Caribbean Trade Law and Development

Tag: Trade Policy Review

  • OECS WTO members underwent 4th WTO Trade Policy Review this week

    OECS WTO members underwent 4th WTO Trade Policy Review this week

    Alicia Nicholls

    On May 3-5, 2023, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) completed its fourth review of the trade policies and practices of the six Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) WTO members. These are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The OECS delegation was led by the Honourable Everly Paul Chet Greene, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Antigua and Barbuda, and Chair of the OECS Council of Ministers of Trade. The discussant was Her Excellency Ambassador Nadia Theodore, Permanent Representative of Canada to the WTO.

    WTO members, meeting as the Trade Policy Review Body, reviewed the WTO Secretariat’s Report and the reports from the Governments of those six countries. During the meeting, WTO members had the opportunity to seek clarity from the OECS delegation on various issues relating to their trade policies and practices. The Chairperson’s concluding remarks stated that 24 delegations had taken the floor over the two-day meeting and 169 advance written questions from 12 delegations had been submitted for the review.

    According to the chairperson’s concluding remarks, the OECS members were applauded for “the constructive role that the OECS-WTO Members play in the multilateral trading system” despite their small size. They also received praise for their open trade and investment regimes and strong support of environmental action. However, major concerns raised surrounded implementation of commitments under WTO agreements and the backlog in compliance with their WTO notifications. It was pointed out in the Secretariat report that this was likely because of capacity constraints and the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The OECS is a regional intergovernmental organisation and subregional integration movement in the Caribbean region which was formed in 1981 with the signing of the Treaty of Basseterre, subsequently revised. All OECS members are members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Besides the six members mentioned (all six are sovereign States), it also includes a non-sovereign full member, Montserrat. These full members are part of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and therefore share a common currency, the Eastern Caribbean dollar. Its associate members are non-sovereigns: British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe.

    The TPR reports are made publicly available and are a rich source of information for trade analysts and potential investors of a country’s trade policies and its general trading and macroeconomic environment. The TPRB chairperson’s concluding remarks are released shortly after. The minutes of the meeting, as well as members questions, are also released about six weeks after the conclusion of the review.

    You can read the report and other documents here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc, LL.B. is an international trade specialist and founder of the Caribbean Trade Law and Development blog http://www.caribbeantradelaw.com.

  • Barbados’ trade policies up for WTO review next week

    Barbados’ trade policies up for WTO review next week

    Alicia Nicholls

    On October 25 and 27, 2022 Barbados will undergo its fourth trade policy review at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Trade Policy Reviews are part of the WTO’s trade policy review mechanism whereby all WTO members’ trade policies and practices are periodically reviewed. A country’s share in world trade is the determining factor for the frequency of its reviews. Barbados’ three previous trade policy reviews were in 2002, 2008 and 2014. These reviews are a critical part of the WTO’s transparency function.

    WTO members, meeting as the Trade Policy Review Body on October 25 and 27, will review two documents: the WTO Secretariat’s Report and the report from the Government of Barbados. During the meeting, Members will have the opportunity to raise questions and seek clarity from the Barbados delegation on various issues relating to the country’s trade policies and practices. The rules of procedure for the TPRB can be accessed here.

    The TPR reports are made publicly available and are a rich source of information for trade analysts and potential investors of a country’s trade policies and its general trading and macroeconomic environment. The TPRB chairperson’s concluding remarks are released shortly after. The minutes of the meeting, as well as members questions, are also released about six weeks after the conclusion of the review.

    With regard to other CARICOM Member States up for review this year, Guyana had its most recent trade policy review in March and the Dominican Republic’s latest will be in December.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc, LL.B. is an international trade specialist and founder of the Caribbean Trade Law and Development blog http://www.caribbeantradelaw.com.

  • Guyana undergoes fourth WTO Trade Policy Review

    Guyana undergoes fourth WTO Trade Policy Review

    Alicia Nicholls

    On March 2 and 4, Guyana underwent its fourth trade policy review at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The trade policy review mechanism (TPRM) is an important component of the WTO’s work to ensure transparency in the rules-based multilateral trading system. Under the TPRM, all WTO members’ trade policies and practices are reviewed at regular intervals. The frequency of a member’s review depends on the member’s share of world trade. Guyana’s previous review was in 2015.

    The WTO’s full membership, meeting in its capacity as the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB), discusses both the WTO Secretariat report and a policy statement by the government of the member under review which form the basis of the review. Guyana’s delegation was headed by the Honourable Mr. Deodat Indar, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works.

    The Chairperson’s concluding remarks at the end of Guyana’s TPR provide useful insights on some of the issues and comments raised by members during the review process. According to the Chairperson’s remarks, “Guyana received 162 written questions from 10 Members, and has already responded to the majority of them”. 

    Members commended Guyana for its impressive economic growth buoyed by recent oil discoveries, while also acknowledging the on-going challenges such as those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Members also applauded Guyana’s active participation in, and contribution to, the work of the multilateral trading system, the country’s commitment to improving its business environment, combatting illegal logging and strengthening forest governance and efforts towards good governance and inclusive and sustainable development. Members also expressed interest in Guyana’s new copyright legislation and its plans to modernize intellectual property laws.

    Members outlined some areas for greater improvement, such as its business environment, increasing transparency in its government procurement practices, engaging in regulatory reforms for improving its service sector and the longstanding situation where some applied tariff rates exceeded their corresponding bound rates. Questions were also raised about Guyana’s recent local content law and how the framework might affect existing joint ventures and create additional barriers to foreign investment.

    The documents from Guyana’s review may be accessed here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development specialist and founder of the CaribbeanTradeLaw blog http://www.caribbeantradelaw.com.

  • OECS States on WTO’s provisional list of trade policy reviews for 2021

    OECS States on WTO’s provisional list of trade policy reviews for 2021

    Alicia Nicholls

    The World Trade Organization Members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS-WTO Members) are among the WTO Members currently on the global trade watchdog’s provisional list to undergo trade policy reviews in 2021. The OECS-WTO Members are the independent States of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

    The Trade Policy Review mechanism is a key aspect of the WTO’s monitoring function. All WTO members are subject to this exercise which reviews each Member’s trade and trade-related policies at defined intervals according to its share of world trade. The four members with the largest shares of world trade (which are at present the European Union, the United States, China and Japan) are reviewed every three years. The next sixteen largest Members are reviewed every five years. The remaining Members, including the OECS-WTO Members, are reviewed every seven years respectively. The OECS Member States were last reviewed in 2014, which means they are due for their next review in 2021. A report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Members’ Government(s) serve as the basis for review.

    The TPR agenda for 2020 had to be significantly revised due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a WTO news item, more than twenty WTO Members, some of whose trade policy reviews were postponed this year, are on the provisional TPR list for 2021. In addition to the OECS-WTO Members, the list also includes Argentina, Bahrain, China, India, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Oman, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tonga, the United States, and Viet Nam, as well as the joint reviews of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) —Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic and Chad. According to the WTO news item, the final list will be determined by the Trade Policy Review Body within a couple of weeks.

    A communication released this week showed that several Members’ TPRs scheduled for 2020 have been postponed, and further confirmed that for the remainder of 2020, the following four Members will be reviewed: Zimbabwe (30 September and 2 October), Thailand (24 and 26 November), Indonesia (9 and 11 December) and Macao, China (15 and 17 December).

    To read the WTO news item, please see here:

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B is an international trade and development specialist. Read more of her commentaries here or follow her on Twitter @licylaw. All views expressed herein are her personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of any institution or entity with which she may from time to time be affiliated.