Caribbean Trade Law and Development

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  • Final Draft Paris Agreement in a Nutshell

    Alicia Nicholls

    The final draft of the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been released. So far the reaction from the international community and from global civil society has been largely positive but with some reservations that the Agreement does not go far enough.

    Delegates will be voting shortly on whether to adopt the Agreement. Though 31-pages long, the actual Paris Agreement itself (minus the preamble) is just 11 pages long. The key points in the final draft text are:

    • Long-term temperature increase target: Parties agree to aim to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. This appears to represent a compromise position between small island developing States’ position of 1.5 degrees Celsius and the general international consensus of 2 degrees Celsius. It is not entirely what SIDS were hoping for but it is a lot more ambitious than the alternative.
    • A mechanism to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and support sustainable development has been established under the authority and guidance of the Conference of the Parties. A share of the proceeds from activities under the mechanism are to be used to cover administrative expenses and to assist developing country parties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change to meet the costs of adaptation.
    • Recognition of Loss and Damage: Parties recognize the importance of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change. The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, established at COP19 in 2013, will be one of the mechanisms for facilitation and cooperation and may be enhanced or strengthened as determined by the Parties. A weakness is that it includes that this “does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation”.
    • Emissions reductions: In order to achieve the long-term temperature goal set out, Parties agree to aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, recognizing that peaking will take longer for developing country Parties and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with best available science. The aim is to “achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century”.
    • Climate Finance: A USD 100 billion dollar floor. Developed country Parties agreed to scale up efforts to provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation and should continue to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance from a wide variety of sources, instruments and channels. Other Parties are encouraged to provide or continue to provide such support voluntarily. Developed countries are to report on support on a biennial basis. Other Parties  are to do so voluntarily. The Financial Mechanism of the Convention is to serve as the financial mechanism for the Paris Agreement.
    • Technology Transfer: Parties are to strengthen cooperative action on technology development and transfer. A Technology Mechanism and Technology Framework have been established under the Agreement to facilitate this. Support, including financial support, is to be provided to developing country Parties for implementation.
    • Capacity-building: The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement is to consider and adopt a decision on the initial institutional arrangements for capacity-building at its first session.
    • Transparency Framework: The Agreement establishes an enhanced transparency framework for action and support which takes into account Parties’ different capacities.
    • Stocktaking/Five Year Reviews: The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement shall undertake its first global stocktake in 2023 and every five years thereafter unless otherwise decided. This was a major win for small states.
    • Compliance Mechanism: A mechanism to facilitate implementation of and promote compliance with the provisions of this Agreement has been established which will consist of a committee that will be expert-based. However, the fact that it is to be facilitative and “non-punitive” in nature  raises questions about enforceability.
    • Reservations Policy. No reservations may be made to the Agreement.

    The full text may be accessed here.

    My full article analysing the agreement can be accessed here: The COP21 Paris Agreement: A Partial but Important Victory for SIDS and the World But Just the Beginning 

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

     

  • Final Text of COP21 Paris Agreement released!

    Alicia Nicholls

    Agreement has been reached in the negotiations on a climate deal. The final text of the COP21 Paris Agreement has been released. Analysis coming soon! Click below for the full text:

    Final Draft of COP21 Paris Agreement

  • WTO DG Reports no acceleration in trade restrictions but removal is slow

    Alicia Nicholls

    The World Trade Organisation Director General’s report on trade-related development entitled “Overview of Developments in the International Trading Environment” was released yesterday, just days before WTO trade ministers meet in Nairobi, Kenya for the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference.

    It comes against the backdrop of an uneven and uncertain global economic recovery and of the WTO’s downgrade in September this year of its forecast for world merchandise trade volume growth to 2.8% for 2015 (down from 3.3% in the April forecast), and for 2016 to 3.9% (down from 4% in the April forecast). The review period for the current report is October 2014-October  2015.

