Last Updated: February, 2023
Most of the dialogue surrounding the fisheries subsidies negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is centered around a triple win situation for trade, environment, and development that would arise if an agreement on fisheries subsidies is reached. While this outcome is accurate, it is also significant to examine the implications of reaching an agreement for the WTO as an international organization, specifically for its legitimacy in the global arena. The WTO has had many criticisms leveled against it, from its difficulties tackling agriculture negotiations to the controversy surrounding the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines. All the backlash leads back to a central message: the WTO has become obsolete and irrelevant. Reaching a consensus on an agreement in the fisheries subsidies negotiations would be a big win for the WTO and could bolster its legitimacy.
From their inception at the Doha Ministerial Conference (MC4) in 2001, fisheries subsidies negotiations at the WTO were launched with a mandate to “clarify and improve” existing WTO fisheries subsidies disciplines. This mandate was further expanded upon at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference (MC6) in 2005 with a “call for prohibiting certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.” This led to an increased sense of urgency on the negotiations, as the WTO is the only organization that has the power to enforce such regulations and rules on subsidies. Since the WTO works on consensus, all 164 members must agree unanimously on a measure, which makes it difficult to reach an agreement. The most recent development in the negotiations has been the submission of a draft agreement on fisheries subsidies on November 24, 2021 by the chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia. For Ambassador Wills, this draft represents the best way to simultaneously reach consensus and meet the UN SDG 14.6 target. The Geneva Ministerial Conference (MC12) was set to take place on November 30, 2021 but has since been postponed due to travel restrictions put in place following the emergence of the Omicron variant. MC12 has officially been rescheduled for June 12, 2022, with much focus on the prospect of reaching the highly anticipated agreement on the fisheries subsidies negotiations.
One possible option for providing a way to progress the standstill negotiations is to pursue a plurilateral trade agreement, rather than a multilateral one. The obvious benefit of this suggestion is that it is easier to negotiate between smaller groups of countries where there are fewer competing voices that could prevent a unanimous agreement being reached. Plurilateral agreements can either be exclusive or open, meaning that either only signatories will benefit from the agreement, or the agreement will be treated on an MFN-basis that applies to all WTO members. This option has worked before in the past: the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) currently has forty-eight WTO member states signed on to it, with eleven currently in the process of signing on. If enough powerful member states were to sign on to a plurilateral agreement on fisheries subsidies, this would pressure other countries to follow suit and sign on to it as well.
Legitimacy is one of the greatest sources from which international organizations derive their power and is imperative for maintaining authority within the international system. However, legitimacy can be easily taken away from an international organization like the WTO when its members are unable to work together to resolve an issue. Beyond the benefits that would arise after reaching the agreement, there is merit in proving to the world that the WTO and its members can cooperate to agree on something. This development would bolster the legitimacy of the organization by proving that it can achieve the goals it was created to achieve. It is in the interest of the WTO and all its member states to reach an agreement on the negotiations to gain back the relevance and legitimacy they have lost over the years. The legitimacy derived from this situation would be beneficial for the WTO’s future, regarding its ability to enforce its decisions and to have its enforcement be fully effective.
Annie Potskhverashvili is a student at George Washington University.
