Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the  EESC position in preparation for the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference
Date: 2005-10-27
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: World Trade Organisation, international conference

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘EESC position in preparation
for the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference’

(2006/C 28/21)

On 10 February 2005, the European Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 29(2) of its Rules
of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on the: EESC position in preparation for the Sixth WTO Minis-
terial Conference.

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the
subject, adopted its opinion on 10 October 2005. The rapporteur was Mr Nilsson.

At its 421st plenary session held on 26 and 27 October 2005 (meeting of 27 October 2005), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 102 votes, 95 in favour, 4 abstentions
and 3 against.

Summary

in 2003, and the commitment to eliminating export subsidies
in 2004. It is now the task of other countries to make the
requisite efforts to reach a global agreement.

1.
The EESC believes that the success of the Hong Kong
Ministerial would send a clear positive signal of confidence that
Member States are committed to a strong multilateral trading
system. This would also boost confidence in the global
economy in the face of uncertainties caused by the oil shock,
global security threats and growing protectionist pressures.

6.
The EESC reaffirms that, as regards NAMA, Member
States should have an agreement on the structure of the tariff
cutting formula and other key elements of the NAMA package,
and fill in the needed figures at the Hong Kong meeting.

2.
The EESC is concerned about the pace of negotiations
leading up to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. Over the
next few weeks impressive progress will have to be made in all
fields to resolve some of the contentious issues and catch up
with the pre-agreed negotiations timetable.

The EESC calls for a better distinction to be made among
3.
developing countries. The EESC reaffirms that provisions for
special and differential treatment are an integral part of the
WTO Agreements and should be followed through in the nego-
tiations. The concerns of LDCs, in particular, should be taken
into account. Trade Related Technical Assistance and capacity
building should be provided to low-income countries for
improving their participation in global trading.

The EESC regrets the so far disappointing results in the
7.
services negotiations and supports a search for complementary
services negotiating methods and modalities during the months
leading up to the Hong Kong Ministerial.

8.
The EESC considers that, as regards anti-dumping and
subsidies matters, the Member States should at least have a
general agreement on those issues where ministers should
agree to launch legal text-based negotiations.

The EESC calls for the barriers to trade in environmental
9.
goods and services to be removed as soon as possible, and a
list of environmental goods and services to be finalised in time
for the Hong Kong Ministerial.

4.
The EESC considers that, by the Hong Kong meeting,
Member States need to adopt a common position regarding the
establishment of restrictions for all export support, the scope
and arrangements for decreasing trade-distorting farm support,
and a scheme for reducing customs duties that will both
enhance market access and allow Member States the flexibility
needed to preserve strategic agricultural sectors.

10.
The EESC considers it important to incorporate interna-
tionally recognised ILO core labour standards into the interna-
tional trading system and calls for the ILO to be granted the
status of permanent observer to the WTO. The EESC feels it is
necessary to push ahead with the global debate on social rights.

5.
Success in the agricultural negotiations is key to ambi-
tious results in other sectors of the negotiations. The EESC
stresses that the EU has already made many concessions in the
field of agriculture during these negotiations, such as the Every-
thing but Arms initiative in 2001, the decoupling of CAP aid

11.
The EESC encourages civil society organisations to take
steps to participate in information campaigns about the issues
at stake on the Doha Agenda and contribute through their
assessments and proposals to the success of sustainable devel-
opment. It calls for institutionalised dialogue between the WTO
and civil society and for greater involvement by organised civil
society in the dispute settlement mechanism.

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12.
The democratic nature and transparency of the WTO
should be further strengthened. The EESC has previously
proposed that the WTO be given a parliamentary dimension.

1. Introduction

1.1
The EESC issued opinions setting out its views and posi-
tions prior to the two previous WTO Ministerial Conferences,
viz. the fourth in Doha in 2001 (1) and the fifth in Cancún in
2003 (2). These opinions remain highly relevant. The new
opinion in preparation for the Sixth Ministerial Conference to
be held in Hong Kong in December 2005 will focus on the
renewed negotiations now going on under the Doha Round
(more correctly called the Doha Development Agenda —
DDA).

