A Study On The "Self-declaration" Method Of Developing Members In The WTO

On January 16,2019,the United States submitted a document to the General Council of the WTO entitled An Undifferentiated WTO : Self-declared Development Status Risks Institutional Irrelevance,arguing that the self-declaration method leads to the loss of WTO negotiation functions and institutional marginalization;on February 18,2019,China,India,South Africa and Venezuela jointly submitted a document entitled The Continued Relevance of Special and Differential Treatment in Favour of Developing Members to Promote Development and Ensure Inclusiveness,refutes the US view that the real threat to the relevance,legitimacy and effectiveness of the WTO is inconsistent protectionism and proliferation of unilateralism,obstruction of the selection process for members of the Appellate Body,and deadlock in the Doha Round negotiations,rather than the status of the self-declaration of developing members.WTO members have engaged in a heated debate on the status and treatment of developing members.WTO members have different or even conflicting positions,the root cause is that the developed members are holding a biased belief that the self-declaration of developing members is improper,and the Special and Differential Treatment brought by the status of developing members has led to the loss of WTO functions.The loss of these risks jeopardized their interests,while developing members insisted on theneed for Special and Differential Treatment due to the capacity constraint compared with developed members.Based on this,this article will study the "self-declaration" method of developing members in the WTO and will be divided into four chapters :The first chapter discusses the method of self-declaration and the controversy caused by it,and clarifies how the issue of its status as developing members differs from other international organizations in distinguishing between "developed" and "developing".The second chapter starts from the generation and development of Special and Differential Treatment,and lists the specific Special and Differential Treatment provisions in all agreements or decisions in the current WTO.What kind of benefits does Special and Differential Treatment bring to developing members and whether it really has many disadvantages as developed members say? Among them,the Enabling Clauses,which provides a permanent legal basis for special and differential treatment,will be highlighted.Developed members claim that developing members benefit from the special and differential treatment system.Are some WTO rules applicable to developed members essentially a special and differential treatment?The third chapter is the core part of this article.It demonstrates the legitimacy of the self-declaration method from the perspective of necessity,legitimacy and history.The fourth chapter gives some practical and targeted suggestions from China's position and perspective.How to cope with the troubles pointed out by developed members such as the United States? How to look at the status of developing members of ourselves and other WTO countries or regions? How can we play our role in the WTO reform discussions,maintain our own development,and shoulder the responsibilities in the international community ?The conclusion part summarizes this concept: The method of self-declaration as developing members is a basic rule of the WTO.It has its necessity and legitimacy,and is the most appropriate classification method for the WTO.And as an important component of the multilateral trading system,special and differential treatment is stillof considerable practical significance to developing members with wide gaps compare to developed members.