Canada’s interventions – WTO General Council

October 7-8, 2021

5. PREPARATIONS FOR THE TWELFTH SESSION OF THE MINISTERIALCONFERENCE

C. WTO RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC – REPORT BY THE FACILITATOR

• On behalf of the co-sponsors of the Draft General Council Declaration COVID-19 and Beyond: Trade and Health, I’d like to thank Ambassador Walker for his report today.
• An increasing number of Members have provided support to this Initiative as a very practical way in which the WTO can make trade part of the solution to what remains a global challenge. We welcome Costa Rica as a co-sponsor and encourage others to join this effort.
• We circulated a revised version of our draft declaration in July and we have continually pointed to it in our contribution to the multilateral Facilitator process for MC12.
• We welcome the ongoing positive engagement in that process with a view to finding a pathway towards MC12 and beyond.
• The co-sponsors urge the identification of complementarities so that a multilateral outcome on this critical issue can emerge for MC12.
• That multilateral outcome should include a number of concrete deliverables to respond to the current crisis and prepare for future ones.
• We see an MC12 outcome comprising these key substantive elements:
  1. Steps for better and more timely transparency of government trade-related actions;
  2. that members exercise restraint when imposing and implementing export restrictions, and that they review them and eliminate unnecessary ones;
  3. establishing best practices and lessons learned in customs and trade facilitation, including a call to accelerate the implementation of the TFA;
  4. Promotion of regulatory cooperation;
  5. Steps for better monitoring of market developments to support quick identification of possible supply chain disruptions;
  6. Improved cooperation between the WTO and other international organisations and the private sector to enhance resiliency and improve preparedness.
• As outlined in our draft declaration, we also believe these elements may be complemented by additional aspects of trade policy, including those related to intellectual property.
• In order to drive the process forward post-MC12, this result needs to be coupled with a clear work programme for delivery by MC13.
• In addition to the key substantive elements to be agreed at MC12, Ministers should also provide guidance at MC12 in such a work programme, including in terms of objectives, scope, and delivery timelines.
• We welcome continued engagement with the WTO Membership regarding how best to operationalize that work program, including ideas such as a cross-cutting forum which could integrate the work by individual committees as well as other ideas.
• The work program should build on the MC12 outcome and provide more concrete deliverables at the latest by MC13, without prejudice as to the form of such outcomes at this stage.
• Given the little time left before MC12, we invite the Facilitator to engage into text-based discussions as soon as possible.

6. WORK PROGRAMME ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE AND MORATORIUM ON IMPOSING CUSTOMS DUTIES ON ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSIONS – REQUEST FROM INDIA AND SOUTH AFRICA

• Canada would like to thank you chair and the Secretariat for all the efforts to further advance this important issue.
• Ensuring predictability and certainty has never been so key to the multilateral trading system. Therefore, given the current context, we hope all Members will demonstrate pragmatism and agree to the extension of the existing e-commerce moratorium and the work program at MC12.
• It is clear that these two elements are closely linked, and we do not see a path forward where only the work program gets extended.
• We certainly took note of the general concerns raised by a small group of delegates, and we have engaged actively through the dedicated, structured or GC discussions, including through co-sponsoring papers.
• We believe the structured discussions offered the best avenue to engage in discussions on the e-commerce moratorium, including on its concrete positive benefits.
• Canada remains committed and constructively engaged on these issues. Therefore, Canada is ready to focus only on an extension of the existing e-commerce moratorium and its work program at MC12 even though our longstanding goal remains a permanent prohibition. 

10. PROPOSED GENERAL COUNCIL DECISION ON PROCEDURES TO ENHANCE TRANSPARENCY AND IMPROVE COMPLIANCE WITH NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS UNDER WTO AGREEMENTS – ARGENTINA; AUSTRALIA; CANADA; CHILE; COSTA RICA; THE EUROPEAN UNION; ISRAEL; JAPAN; REPUBLIC OF KOREA; MEXICO; NEW ZEALAND; NORWAY; THE PHILIPPINES; SINGAPORE; SWITZERLAND; THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU; UNITED KINGDOM; AND THE UNITED STATES (JOB/GC/204/REV.7 - JOB/CTG/14/REV.7)

• Chair, Canada remains convinced of the long term benefits approval of this proposal would bring to our organization.
• Much of our discussion over the past year-and-a-half has been about the importance of improved transparency and how it can help us all respond to crisis situations.
• This proposal offers us an opportunity to examine how to support those improvements, to find new tools to support each Member’s effort to comply with the notification obligations, and to encourage the provision of the assistance we all know produces positive results.
• It is time to seize this opportunity and start this work.