WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/GC/W/654 
12 April 2012 
 (12-1905) 
General Council 
1-2 May 2012 Original:   English 
 
 
 
IMPROVING THE GUIDELINES FOR GRANTING INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
ORGANIZATIONS PERMANENT OBSERVER STATUS IN THE WTO  
 
Communication from the Arab Group 
 
 
The following communication, dated 10 April 2012, addressed to the Chairman of the 
General Council, is being circulated at the re quest of the Delegation of Qatar on behalf of 
the Arab Group. 
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The Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Office and other 
International Organizations in Geneva, in its capacity as Arab Group Coordinator, presents its 
compliments to the Chair of the WTO General C ouncil and further to the Arab Group Communication 
circulated as document WT/GC/W/643 regarding Improving the Guidelines for Granting 
Intergovernmental Organizations Permanent Observe r Status in the WTO, has the honor to attach 
herewith a communication from the Arab Group regarding the above mentioned issue.  
 In this connection, we kindly request that the Arab Group communication be circulated to the 
WTO Members as an official document for the upcom ing General Council Meeti ng that will be take 
place on May, 2nd 2012.  Furthermore, we kindly request that the issue of Improving the Guidelines for Granting Intergovernmental Orga nizations Permanent Observer Status in the WTO, be inscribed 
on the agenda of the next meeting of the General Council.  
 