1.2
The Committee can also draw upon some previous
EESC opinions that touch upon the ongoing WTO process, for
example the opinion (3) on the Commission communication on
the social dimension of globalisation (4). Similarly, the work the
EESC is currently undertaking as part of its cooperation with
the ACP states deals specifically with issues that have a bearing
on the WTO negotiations since the Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPAs) which will be drawn up in 2007 in the
framework of the Cotonou Agreement have to comply with
WTO agreements. In addition, the EESC adopted an opinion on
the General agreement on trade in services (GATS) — Mode 4 nego-
tiations (temporary movement of physical persons) (5).

1.3
The Doha Round was launched at the Fourth Ministerial
Conference held in Doha in 2001. Though it is called the
‘Doha Work Programme’ in official documents, it has subse-
quently come to be referred to as the ‘Doha Development
Agenda — DDA’. The aim was to be able to complete the
round of negotiations in January 2005. A mid-term review was
conducted at the Fifth Ministerial Meeting in Cancún, but the
negotiations broke down when it proved impossible to
conclude the meeting with a ministerial declaration. However,
some progress was made on substantive issues. In July 2004 a
renewed initiative was launched and the way was opened to a
resumption of negotiations with the adoption of a decision
(generally known as the July package) by the WTO General
Council on 1 August. Negotiations were resumed with the aim
of reaching an agreement by December 2005. Some mini-
ministerial meetings have since been held in order to provide
political input to the highly technical negotiations. The hope is
now that enough progress will be made at the Sixth Ministerial
Meeting in Hong Kong to enable the negotiations to be
concluded during 2006.

(1) The preparation of the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference: ESC position,
rapporteur: Mr Vever, co-rapporteur: Ms Sánchez OJ C 36,
8.2.2002, p. 99).

(2) Preparation of

the 5th WTO Ministerial Conference, rapporteur: Mr

Vever (OJ C 234, 30.9.2003, p. 95).

(3) The Social Dimension of Globalisation – the EU's policy contribution on
extending the benefits to all, rapporteurs: Mr Etty and Ms Hornung-
Draus (OJ C 234, 30.9.2005, p. 41).

(4) COM(2004) 383 final.
(5) General agreement on trade in services (GATS) – Mode 4 negotiations

(temporary movement of physical persons), rapporteur: Ms Florio.

1.4 With only a few weeks left to go before the Sixth Minis-
terial meeting gets under way in Hong Kong in December
2005 there is a serious lack of progress in all the negotiating
areas. As things stand at present, there is little likelihood that
the Doha Round can be concluded before the end of December
2005. There is a danger that if the talks at the Hong Kong
Ministerial Meeting break down, this could have a number of
adverse consequences:

— it would weaken the effectiveness of the WTO as an organi-

sation;

— there is a risk that multilateral negotiations under the
auspices of the WTO would be abandoned in favour of
bilateral or regional agreements, which would not serve the
needs of the developing countries;

— it would harm the global economy and confidence in
economic growth and increase uncertainty about the future;

— the fact that the US negotiating mandate from Congress
expires on 30 June 2007 adds to the uncertainty and it is
not clear that Congress will renew it.

2. Resumption of the Doha Round — the EESC's position
in the run-up to the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference

2.1
The Doha Agenda focuses particularly on the needs of
developing countries. The areas which are currently the subject
of negotiations and where agreement on trade liberalisation
should be reached are, inter alia:

— agriculture, where the issues are increased market access,
cuts in trade-distorting domestic support and reductions in
export credits;

— non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA), which deals
with increased market access for non-agricultural goods, i.e.
industrial goods;

— services, where the negotiations centre on increased
market access under the framework of the General Agree-
ment on Trade in Services (GATS);

— trade procedures;

— special and Differential Treatment (SDP) — Develop-
ment Agenda, where the issues under consideration are of
particular importance to the developing countries;

— anti-dumping rules;

— social issues;

— environmental concerns.

