Open Letter to WTO Director General – Pascal Lamy

An open letter from trade unions and civil society organizations to WTO Director General Pascal Lamy protesting the "undemocratic and deceptive" process used by the Chair of the Council for Trade in Services to draft a ministerial statement. The signatories argue that the process ignores the lack of consensus on specific trade objectives and threatens the policy space of developing countries.

• The signatories allege that the Chair of the Council for Trade in Services (CTS), Ambassador Fernando de Mateo, has redefined the "consensus" mode of decision-making. They claim the Chair is including items from demandeurs in negotiating texts without prior agreement among the membership, while requiring complete consensus among 148 Member states to remove those items.
• Specific objectives included in the draft texts—such as numerical targets, indicators, and modal or plurilateral approaches—are reportedly rejected by a large number of developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The signatories argue that numerical targets would force countries to open a specific number of sectors, contravening GATS flexibilities and jeopardizing the development objectives and policy space of developing nations.
• The letter criticizes the draft Ministerial Text for failing to elaborate on the emergency safeguard mechanism (ESM), which the signatories describe as a promise made since the Uruguay Round under Article X.1 of the GATS that developed countries have delayed.
• The signatories express concern that plurilateral approaches will be dominated by entities with the largest export capacity, leading to regulatory standards and sector classifications that align with the interests of major corporations.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2005). Open Letter to WTO Director General – Pascal Lamy. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Lamy_1Nov05_English.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Open Letter to WTO Director General – Pascal Lamy. 2005. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Lamy_1Nov05_English.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Open Letter to WTO Director General – Pascal Lamy |date=27 October 2005 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Lamy_1Nov05_English.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2005open, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Open Letter to WTO Director General – Pascal Lamy}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2005}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Lamy_1Nov05_English.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }