The top Republicans on the Senate Finance and the House Ways and Means committees asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to "start a concrete conversation about which reforms" would address the U.S. concerns about the World Trade Organization's appellate body, so that binding dispute reform can return to Geneva. They also said that the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) could be an opportunity to end the paralysis at the WTO.

Gloria Abraham Peralta of Costa Rica, the chair of the World Trade Organization's agriculture negotiations, sent out a revised negotiation text ahead of the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 12th Ministerial Conference, the WTO said. The revised text was circulated as part of the chair's report to the WTO's General Council Nov. 23. The new document represents a "less ambitious version" of the negotiating outcomes, the chair said, but is intended to give members as much guidance as possible for MC12. “If members can continue to demonstrate commitment, goodwill and flexibility, a successful Ministerial Conference is within reach,” Peralta said. The revised text will be presented to all WTO members at the Nov. 25 meeting of the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session.

Trade associations and industry groups urged World Trade Organization members to extend the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. In a "Global Industry Statement," ahead of the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 12th Ministerial Conference, 73 groups said that allowing the moratorium to expire would amount to a "historic setback for the WTO," due to its role in allowing the digital economy to grow. The groups urged an extension until the next conference. The moratorium is key to the COVID-19 recovery, as the cross-border exchange of knowledge, COVID technical expertise, and scientific and commercial information across transnational IT networks, "as well as access to digital tools and global market opportunities have helped sustain economies, expand education, and raise global living standards," the statement said.

The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the next meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, set for Nov. 29. The agenda includes status reports by the U.S. on the implementation of recommendations adopted by the DSB on: antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Other such status reports expected are from the European Union on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products, and from Indonesia on horticultural products, animals and animal products. The EU is expected to make a statement about the implementation of DSB recommendations on the U.S.'s Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000; and the U.S., on the EU's measures affecting trade in large civil aircraft. Also, a long list of countries, excluding the U.S., made a proposal on appellate body appointments.

A World Trade Organization dispute panel found the U.S. violated WTO rules during investigations leading up to the imposition of countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain. The panel found that the U.S. erred when finding that subsidies given to Spanish raw olive growers under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy were specific to the olive growers, a finding that was inconsistent with measures in the WTO's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. The Court of International Trade independently came to the same conclusion. In June, the court said that the countervailing duties could not stand since they were not specific to Spanish olive growers (see 2106170075). The panel also said the Commerce Department's regulation permitting it to deem the full amount of subsidies taken in by raw olive growers to have passed through to the downstream producers lacks any real factual basis and is inconsistent with WTO rules. The panel did not find, however, that the antidumping duties on the same goods violated the trade body's rules. "The Commission's efforts to vigorously defend the interests and rights of EU producers, in this case growers of Spanish ripe olives, are now paying off," Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU's commissioner for trade, said. "The WTO has upheld our claims about anti-subsidy duties being unjustified and in violation of WTO rules. These duties severely hit Spanish olive producers, who saw their exports to the US fall dramatically as a result. We now expect the US to take the appropriate steps to implement the WTO ruling, so that exports of ripe olives from Spain to the US can resume under normal conditions.”

While the World Trade Organization's upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference presents an opportunity to start meaningful discussion over revising the globe's leading multilateral trading body, the event will lack an immediate solution to pressing issues such as appellate body reform or an end to the all-purpose member veto, a former WTO deputy director-general said. Speaking at a Nov. 18 event on MC12 hosted by the Washington International Trade Association, Alan Wolff, now a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, also explored the leadership dynamics that will be in play at the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 conference.

Costa Rica Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta, who chairs the World Trade Organization's agriculture negotiations, plans to release "as soon as possible" a revised draft negotiation text for an agriculture package ahead of the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 12th Ministerial Conference, the WTO said. Peralta also said she aims to submit her report to the Trade Negotiations Committee Nov. 19 to capitalize on this "critical time" ahead of MC12. The first draft negotiation text for an MC12 agriculture package was introduced July 29. The main negotiation topics were "domestic support, market access, export restrictions, export competition, cotton, public stockholding for food security purposes (PSH) and a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) as well as cross-cutting transparency issues," the WTO said.

The European Union will request a World Trade Organization panel in its ongoing dispute settlement case against Russia's state-owned enterprise procurement practices, the European Commission announced Nov. 17. The EU is challenging Russia's favoring domestic goods and services by state-related entities "to the detriment of EU companies." The EU's panel request will be considered at the next WTO Dispute Settlement Body meeting on Nov. 29.

The World Trade Organization launched a new Quantitative Restrictions Database on Nov. 8 -- a platform that allows users to retrieve information on trade restrictions and prohibitions notified by WTO members, the WTO said. The database gives information on COVID-19-related export restrictions, that includes data on the restrictions such as "intended duration" and their "WTO justification." The update streamlines the process for accessing information in the QR notifications and also gives the option to generate charts directly through the platform, the notice said. To date, 84 WTO members have submitted 220 QR notifications to the multilateral trade body, which cover 1,724 notified measures currently in force, the WTO said.

The World Trade Organization chair of fisheries subsidies negotiations introduced new text Nov. 8 to be used for "clause-by-clause" discussions to hammer out the remaining differences on a fisheries agreement ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference, the WTO said. The conference will run Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the text "represents a good balance that addresses development issues and maintains ambition." The text was released at a meeting of the Negotiating Group on Rules at the Head of Delegation level.