Doha Mandate

The document outlines the framework, deadlines, and current state of play for the WTO's trade in services negotiations. It details the request-offer process for market access, the disagreement between developed and developing nations over the necessity of an overall assessment of services liberalisation, and the debate over an emergency safeguard mechanism. It also highlights the specific needs and demands of least-developed countries (LDCs) and the challenges regarding domestic regulatory disciplines.

• The Doha Mandate for trade in services aims for "progressively higher levels of liberalisation" and seeks to increase the participation of developing countries while providing them with "appropriate flexibility."
• The negotiations follow a request-offer approach with specific deadlines: initial bilateral market access requests were due by 30 June 2002, initial offers are due by 31 March 2003, and the overall services negotiations are mandated to conclude by 1 January 2005.
• In the bilateral request phase, the US and EU have sought new market access commitments across most of the 12 services sectors, including financial services, transport, and environmental services, while also requesting "additional commitments" on domestic regulatory measures.
• There is a significant divide regarding the assessment of trade in services: developing countries (including Cuba, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Senegal) want an overall multilateral assessment before new negotiations, whereas the US and EU argue for national assessments conducted by individual members.
• Developing countries, led by ASEAN nations, generally support the creation of an emergency safeguard mechanism (ESM) to encourage market access commitments, but developed countries and some Latin American nations remain sceptical of its feasibility.
• Least-developed countries (LDCs) argue they should only receive requests that do not affect specific conditions they attach to market access, should be granted full market access in sectors of export interest, and should not be required to grant credit for autonomous liberalisation.
• Negotiations on horizontal disciplines for domestic regulations are primarily driven by the US and EU, who propose objective necessity and transparency requirements, while many developing countries fear these would exceed their resource capacities.

APA

Baumuller, H., Cameron, H., Halle, A., Meléndez-Ortiz, R., Mosoti, V., Primack, D., Sugathan, M., Vivas, D., & Werth, A. (2003). Doha Mandate. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/wto_doha_trade_services.pdf

Chicago

Baumuller, Heike, Hugo Cameron, Anja Halle, Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Victor Mosoti, David Primack, