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Work on regionalism reflected in the OECD publication Regionalism and the Multilateral Trading System (2003) addresses a variety of trade topics covered under regional trading arrangements (RTAs) and has been presented at economic gatherings spanning Beijing, Bruges, Cairo, Dakar, Geneva Hong Kong and London.
Recent development in the number and geographic coverage of RTAs has drawn interest to the role played by regionalism within the multilateral trading system. The first eleven years (1995-2005) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been paralleled by a tripling of RTAs officially notified to the WTO and in force from 58 to 188*. More than half of international trade is now estimated to be covered under RTAs.
Two broad policy lessons can be drawn from 'Regionalism and the Multilateral Trading System'.
The first lesson is that many consequences of RTA activity bolster the case for a strengthened multilateral framework. This applies particularly to the contribution of regionalism to divergence from the rules of the multilateral system, to the effects which the patchwork of regionalism can have on non-members of those agreements and to the role of regionalism in raising transaction costs for business.
These elements are compounded by the fact that regionalism has often failed to crack the hardest nuts. In some particularly sensitive areas, regional initiatives have been no more successful – and in some cases less successful – than activity at the multilateral level. It needs to be acknowledged, however, that even were multilateral disciplines to be strengthened, RTAs, and the provisions embodied in them, would not disappear. The question then arising is how regional arrangements might impinge upon, or co-exist with, any multilateral disciplines.
The second lesson we can draw from experience with regionalism is that while some consequences of RTA activity contribute to the case of strengthening the multilateral framework, there are features of regional approaches that may nevertheless complement such strengthening or even be drawn upon in designing strengthened multilateral rules.
The scope for complementarity arises from the contribution which regional initiatives can make towards harmonisation of rule making; the scope for drawing upon arises from the extent to which RTAs go beyond the WTO. Together, these two elements have yielded highly effective synergies between approaches at the regional and the multilateral levels.
Topics covered in separate chapters of 'Regionalism and the Multilateral Trading System' include: services, labour mobility, investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, government procurement, intellectual property rights, contingency protection, environment and rules of origin.
Subsequent to this broad study, more detailed analysis has been undertaken of the treatment in RTAs of agriculture, investment, competition and the environment, as well as ongoing work on how RTAs deal with asymmetric integration.
* These figures include RTAs notified under the Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 covering goods (including agriculture), the Enabling Clause covering RTAs between developing and least developed economies, but not those notified under GATS Article V regarding services.
Documentation
Individual Reports
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