Council Conclusions on the 9th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (Bali - Indonesia, 3 December 2013)

 The Council adopted the following conclusions:

"1. The Council reiterates the EU’s commitment to the multilateral trading system and the crucial importance of reaching an ambitious and balanced outcome at the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference. Such a successful outcome would create positive momentum for

the resumption of negotiations on other Doha Development Agenda (DDA) issues in 2014.

2. The Conference should reach a political understanding on the text of an ambitious and legally binding Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which will bring substantial benefits to all WTO members and will be a driver for world trade and growth. The TFA should

be adopted as soon as possible after the Conference in 2014.

3. The TFA will be of particular benefit to developing countries, by better integrating them into international trade and global value chains. The EU remains committed to assist the developing countries most in need, especially LDCs, in the implementation of the TFA. It

acknowledges the need for time-limited flexibilities for certain developing countries. The more advanced developing countries should declare that they will not make use of these flexibilities, or make very limited use of them mainly by means of short transitional

periods before full implementation is achieved.

4. A satisfactory outcome on the TFA will allow the EU to give its agreement on the overall package, including other DDA issues, as set out below.

5. Agriculture is a key element of the DDA which can only be addressed within a final outcome encompassing other areas of the DDA mandate. A limited number of issues however could be part of the outcome of the Conference. Food security should be addressed through a time-limited due restraint clause, with specific conditions and safeguards agreed by WTO members to ensure transparency and avoid trade distortions.

The EU could also accept the improvement of the administration of Tariff Rate Quotas, underlining that it would be more beneficial if applied by all WTO members.

6. In the area of export competition, the EU has already made tremendous efforts in recent years to reduce its use of export subsidies, which have not been matched by other WTO members across all aspects of export competition. The EU is willing to support a political

declaration of the Conference which takes note of the progress achieved, underlines the importance of transparency and reaffirms the need to address all export competition issues in a balanced way in the context of future DDA negotiations.

7. In addition to the important development dimension of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, the Monitoring Mechanism on special and differential treatment would contribute to the integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading system. As regards the LDCs, together with the decisions already agreed on LDC’s accession guidelines and the TRIPS transition period extension, the draft WTO ministerial decisions on the

operationalisation of the services waiver, on preferential rules of origin, on duty free quota free market access and on cotton would provide for a meaningful and ambitious development package for the Conference.

8. In this context, the Council warmly welcomes the accession of Yemen to the WTO and recalls its commitment to facilitate LDCs accessions to the WTO.

9. The EU emphasises the importance of a balanced revision of the Information Technology Agreement. The EU looks forward to the rapid entry into force of the revised Government Procurement Agreement, which will in particular allow for more transparent rules and new

market access opportunities.

10. The Council supports the Commission in its efforts in order to make the Conference a success. It will assess the progress made with a view to reaching a balanced outcome in line with these conclusions. To this end, the Commission will regularly report to the

Council on progress in the negotiations and submit wherever needed drafts for EU negotiating positions on texts discussed within the WTO. It will present to the Council the WTO negotiated texts before their final adoption by the WTO bodies."

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