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3. The agricultural negotiations

if the aim is to secure popular legitimacy and acceptance for
the WTO and the agricultural agreement, these issues must be
given serious consideration in free trade negotiations, both
now and in the future.

3.1
The EESC also notes that the EU has been a prominent
player in the agricultural negotiations. The EU has already
implemented comprehensive reforms of the Common Agri-
cultural Policy and is also committed to phasing out existing
export subsidies subject to two conditions: firstly, other coun-
tries must take equivalent action on all forms of direct and
indirect export subsidies — including food aid — that are used
to regulate the market. Secondly, as was pointed out by the
European Commissioners for External Trade (Pascal Lamy) and
for Agriculture (Franz Fischler)
in a joint letter dated May
2004, this elimination of export subsidies will only be possible
in the context of an agricultural agreement
that strikes a
balance between the three pillars of the negotiations, viz.: the
opening of markets, export subsidies and trade-distorting farm
support.

3.2
The EESC considers that a balanced success must be
achieved simultaneously in all three of the areas covered by the
agricultural negotiations, i.e. market access, domestic subsidies
and export competition. Nothing is decided until everything is
decided.

3.3
The EESC believes that it is crucial that other countries
make offers equivalent to those already made by the EU. More
specifically, the EESC believes that this requires countries with
State Trading Enterprises, those that use export credits and
those that exploit food aid for commercial reasons to come
forward with initiatives that are conducive to a successful
outcome for the negotiations.

3.4
The EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been
reformed, among other things, in order to make a future WTO
agreement possible. The EESC believes that all aspects of these
reforms must be maintained. Some Member States have raised
the issue of taking an even more radical approach to the CAP,
returning it to the national level or simply scrapping it alto-
gether. WTO negotiations and developing countries needs are
often taken as a pretext for this approach. The Committee does
not believe that this is compatible with the EU's single market.
Furthermore, the reforms have not been fully implemented and
it is not yet possible to assess their impact. Thus, in this regard,
the results of
the Doha Round cannot go beyond those
obtained from the implementation of the CAP reforms.

Another crucial question is how the negotiations should
3.5
tackle issues that are not directly related to trade: multifunc-
tionality, animal protection, food quality and food safety. The
agricultural agreement requires that these non-trade concerns
be taken into consideration, but how this should be done
remains unclear. The difficulty here is how to give enough
weight to these important issues, and also for example phytosa-
nitary and other
issues, without applying a protectionist
approach in order to create obstacles to competition. However,

that

In this connection, the fact

3.6
the various market
players are promoting their own programmes and standards
cannot be disregarded. For example, at a conference attended
by participants from almost every continent,
the European
retailer organisation EUREPGAP decided to broaden its stand-
ard on good agricultural practices. Although the standard is set,
in part, at a low level and below the legal requirements of
some countries, the EESC believes that it shows that market
players both need and want to follow the global trend that calls
for consumers to be able to feel more confident of traded
products.

3.7
Since May 2005 there has also been, for the first time,
an internationally recognised standard under the World Organi-
sation for Animal Health (OIE), which could be a first step
towards international rules under the WTO.

4. Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA)

4.1
The EU belongs to those countries which have the
lowest industrial tariffs. Moreover, imports from many coun-
tries enter EU markets on the basis of bilateral or other agree-
ments or unilateral commitments which give some countries
preferential treatment or an advantageous position under the
Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) and the ‘Everything
initiative. The EESC has previously expressed its
But Arms’
support for further multilaterally agreed reductions, especially
for environmental products and products of particular interest
to developing countries.

4.2
Lower tariffs could give poor developing countries and
LDCs increased access to developed countries' markets and
perhaps more importantly boost South-South trade. In particu-
lar, the most advanced developing countries should undertake
to open up their markets more. The EESC takes the view that
countries like Argentina, Brazil and India have reached a signif-
icant level of economic development. They should participate
in the negotiations by tabling offers that are commensurate
with their level of economic development and should not really
be guaranteed the same flexibility that is normally accorded to
developing countries. Under the July Package, the Least Devel-
oped Countries are not required to lower their tariffs.

4.3
The EESC believes that it is important that the negotia-
tions cover all bound tariffs, as is the case in the agricultural
negotiations, so as to increase transparency and certainty in
trade and business. Unbound tariffs would put developing
countries and LDCs which have bound their tariffs at a disad-
vantage.

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4.4
The EESC feels that non-trade barriers, such as technical
standards, administrative rules and uncoordinated procedures,
must be clearly identified and reduced where possible. Agree-
ment on reducing technical barriers to trade must be sought as
part of the efforts to develop common rules on labelling and
certification. Harmonisation of existing international standards
should, to a greater extent, take place within the framework of
the WTO negotiations.

4.5
The GATT agreement and the WTO Rules allow the
adoption of trade barriers if the aim is to protect the health of
humans, animals or plants or
to preserve non-renewable
natural resources, provided these measures are accompanied by
restrictions on national production or consumption. For
example, in the event of a possible conflict between the Sani-
tary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement and the GATT, the
former takes precedence. The EESC feels that this protection
must be fully respected in any future agreement as well.

4.6
The EESC endorses the Commission's proposal for a
simple ‘Swiss’ formula, with the same coefficient for all the
developed countries and different coefficients for developing
countries, depending on their use of Paragraph 8 flexibilities
(e.g. less use of such flexibilities would result in a higher coeffi-
cient and consequently smaller formula cuts). It is important
that the WTO member states reach agreement on the structure,
which should be in the form of tariff cuts and on other key
elements of the NAMA package in the remaining weeks before
the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting.

4.7
The EESC supports the Negotiation Group's agreement
that the NAMA negotiations should encompass all products
not covered by Annex 1 of the Agreement on Agriculture. The
EESC further endorses active EU involvement in NAMA sectoral
tariff component negotiations based on the critical mass
approach. The EESC notes that other important issues such as
conversion of ad valorem equivalents and treatment of
unbound tariff lines will have to be dealt with in a speedy
manner by December.

As very little progress has been made in the negotiations
4.8
to date, it would be unrealistic to expect a result to be achieved
at the Hong Kong meeting in December 2005.

area for the EU. Service provision in rich countries accounts
for some 65 % of total output, but even for the poorest coun-
tries service provision is relatively high, accounting for some
40 % of total output. In contrast, international trade in services
accounts for only around 20 % of world trade.

5.2
Effective services sectors are important for the growth of
every economy. It is hard to imagine a country that experiences
high, sustained economic growth and increased international
trade volumes without modern services infrastructure in sectors
such as financial services, legal and other professional services,
telecoms and transport. And it should not be forgotten that
services (communications, distribution, banking, etc.) are also
an essential input in the production of goods.

5.3
The EESC regrets the poor quality of initial and revised
offers that do not create additional liberalisation in the services
sectors. Larger developing economies (e.g. South Africa, Brazil,
Venezuela) and some developed countries (e.g. USA) must go
beyond existing levels of market access to provide new trade,
investment and employment opportunities for global service
suppliers. The constructive role of India in services negotiations
should be mentioned as an encouraging example.

The EESC supports taking into account the stage of
5.4
development of poor developing countries, with few demands
being made on the Least Developed Countries
(LDCs).
However, it is important that the LDCs remain committed to
participation in the services negotiations, primarily for their
own economic benefit.

