WTO Director General Pascal Lamy Speaks at The Fletcher School About Governance and Accountability at the WTO
Although far from being a perfect model of governance, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has had a reasonably fair performance considering the difficulties for a multilateral institution in meeting the criteria of legitimacy, efficiency, rule-building and enforcement, said Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
Mr. Lamy had a focused group session with students and faculty of The Fletcher School, wherein he addressed various issues dealing with governance and accountability of the WTO, as well as its impact on developing states and linkage to non-trade issues. Mr. Lamy culled said issues from papers submitted to him prior to the talk by students from The Fletcher School, which dealt with the topic, "Issues of Governance at the WTO". The talk was facilitated by Fletcher Professor Joel Trachtman, who teaches courses on WTO law, international trade and globalization.
Mr. Lamy said that he found it surprising that WTO governance attracts a lot of attention, unlike governance in other multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund or the World Health Organization. "It probably has a lot to do with the higher visibility of the WTO across archipelagos," he said.
According to Mr. Lamy, while the WTO has taken a pragmatic approach to addressing governance-related issues, it has consistently been trying to overcome challenges, particularly those pertaining to issues of legitimacy and democratic deficit.
Mr. Lamy said that although thematically or regionally organized coalitions of countries decide on specific issues, deliberations in the WTO are still highly representative of its membership.
"While it is true that some issues are predetermined among particular coalitions of states, we must remember that these decisions can only be given effect if they are presented before the membership-at-large and resolved by consensus." The primary characteristic of the WTO, according to Mr. Lamy, is that it is a member-driven inter-governmental organization, with the director-general having very little constitutional authority over the members.
"If you consider the member-driven nature of decision-making within the organization, then you can say that WTO governance is weak. Unlike the heads of other multilateral organizations, who are empowered to propose initiatives, the director general has no such power. The WTO can only pursue initiatives for as long as states accept them," Mr. Lamy said.
The WTO, for instance, does not have a mandate that would allow the wider participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other non-state actors. "The members have maintained that only state representatives have the right to participate in deliberations, negotiations and dispute settlement proceedings. Since the WTO is a member-drive organization, we have to abide by that common decision," he said.
However, Mr. Lamy said that the WTO has initiated a number of actions aimed at increasing its transparency and accountability. These include increased interaction with NGOs and state parliamentarians in various forums, public access to official documents on the organization's policies and activities, and allowing members of civil society to submit amici curiae briefs in dispute settlement proceedings. He stressed, though, that these initiatives can only be done at the tolerance of members.
In order to address the issue of internal transparency, Mr. Lamy said that he began holding regular consultative meetings with the state representatives to collect ideas on the directions that they want the organization to take. He said this strategy has also allowed the WTO to address the lack of an executive body within its organizational structure.
"While the WTO does not have an executive body, in reality, there are de facto groups that acts as steering committees on specific issues and conduct their work in consideration of the politics of the organization. If you compare this with the structure and actual operations of other organizations, such as the different bodies of the United Nations, this is also the way they approach decision-making," Mr. Lamy said.
Further, the WTO has worked to ensure that developing states are able to fully participate in the WTO despite their limitations. "While the extent of their participation may not be as extensive as that of the major trading states, the WTO has established a system where developing states are given technical assistance and training to enhance their substantive participation," he said.
Mr. Lamy also cited the authoritative and transparent character of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. "Having accumulated ten years at the Appellate Body—a substantial period if you consider the usual terms of office in other multilateral institutions--it can be said that these judges have been able to achieve legitimacy," he said. To enhance the transparency of proceedings, Mr. Lamy added that some hearings have also been opened to the public.
A major challenge for the WTO, according to Mr. Lamy, is achieving a balance between projecting its role in the international trade system and economic and trade education. "The image problem of the WTO is a reality that we are trying to overcome. But to address this, we have to conquer the challenge of being able to explain economic and trade issues to ordinary citizens, and to make them more aware of how they are directly affected by these issues," he said.
Mr. Lamy also warned against the danger of bilateral and regional agreements overriding the WTO multilateral structure. "There is a virtue in reconciling bilateral and regional agreements with multilateral agreements. They must synergize, and not replace each other. However, the multilateral approach must be given primacy. At a time like this when the multilateral system is shaky, adopting a strictly bilateral or regional approach would be dangerous," he said, in reference to the suspension of negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda.
However, he stressed that the scope of the WTO should be confined to trade issues. "Other non-trade values, such as the environment and health, should be reconciled with trade. Inevitably, these issues will be brought to the table, but not a priori, because there is a danger to tackling these issues head on," he said.
Sharon R. Rivera, MALD 2007