WTO Deputy DG Urges Members to Help Fisheries Agreement Enter Into Force

Angela Ellard, a deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization, called on WTO member governments to deposit instruments of acceptance with the multilateral trade organization to help the recently negotiated fishery subsidies agreement enter into force. Speaking at a virtual Washington International Trade Association event July 28, Ellard laid out the path ahead for the full adoption of the fisheries agreement while reflecting on steps the WTO looks to take on helping countries fully implement the obligations tied into the agreement. The DDG also spoke of a fund provided for in the agreement which will help less developed countries with the notification and transparency elements of the deal.

In June, countries attending the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference struck a deal to address harmful fishery subsidies. The agreement prohibits subsidies to parties fishing on the unregulated high seas, who are otherwise unregulated, or are catching fish in overfished areas (see 2206170010). The deal was also touted for its transparency provisions, which will help the WTO and its members get a better understanding of precisely how many subsidies are going where. The agreement says, though, that if comprehensive disciplines are not adopted within four years of the deal taking effect, it shall be immediately terminated, unless the General Council blocks such a move.

Ellard discussed what needs to be done to ensure the deal's adoption. For the agreement to enter into force, two-thirds of the WTO's members need to deposit instruments of acceptance. "I know that on this call, there are a lot of the Washington-based embassies, and I just want to make a special plea to all of you to work within your governments to try to get these instruments deposited, so that we can actually see the agreement enter into force," Ellard said. The DDG then cited Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who said that the target is for the agreement to enter into force "in considerably less than a year," but in "less than a year for sure."

Work will continue on this front, and will continue quickly, since the protocol that contains the agreement says that WTO members will make recommendations to the next ministerial conference on the implementation of the deal, Ellard said. The DDG hinted that the next ministerial is not very far off, and that while there is no date set now, the WTO is eyeing the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024 to host the conference.

Ellard then expanded on the particulars of the fund to help less developed nations implement the agreement. The DDG said that the fund is aimed at raising $10 million, of which $5 million has already been pledged to help countries meet their obligations and undertake fisheries management systems that will achieve sustainability in many fish stocks. Ellard declared that the fund is on a "fast track" to be in place. The DDG then touted the transparency measures in the fisheries agreement as one of its strongest elements.

"I think that transparency is a huge innovation in this agreement," she said. "... The transparency provisions are very important because what it involves is a requirement that members notify particular types of things. So they have to notify the subsidies they are taking. That's not particularly new in the subsidies and countervailing measures agreement that exists right now, there are notification requirements, so the concept is familiar to them.

"But obviously, what they have to notify is a bit different, and it relates to subsidies that are harmful, and therefore prohibited under the agreement, and that's a very important innovation. Also, members have to notify and provide information on the status of fish stocks, and not just in a general way, but in a specific basis in terms of individual fish stocks. This is going to be a treasure trove of information for us in the WTO as we get ready for the next wave of negotiations, but also helps members in understanding where the problem areas are and it gives them an opportunity to determine even more specifically the particular stocks that are at risk, the particular practices that are linked to that and then also there are a lot of requirements with respect to fisheries management that are part of this notification and transparency exercise."