5.5
In its opinion on GATS mode 4, the EESC endorses the
facilitation of temporary service provision proposed by the EU.
The EESC underlines the importance of taking measures to
enforce the protection of temporary workers and to guarantee
non-discrimination and the introduction of proper surveillance
mechanisms. The EESC is
in principle favourable to the
proposal made by the European Service Forum to create a
GATS Permit. This would make the movement of service provi-
ders both from and to the EU smoother and also make moni-
toring of the use of Mode 4 more transparent. The EESC also
urges the EU not to accept any widening of Mode 4 to semi-
skilled or unskilled workers for the time being.

5. Services

The GATS services agreement provides the greatest
5.1
potential here, as it is in this area of negotiation that least
progress has been made. The Member States have proposed too
few and inadequate measures. This is an especially important

5.6
The EESC recalls the need to maintain countries' ability
to regulate public services in the pursuit of social and develop-
mental goals, and supports the exemption from the services
negotiations of public services such as education, water, health,
and energy.

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5.7
The EESC notes that the services negotiations, which
have been based on the request-offer approach for more than 5
years, have produced very few positive results as regards
services market liberalisation. A number of negotiating parties
have called into question the effectiveness of this approach.
The EESC supports a search during the months leading up to
Hong Kong Ministerial for complementary services negotiating
methods and modalities, which would impose stricter obliga-
tions on WTO members (e.g. formulae approaches at multilat-
eral and plurilateral level; sectoral approach, etc.).

5.8
The EESC is prepared to study the EU proposal for a
‘common baseline of commitments’ on services trade and a
formula-based approach. However, the proposal may affect the
central principle underlying the GATS, which provides for a
certain degree of flexibility with regard to the choice and extent
of
liberalisation commitments. Moreover, some developing
countries have voiced their opposition to the proposal.

5.9
The EESC supports the linking of expanded access
through Mode 4 with the removal of restrictions on foreign
ownership of services companies under Mode 3 (e.g. commer-
cial presence) — this ‘trade-off’ approach is likely to persuade
several developing countries to engage in services negotiations.

6. Trade Facilitation

6.1
Trade facilitation, the only ‘survivor’ of the Singapore
Issues, is crucial for the economic growth of any country, but
particularly for poor and least developed countries that could
reduce levels of poverty through greater participation in inter-
national trade. Modernised and simplified export/import, inter-
national payment, transport, logistics and customs procedures
and an enhanced use of information technology and improved
access to distribution channels could greatly reduce the cost of
transferring goods from producers to consumers, increase inter-
national trade flows and bring new investment to developing
countries. The EESC has on several occasions expressed its
support for multilaterally agreed rules to address these issues.

6.2 Modernising customs and transport procedures and
infrastructures can be very expensive for poor countries. There-
fore technical assistance and support for capacity building is
needed from the side of the developed countries. However, the
beneficiary countries must
take the necessary preventive
measures to ensure that the resources they are allocated are
used in a transparent and effective way. While the LDCs are
generally exempt from trade facilitation requirements, the EESC
trade procedures would
notes that

faster modernisation of

serve their interests more than a slow and gradual undertaking
of commitments.

6.3
During the following weeks prior to the Ministerial
meeting, more than 30 proposals by different WTO members
for trade facilitation measures and the required technical assis-
tance will be assessed by the Negotiation Group on Trade Facil-
itation. The EESC hopes that developing countries will even-
tually benefit from the trade facilitation provisions and the
scope of commitments will be linked to their capacity to imple-
ment.

7. Special and Differential Treatment

7.1
It is quite clear that the main gains for development
should come from better access to industrial goods, services
and agricultural markets, simpler customs procedures, clearer
SPS standards, stronger WTO rules, etc. To illustrate this, the
World Bank estimates that a feasible outcome of the Doha
negotiations could boost global income by USD 100 billion a
year, a part of which would flow to poor and developing coun-
tries.

