The World Trade Organization has created a Trade Concerns Database to provide more information on what positions WTO member countries are taking.
The new resource is described as “a marvel” on the Trade β Blog by Richard Wolfe, Professor Emeritus of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.
“Trade concerns” Wolfe explains, “take the form of questions from one member government to another” on a wide range of topics, from regulatory obstacles through climate change and public health to digitalisation and national security.”
“They are often based on a worry that a trading partner is not properly implementing its obligations under a WTO agreement — or not staying within disciplines it has agreed,” he says.
Some concerns may get discussed in WTO committees and minutes are available in the WTO Documents Online Database. “That the minutes are slow to appear is a pity,” Wolfe comments.
“The beauty of the new database” is that it makes trade concerns, over 1,800 of them, searchable for five councils and committees dealing with trade in goods.
“It’s an invaluable resource for anyone needing to understand what’s been discussed in these bodies — that includes delegates, officials in capitals, traders, civil society, academics and anyone else who’s interested,” according to Wolfe.
He proceeds into greater detail on WTO databases, with examples.
Wolfe notes that the Agriculture Committee, a subsidiary of the Goods Council, has its own database, AG-IMS, with approaching 10,000 questions and answers on trade concerns.
Some improvements to the search engine would helpful, he suggests and other WYO bodies should ask to be included in the database. Wolfe supports the concept in the Secretariat’s new strategy of continuing to improve how its many databases coordinate internally.
