. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/22/Rev.1
2 July 1999
(99-2760)
General Council Original: English
OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL
INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Communication from the United States
Revision
The following communication, dated 2 July 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States with the request that it be circulated to Members.
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The following text is a revision to document WT/GC/22.  Text changes produced as a result
of consultations held with other delegations are shown in bold.
Article V, paragraph 1 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization provides that the General Council shall make appropriate arrangements for effective
cooperation with other international intergovernmental organizations that have responsibilities related
to those of the WTO.  Annex 3 to the General Counc il’s rules of procedure provides further guidance
on relations with other international intergovernm ental organizations, specifically in respect to
observer status.  Paragraph 4 of that Annex suggests th at the main factors to be considered in granting
observer status to other international intergovernmental organizations are: the nature of work of the
organization concerned, the nature of its membership, the number of WTO Members in the
organization, reciprocity with respect to access to proceedings, documents and other aspects of
observership, and whether the organization has been associated in the past with the work of the
CONTRACTING PARTIES to GATT 1947.
Notwithstanding these guidelines, WTO Members have been blocked for some time in our
efforts to agree to many pending requests for observer status in the General Council and elsewhere in
the WTO system.  The blockage has arisen mainly because certain regional organizations applying for
observer status have been considered by some Members as organizations which are more political
than economic in nature.  Other Members have created linkages between approvals of different
international intergovernmental organizations’ requests for observer status.
The United States  and other Members believe  it is important to unblock the existing
situation.  It is  proposed that WTO Members should agree, as a starting point, that WTO should
offer observer status where requested:
(a) to all international intergovernmental organizations with universal membership;
(b) to those international intergovernmental  organizations with a demonstrable
interest in economic affairs and world trade and which can show that their
activities have clear linkages to that of relevant WTO bodies and that their
observer status would be of benefit to the WTO.
In assessing the merits of granting observer status to a particular organization,
Members should bear in mind the organization’ s ability to foster intergovernmental dialogueWT/GC/22/Rev.1
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and understanding of international trade and economic issues, the organization’s potential for
assisting its members in the conduct of negotiations on trade and international economic issues,
and the organization’s ability to foster inter governmental understanding and dialogue within
regions on issues under discussion in the wider WTO context.
The above understanding is not intended to ch ange in any way the guidelines found in
Annex 3 to the General Council’s rules of proced ure, but rather is designed to facilitate the
General Council’s consideration of outstandin g and potential requests for observer status.
In the view of the United States and other Members , it would be desirable  for the General
Council to reach agreement on the approach outlined above at its meeting of 15 July  1999.
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