7.2
The EESC calls on the EC to ensure that the following
aspects are given priority in the negotiations leading up to the
Hong Kong Ministerial and afterwards:

— real progress in implementing the proposals on strength-
for the weakest
ening special and differential
developing countries and LDCs, with an exemption for
LDCs from any requirement to open their markets and the
possibility for
to continue to protect
products that are important to their food security and rural
development with high tariffs;

these countries

treatment

— greater clarification of developing countries' situations and
categories by making a clearer distinction between coun-
tries which lag behind persistently and countries which
already enjoy the benefits of an emerging economy;

— effective support, in the form of financing and projects, for
technical assistance and capacity building in the least devel-
oped countries;

— serious consideration of the problem of tariff preference
financial

including potential

erosion for poor countries,
compensation;

— implementation of

trade-
the decisions
distorting subsidies in key commodity products such as
cotton and sugar;

to eliminate

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— implementation of the Decision of 30 August 2003 on
paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agree-
ment and Public Health to find a solution to the difficulties
of WTO members with no pharmaceutical production
capacity to make effective use of the provision of the TRIPS
Agreement authorising compulsory licensing in cases of
national emergency to combat major epidemics.

7.3
Other industrial countries should offer quota-free and
tariff-free market access for goods from the Least Developed
Countries, as the EU has done under the ‘Everything But Arms’
initiative. So far, the USA, Japan, Canada have not responded
to this initiative, despite the promises made at the 2001 Millen-
nium Conference.

7.4
Opening markets to products from the poorest countries
must be complemented by huge financial resources for capacity
building assistance and infrastructure development
to help
these countries produce and transport goods to world markets.
The EESC strongly welcomes the EU commitment at the G8
Summit in Gleneagles to raise the level of its trade-related
development assistance to EUR 1bn a year. The US, and inter-
national financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF,
should follow the European lead and allocate more resources
for trade capacity development needs.

8. Anti-Dumping Rules

8.1
The number of anti-dumping cases has increased drama-
tically since the Uruguay Round in many developing and emer-
ging countries. As tariffs have largely been reduced, dumping
rules are increasingly used for protectionist purposes, as illu-
strated by some of the anti-dumping cases in the USA and else-
where. Methodological biases and anti-dumping investigation
practices (e.g. estimate of damage) are often abused to prevent
foreign companies from entering markets. This usually serves
the interests of a few selected firms at the expense of wider
public interest.

The EESC supports revision of the WTO Anti-Dumping
8.2
Agreement provisions to restrict
the use of anti-dumping
measures for protectionist and political reasons. Some of the
proposed measures, such as prohibition of chain complaints,
the ‘lesser duty rule’, the public interest test, limitation of inves-
tigation periods and the duration of anti-dumping measures,
would render it more difficult to use anti-dumping rules for
protectionist causes.

9. Social Issues

It is worth noting that paragraph 8 of the Doha Minis-
9.1
‘We reaffirm our declaration at the
terial Declaration states:
Singapore Ministerial Conference
regarding internationally
recognised core labour standards. We take note of the work
under way in the International Labour Organization (ILO) on
the social dimension of globalisation.’

9.2
The EESC considers it important to incorporate the ILO
core labour standards into the international trading system.
Even if these matters remain outside the scope of the Doha
Agenda negotiations, the Committee supports the ILO initia-
tives in this field and supports the ILO being granted the status
of permanent observer to the WTO.
It will be difficult to
achieve popular legitimacy for a world trade system where
workers lose their jobs because of companies where people
work in inhuman conditions and there are no union rights of
any kind. It is therefore important to embed the eight Funda-
mental
trade
ILO Conventions in the WTO international
system. The need for flanking measures to protect social rights
is particularly relevant to the GATS Agreement, which regulates
the freedom of natural persons to temporarily provide services
across borders (Mode 4).

9.3
The EESC welcomes the recommendations by the EC on
implementation of the report by the ILO World Commission
on the Social Dimension of Globalisation. The EESC endorses
the EC strategy of introducing core labour standards into the
trade and investment system by incorporating
international
them into bilateral and regional trade agreements. The EESC
also calls for a social chapter to be included in the ongoing EU-
Mercosur negotiations.

