canada.
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Proposal
1. To establish a Working Party on biotechnology in the WTO with a fact-finding mandate to
consider adequacy and effectiveness of existing rules as well as the capacity of WTO Members toimplement these rules effectively.  One year after its establishment, the Working Party would report
on its findings to the Steering Body (to be established at Seattle) and provide any conclusions it
considered appropriate.
Background
2. Each year, an increasing number of a wide range of agricultural and industrial products,
developed through biotechnology, are commercialized and enter into international trade.  Theseactivities are not confined to the largest and richest countries but are currently being actively pursued
in scores of WTO Members, both large and small, developed and developing, from all regions of the
world.  This trend has been forecasted to result in trade of products of biotechnology constituting a
significant share of total trade within five years.
3. Some regard the development of biotechnology as simply the latest example of technological
advancement.  Others see biotechnology as unique.  Many WTO Members have instituted regulatory
policies for biotechnology.  Often regulatory approaches reflect which of these views is taken.
4. Several multinational bodies are currently engaged in discussions and/or negotiations aimed
at developing rules, procedures and approaches concerning the development, commercialization and
international trade in products of biotechnology.  In addition to the general applicability of the WTO’srights and obligations to trade in products of biotechnology, there are several WTO provisions and
agreements which are of particular relevance to current issues surrounding biotechnology.
5. While many regard the current provisions of the WTO to be sufficient and effective in dealing
with all products, including those of biotechno logy, some hold the view that biotechnology is
sufficiently unique to require further clarification and/or elaboration of existing provisions in orderthat they may apply effectively and in a predictable, transparent manner.  This lack of certainty works
to undermine the realization of the full potential of biotechnology by the world’s producers and
consumers.WT/GC/W/359
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6. Without prejudice to its ongoing agenda under various agreements, it would be timely for the
WTO to engage in a collective exercise aimed at establishing how trade and investment in
biotechnology are covered by existing WTO provisions and whether the latter constitute a sufficiently
effective regime from the WTO’s perspective.
7. Because a number of existing WTO Agreements are of particular relevance to biotechnology,
this exercise could not be conducted effectively by any one Committee. It is therefore proposed that a
Working Party be established by Ministers in Seattle with a clear, time-limited mandate to report back
to the Steering Body on its findings and possible conc lusions. It would be important to clarify in its
mandate that the work of the Working Party would not  be prejudicial as to the need, or not, of future
negotiations in any area. Rather, the focus of the Working Party would be fact-finding in nature.
8. Such a Working Party would provide a number of benefits to WTO Members including:
(a) providing a transparent process with a common focus and time-frame for preparatory,
fact-finding work building on work already underway at the national level in several
WTO Members;
(b) serving to inform those WTO Members not currently engaged in such exercises at the
national level; and
(c) serving to identify constraints to full implementation by Members of WTO-consistent
regulatory systems for biotechnology.
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