Research On The Legal Issues Of The WTO Chairman's Text

According to the WTO rules,the Doha round negotiations is negotiated in the negotiating groups under the supervision of the Trade Negotiations Committee.However,because the lack of clear and specific rules,the negotiations is now relying on the way in which the chairmen of the negotiating groups have proposed the text to rally consensus and advance negotiations.The chairmen of the negotiating groups presented the text,reflecting the consensus and differences among the members and serving as the starting point or basis for the further negotiations.However,because the absence of a control mechanism for the Chair's text,when the Chair's text to be put forward,the contents of the Chair's text,and the choice of the views of the members were to be controlled by the Chair.The conduct of the Chair,the conduct of WTO members and the Chair's text are all lack of legal rules and have led to a game between the parties on the basis of strength without any rule,and the impartiality of the Chair's text was not guaranteed and led to the deadlock in the negotiations.The thesis is divided into six chapters,the first chapter elaborates the origin and development of the Chair's text,discusses the change of the multilateral trade negotiation pattern from the principal supplier principle to the Chair's text rule,and the change of the Chair's text in the multilateral trading system.Chapter ? defines the Chair's text: The Chair's text was a draft text for the basis of negotiations proposed by the Chair who take responsibility of the negotiating in the course of multilateral trade negotiations.And subsequently elaborated the definition: the "negotiations" involved in the definition were defined as regular trade round negotiations.The Chair is limited to the Chair of the trade negotiations,including the Director-General of WTO,the Chair of the WTO Ministerial Conference,the Chair of the WTO General Council,and the Chairmen of the negotiating groups under TNC.The Chair's text was in the form of a draft treaty,and the content must cover all the elements of its negotiating agenda and could not be manifestly deficient.The time Chair choose to present the Chair's text should be guided by the following principles: the Chair,at such times as he deems appropriate,the member party requests the Chair to present the Chair's text,and put forward the Chair's text in accordance with the established agenda of the negotiations,and the Chair's text at the ministerial meeting.the right of members to the Chair's text consists of three items: 1.The member has the right to indicate whether accepts the next negotiations on the basis of the text or not;2.The member has the right to make an evaluation of the Chair's text and to propose a amendment;3.Request the Chair to submit the Chair's text.The role of the Chair includes the objective need for negotiations and the bridging of differences.Then,Chapter II summarized the characteristics of the Chair's text as follows: 1.The evolution of interim measures into a basic negotiating tool;2.The key in the negotiations;3.Always free from the WTO rules system.The Chair's text had arisen as a result of the change of the Kennedy Round's negotiating model,which had resulted in a significant increase in difficulty,relying only on the regular multilateral consultations among the parties can not ensure the success of the negotiations.In the context of the lack of institutional means to promote consensus in the system of negotiated rules,the Chair,who is responsible for the negotiations,along with the members can only break the deadlock by means other than formal rules and promote the formulation of the formula,one of which is the Chair's text.Despite the fact that both the Chair's text and the multilateral negotiating model have emerged in the Kennedy round negotiations,there is a degree of causality between the two,but the Chair's text is not related to the organization of the negotiations,the multilateral negotiations are not the preconditions for the Chair's text,but the consensus decision-making principle creates the conditions for the appearance of the Chair's text.The "Green Room" meeting,which appeared almost in the same period,was combined with the generative mechanism of the Chair's text,which strengthened the control of the negotiating process by a few great powers.The nature of the Chair's text could be divided into four dimensions: in terms of the negotiating process,the Chair's text,as well as the operational rules built on the Chair's text,are a set of mainstream negotiating procedures in multilateral trade negotiations;In terms of form and content,the Chair's text is the status of a draft of a formal treaty;At the technical level,the Chair's text is,Technical means in the hands of the Chair to bridge differences and break the deadlock;As far as the outcome of the negotiations is concerned,the Chair's text is the instrument by which the Chair participates in the negotiating process and affects the outcome of the negotiations.The legal function of the Chair's text is divided into three aspects,1.The Chair's text is the basis of the WTO rules;2.The Chair's text continued to use a textual approach to lock the consensus that had been reached and provided the basis and preconditions for a further consensus on the negotiations;3.When the negotiations reached an impasse,the external forces intervened to bridge the differences and break the deadlock in negotiations.Chapter Three discusses the theory of the Chair in international negotiations and the theory of single negotiating text.The establishment of the presidency in international negotiations was designed to address two major issues that were frequently encountered in the negotiations: the failure of the agenda and the failure to negotiate.The single negotiating text,SNT,is a comprehensive text proposed by the facilitator in multilateral negotiations.The Chair's text is a concrete manifestation of the single negotiating text in the field of multilateral trade negotiations.According to the single negotiating text theory,the final outcome of the negotiations will be affected by the following three elements: the first single negotiating text,the strength of the facilitator and the negotiating parties.The impact of the three elements on the outcome of the negotiations is reflected in the contents of each Chair's text.Chapter fourth analyses the issue of the decline in the effectiveness of the Chair's text since the start of the Doha round.It was pointed out that the Chair's text had been able to advance the negotiations in the early days because the Chair's text system was based on the power bargin,and the weak power of the developing countries led the developed countries to influence the Chair and generate the Chair's text favouring the interests of developed countries.In the face of strong pressure from the developed countries,developing countries could not,in fact,be able to veto the Chair's text through consensus principles.With the development of WTO members ' collectivization,developing countries have been able to take advantage of the participation of the negotiating group in their ability to contend with the developed countries,and have begun to have the ability to veto the Chair's text,which is not in line with their own interests,and the change in the negotiating situation led the failure of the Chair's text in Doha Round.Chapter fifth states that,owing to the absence of the rules of the Chair's text,the Chair's text is in a state of irregular operation,as shown in: 1.The legal status of the Chair's text is unknown;2.The behavior of members lacks legal regulation;3.The Chair's behavior lacks legal regulation.WTO multilateral trade negotiations adhere to the rules are divided into principled decision-making mechanism and specific negotiation mechanism two levels.The consensus principle is the decision-making mechanism,but the concrete negotiation mechanism is not perfect,and the decision-making mechanism is used to make up the negotiation practice.But the decision-making mechanism does not have the good use in the negotiation procedure,cannot promote the consensus formation.In the face of this practical problem,the Chair of the multilateral trading system,which participates in the negotiations,can only rely on informal means such as the Chair's text and the "Green Room" to promote consensus formation.Chapter sixth analyzes the course of China's participation in the Chair's text,and puts forward some suggestions on perfecting the Chair's text system.It is pointed out that the Chair's text rule leads to the deadlock in the Doha round negotiation,which is the internal governance of WTO.The establishment of a sound chair's text mechanism should start at two levels.At the ministerial level,attention should be devoted to the development of rules of the Chair's texts,and TNC should be effectively discharged,and in the case of slow decision-making of the Council of Ministers,the rules of the Chair's text of the Doha round could be developed.