9.4
The EESC emphasises that the EC should stick to its
policy of establishing an institutionalised standing forum
bringing together the WTO, ILO, UNCTAD, World Bank, IMF
and other international players with the objective of fostering
international policy coherence.

10. Environmental concerns

8.3
The EESC concurs with the Commission's critical assess-
ment of the progress made in negotiations on anti-dumping
rules. With little time left before the Hong Kong Ministerial,
there should at least be a general agreement on those issues
where Ministers should agree to launch legal text-based nego-
tiations.

10.1
The word ‘environment’ was not even mentioned in
the old GATT agreement. Although the WTO's remit is limited
to trade, environmental concerns are now one of the objectives
of the WTO agreement. The Doha Declaration gave a mandate
for negotiations in the field of environment and trade with the
aim of clarifying any discrepancies between trade-related obli-
gations in international environmental conventions and WTO
rules.

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10.2
The EESC believes that the Committee on Trade and
Environment should continue negotiations on the issue of the
relationship between WTO rules and multilateral environmental
agreements (MEAs), despite the discouraging progress made so
far. The EESC also calls for the MEA secretariats and the UNEP
to be given observer status at the WTO.

10.3
The EESC believes that barriers to trade in environ-
mental goods (e.g. related to sanitation, wastewater manage-
ment and renewable energy) and services should be lifted as
soon as possible. The EESC hopes that a list of environmental
goods and services will be finalised in time for the Hong Kong
Ministerial Conference.

11. WTO and Civil Society

11.1
nessmen,
NGOs) to take steps to:

The EESC invites the various civil society players (busi-
social partners,

socio-occupational organisations,

— participate in information campaigns about the issues at

stake in the Doha Agenda;

— organise international meetings, at a cross-sectoral level or

within sectors of activity;

— contribute through their assessments, proposals and partici-
pation to the success of sustainable development world-
wide.

11.2
In addition to institutionalised dialogue between the
WTO and civil society, urgent consideration should also be
given to how civil society and the other social partners could,
under the terms of UN category 1 and 2, which regulate the
involvement of NGOs and the social partners, be given greater
involvement in the dispute settlement procedure.

11.3
in these initiatives.
Before the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, the EESC will, as

The Committee will

take part

Brussels, 27 October 2005.

in 2004, organise a conference to discuss proposals for
improving participatory democracy by involving organised civil
society in WTO activities.

the ACP countries,

11.4
The EESC intends to strengthen dialogue on interna-
tional trade with representatives of other economic and social
councils both from EU Member States and from third countries,
the least developed countries and
e.g.
regional trading blocs in the Americas (such as Mercosur and
the Andean Community), Asia (ASEAN, SAARC) and Africa
(ECOWAS and SADC), as well as with other developing coun-
tries.

11.5
The 2003 opinion ‘For a WTO with a human face’ also
contains specific proposals to promote greater involvement of
developing countries and civil society in WTO activities. The
EESC opinion proposes establishing a parliamentary dimension
to the WTO, setting up a formal dialogue between the WTO
and the stakeholders of organised civil society, providing
ongoing support to the least developed countries by transfer-
ring resources and technical expertise, and establishing a
formal dialogue between the WTO and other international
organisations (UN, World Bank, IMF, OECD, ILO, etc.).

11.6
The EESC feels that before a new trade agreement takes
effect there is a need to carry out thorough impact assessments
with regard to food security, employment, social standards and
gender equality, particularly for
the developing countries.
the EESC welcomes the Sustainability Impact
Accordingly,
Assessment
studies undertaken by the Commission,
(SIA)
which already provide guidance as to what needs to be done so
that the trade round really does achieve the desired results. The
EESC also requests that civil society players be consulted
regarding the implementation of such studies.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND