INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHEMICAL ASSOCIATIONS

June 2001

The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) is an organization of leading trade associations representing almost 80% of chemical manufacturers worldwide. World chemical industry production exceeds US$1.7 trillion annually, and nearly one-third of this production is traded internationally.

Introduction

ICCA is committed to the multilateral liberalization of trade and investment underpinned by a framework of rules implemented through the WTO. ICCA is determined to see WTO succeed in its vital mission of ensuring that international trade is fair and as free from restrictions as possible in order to stimulate economic growth. A strong and effective WTO is essential for managing globalization and achieving the goal of increased living standards and sustainable development around the world.

ICCA recognizes the growing importance of developing countries within the WTO and calls upon our governments to ensure that a new round of multilateral trade negotiations brings benefits to the entire WTO membership. ICCA also recognizes the need for all of the major trading blocs to demonstrate leadership and to actively support for a new round. For example, further escalation of transatlantic trade conflicts needs to be avoided. ICCA additionally recognizes the need for an open and transparent discussion about the benefits of trade liberalization among all stakeholders in order to increase understanding of the WTO and the value of a rules-based trading system.

The ICCA supports the launch this year of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations that:

• is broad based, thus offering possibilities for balanced concessions between sectors, and mutual advantage and increased benefits for all WTO members;
• builds on sectoral and regional enhancements undertaken since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round; and
• requires final results of all negotiations to be adopted in their entirety by each WTO member.

ICCA believes that WTO members need to show a certain degree of flexibility with respect to the scope and modalities of the new round. Neither an incremental nor an all-inclusive approach will work. We agree with the Director General of WTO that the

"agenda has to be broad enough to have something in it for everyone, but must exclude issues that are inappropriate or where compromise is impossible. It has to be detailed enough to be meaningful but not so detailed that it becomes a pre-negotiation."

Such an approach has the advantage of allowing the necessary trade-offs and increasing the likelihood of success for the negotiations, including the built-in agenda. It should enable the WTO membership to develop new rules and clarify existing rules to address the challenges of an ever increasing and irreversible internationalization of trade. At the same time, a new round should not be launched at all costs. Lowering the standards of the Uruguay Round Agreements would be a step into the wrong direction and should be resisted.

Negotiations should be short (not exceeding 3-4 years) and should be concluded with a single package. To accommodate some developing countries' concerns about new issues (e.g. investment and competition) any new agreements should be accompanied by appropriate, specific conditions and technical assistance programs to allow the time and capacity necessary to adapt to the new rules.

In summary, ICCA supports an ambitious and broad-based agenda, a short time frame and a single package.

ICCA calls for full and faithful implementation by all WTO members of their Uruguay Round commitments within the agreed deadlines. However, ICCA recognizes that a number of developing countries face difficulties with timely implementation. Requests for delayed implementation should be allowed only on a case-by-case and temporary basis. Further, ICCA strongly opposes the attempts to use the implementation debate to re-open existing Uruguay Round agreements.

Further tariff reductions are key to a successful new round. ICCA advocates the elimination of chemical tariffs worldwide by 2010, with adapted phasing periods for developing countries. In addition, ICCA calls for agreement on the dismantling of all identified non-tariff measures (NTMs) and on the prevention of the formation of new NTMs in the future.

Trade facilitation should be a key priority in the new round, and ICCA is in favor of simplification and harmonization of customs procedures. To help developing countries implement new rules, technical and financial assistance should be provided by the WTO along with the World Customs Organization (WCO).

Investment

ICCA supports investment negotiations within the context of a new WTO round. A WTO investment agreement should enhance market access, provide for basic rules such as non-discrimination and minimum standards for protection of investments, promote transparency, predictability and stability of national investment regimes, and contain a dispute settlement mechanism.

Intellectual Property

The TRIPs Agreement is a basic pillar of the WTO. ICCA strongly opposes any attempts to weaken TRIPs. On the contrary, intellectual property protection needs to be improved, and some disputed concepts need to be clarified. For example, ICCA is opposed to international exhaustion and calls for the patentability of biotechnological inventions.

ICCA supports efforts to clarify existing WTO rules as they pertain to environment, health, and safety issues. Such an approach must not result in new forms of protectionism; rather, it should establish that national environmental, health, or safety objectives can be pursued even at high standards as long as they do not introduce protectionist or discriminatory measures. In particular, ICCA seeks clarification of the relationship between WTO rules and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), elaboration of rules to prevent national eco-labeling schemes from becoming new trade barriers, and endorsement of the use of precautionary measures based on scientific evaluation, risk analysis, and risk management.

ICCA calls on governments to support the inclusion of anti-dumping negotiations in a new round. The negotiations should strive for a more harmonized interpretation and implementation of standards, methods and deadlines. At issue is not the anti-dumping agreement as such but a harmonized application of the agreement by the WTO membership.

Trade and Labor Standards

The WTO is not the competent body to pursue international social policy. However, ICCA supports close cooperation between the WTO and the ILO on the promotion of international labor standards. ICCA opposes the use of trade sanctions to enforce core labor standards.

For further details on these topics, please refer to specific position statements on the ICCA web site at www.icca-chem.org