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 1. In preparation for the Eighth WTO Minister ial Conference (MC8), the Arab Group submitted 
a draft Ministerial decision on 28 October 2011 to improve the guidelines for granting observer status to Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO's) in the WTO (WT/GC/W/643).  Cognisant of the 
importance of enhancing the participation of I GO's that have responsibilities related to those 
undertaken by the WTO, the Group proposed that Ministers at MC8 note the significant number of requests for observer status in the General Council and subsidiary bodies which remain outstanding to 
date.  The Group considered it important that Mini sters reaffirm the need to establish appropriate 
arrangements for the effective coopera tion and participation of IGO's in the WTO;  and that review to 
elaborate (by an agreed date before the next session of the Ministerial Conference), the necessary 
technical criteria that would allow for a transp arent, uniform, objective consideration of all IGO 
requests for permanent observer status.  
2. The Chairman of the General Council at its meeting on 30 November 2011 indicated that the 
consultations undertaken on this matter had shown agreement on launc hing a process to consider this 
issue, and asked his successo r to continue this process.  On this basis, an initial round of consultations 
was held over this matter wherein the Chai rman of the General Council indicated, during WT/GC/W/654 
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  the General Council's meeting on 14 February 2012 (WT/GC/M/135), that a productive discussion 
had taken place and gave Members an account of the contours of what had been discussed in this 
initial round of consultations.  The Chairman urged continued engagement to address this issue, no 
matter how challenging it might be.  Looking ahead, th e Chairman indicated that it would be good to 
focus the process on clear, operational criteria, taking into account the existing Guidelines.  
3. In light of the above mentioned, the Arab Gr oup continues to maintain that the established 
WTO principles of full participation, inclusiven ess, transparency and reciprocity should apply 
consistently and indiscriminately across all fiel ds of work in the WTO.  These principles are 
indivisible and their application should not be a subject of arbitrary practice.  Hence, any attempt to undermine any of these principles would undermin e the application of the others and would 
jeopardize the very culture that the WTO pr omulgates.  Through the communication entitled 
"Improving the guidelines for granting observer stat us to IGO's in the WTO" (WT/GC/W/643), the 
Arab Group enumerated several shor tcomings with respect to the application of the aforementioned 
guidelines and highlights the urgent need to im prove the consideration process as well as the 
application of these guidelines with respect to IGO seeking observer status in the WTO.  
4. As a matter of principle, the Group believes that  all IGO's seeking permanent observer status 
should receive a favourable unbiased and uniform trea tment.  This requirement, which manifests the 
full participation principle, stems in no less measu re from the fact that the Marrakesh Agreement 
directs WTO Members to ensure the effective cooperation and cons ultation with IGO's concerned 
with WTO matters.  
5. The Group further maintains that all IGO's w ith competences over trade policy formulation 
and/or whose activities relate to trade & economi c development and have responsibilities related to 
the WTO should be granted observer status in the WTO.  This is not an arbitrary practice, but rather a 
condition required to harness and consolidate the inclus ive nature of the multilateral trading system in 
a manner that would achieve greater coherence in global economic policymaking as prescribed by the WTO Agreement.  
6. As such the Arab Group believes that it is well  within the prerogatives of the General Council 
to effectively cooperate with IGO's (Article V of  the Marrakesh Agreement).  In this context, 
distinction ought to be made be tween a procedural practice (Annex III of the rules of procedure:  
granting permanent observer status to IGO's) and s ubstantive matters related to the application and 
interpretation of the WTO Agreement and its Annexes, while granting that both practices would follow established WTO decision making practices (A rticle IX Decision Making).  However, this 
should be undertaken in an unbiased, uniform, consiste nt and non-politicized manner.  To this end, the 
Group suggests improving and fine tuning the guidelines to assert the following:  
(a) With respect to Paragraph 2 of Annex III of  the General Council's rules of procedure;  
the Guidelines prescribe that requests for perm anent observer status shall be made in 
writing for which the consideration pro cess would apply to those IGO's with 
"competencies " as well as those IGO's with " direct interest in trade policy matters " 
and/or " have responsibilities related to the WTO ".  This paragraph entails three 
conditions;  the first and third conditions require WTO Members to ascertain that 
IGO's do have trade competencies and ha ve responsibilities related to the WTO, 
while the second condition bestows upon the re questing IGO to indicate their interest 
in receiving permanent observer status in th e WTO.  Hence, it should be made clear 
that any consideration of IGO requests would be gauged on technical merits and trade 
considerations.  It is therefore suggested that a new paragraph 2 bis be introduced to 
the guidelines and provide further clarity and articulate the premise for such a 
technical consideration.   WT/GC/W/654 
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  (b) Moreover, if no consensus is reached with respect to granting an IGO observer status 
in the WTO or any of its bodies, Members th at are not in favour of such action shall 
communicate in writing the technical rationale justifying their position over which a debate would be held and a decision take n in accordance with the General Council 
rules of procedure.  
(c) With respect to Paragraph 4 of Annex III of  the General Council's rules of procedure:  
The aforementioned guidelines indicate that consideration of IGO requests for 
observer status be made " taking account of such facto rs as the nature of an IGO's  
Membership, the number of WTO Members in the organization, reciprocity and 
whether the organization has been associ ated in the past with the work of the 
Contracting Parties to GATT 1947 ".  These criteria are of a general nature and lack 
the authorization to make them mandatory.  To this end, it is suggested that further precision be introduced to clarify the criteria captured by paragraph 4 of Annex III of the rules of procedure in order to emphasize the following:  
(i) IGO's granted observer status under the work of the Contracting Parties to 
GATT 1947 should be granted permanent observer status upon their 
indication of their interests to receive similar status in the WTO.  
(ii) IGO's that provide for the participation of the WTO in its proceedings, as an 
observer or according to any other form of participation, should be granted reciprocal treatment and be represented in the WTO.  
(iii) With respect to the number of WTO Members;  given that all Members have 
equal rights of representation and decision making in the WTO, it is 
suggested that any IGO requesting permanent observer status should be supported by at least more than one Member.  
(iv) With respect to the nature of the Membership, it would be important to 
indicate that pursuant to Part IV of GATT 1947 (Trade and Development) 
IGO's whose Membership includes developing and least developed countries 
would be given favourable considera tion, in line with Paragraph 7 of 
Article XXXVI of GATT, in order to  ensure coherence and appropriate 
collaboration on trade and economic matte rs to the interest of the WTO's 
developing and least de veloped constituencies.  
(v) IGO's whose mandate entail fostering regional or economic integration and 
are overseeing the implementation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTA's) 
within the meaning of Article XXIV of GATT 1947 and the Enabling Clause and/or Article V of GATS for which a notification had been received by the WTO under the procedures prescribed by the Transparency Mechanism 
should be granted observer status, particularly in the WTO body for which 
such an RTA had been notification.  
7. It should be noted that the proposed amen dments to be introduced to Annex III of 
the General Council's rules of procedure would apply mutatis mutandis  to each WTO body.  It is also 
suggested that the application of these amendments  apply to all requests made by IGO's seeking 
permanent observer status in the WTO.  
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