    Some key findings from the report:

    • The 222 new trade-facilitating measures which members implemented over the period, an average of nearly 19 measures per month, was the second-highest since 2008 when monitoring began.
    • There has been no acceleration in the introduction of trade restrictive measures from 2014. However, as only 25% of the restrictive measures recorded since October 2008 have been eliminated,the stockpile of restrictions as of October 2015 increased by 17% from October 2014.
    • Concern remains about the unsatisfactory compliance by members in regards to the WTO’s various transparency mechanisms.
    • WTO members continue to accelerate their pace of negotiating regional trade agreements. Eleven RTAs were notified to the WTO during the review period, compared to 9 during the last period.

    The full report and the WTO Deputy Director General’s statement to the Trade Policy Review Body may be accessed here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

  • WTO General Council Agrees Draft Ministerial Decision on Small Economies

    Alicia Nicholls

    On November 30th, the General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed on a draft ministerial decision on small economies which affirms WTO Members’ commitment to the work programme on small economies which was adopted in 2002.

    The Draft Decision

    Under the Draft Decision agreed to this week, WTO members meeting as the General Council have:

    • Affirmed their commitment to the Work Programme on Small Economies
    • Taken note of the work carried out since 2013, including on the challenges and opportunities faced by small economies in linking into global value chains in trade in goods and services
    • Instructed the CTD to continue its work in Dedicated Session under the overall responsibility of the General Council.
    • Instructed the Dedicated Session to consider in further detail the various submissions that have been received to date, examine any additional proposals that Members might wish to submit and, where possible, and within its mandate, make recommendations to the General Council on any of these proposals.
    • Indicated that the General Council will direct relevant subsidiary bodies to frame responses to the trade-related issues identified by the CTD with a view to making recommendations for action.
    • Instructed the WTO Secretariat to provide relevant information and factual analysis for discussion among Members in the CTD’s Dedicated Session
    • Requested the WTO Secretariat to also conduct work on the challenges small economies experience in their efforts to reduce trade costs, particularly in the area of trade facilitation.
    • Mandated the CTD in Dedicated Session to continue monitoring the progress of the small economy proposals in WTO bodies and in negotiating groups

    The Draft Decision has been forwarded to the Ministerial Conference to be held in Nairobi, Kenya later this month for adoption by the WTO ministers.

    Brief background on Small Economies 

    The Small Vulnerable Economies (SVEs) do not form an official sub-category of WTO members but are one of the negotiating coalitions in the WTO which have been active in the negotiations on agriculture, NAMA and fisheries rules.

    These small states, which  account for only a small fraction of world trade, pushed for WTO recognition of the unique  challenges they face in participating in world trade because of their small size, concentration of exports, distance from major markets, lack of economies of scale and limited trade capacity. They also expressed concern about what they saw was an erosion of their policy space.

    The countries which have been spearheading the SVE initiative are small island states in the Caribbean and the Pacific and smaller Central and South America nations like Honduras, El Salvador and Paraguay.

    The Doha Ministerial Declaration of November 20, 2001, which provided the negotiating mandate for the Doha Development Agenda negotiations, provided for a work programme “to examine issues relating to the trade of small economies”. Paragraph 35 of the Declaration states the objective of the work programme is to:

    frame responses to the trade-related issues identified for the fuller integration of small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system, and not to create a sub-category of WTO Members.

    The Work Programme on small states is being done under the auspices of the General Council which instructed the Council on Trade and Development (CTD) in March  2002 to hold dedicated sessions  on the work programme and make periodic progress reports to the General Council, making the work programme on small states an agenda item of the General Council.

    Under paragraph 41 of the Hong Kong Ministerial 2005 a two-pronged track was agreed where the CTD was instructed, under the General Council’s responsibility, to continue the work in the Dedicated Session and to monitor progress of the small economies’ proposals in the negotiating and other bodies. The aim of this was to be able to provide responses to the trade-related issues of small economies.

    So far several Ministerial and General Council decisions have been taken and proposals by SVEs have been made in areas such as agriculture, industrial goods, service trade and trade facilitation. These decisions as well as proposals are routinely compiled by the WTO Secretariat to show what has been achieved under this agenda item so far. The text of the most recent WTO Secretariat compilation paper of October 16, 2015 may be found here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. Please note that the views expressed in this article are solely hers. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.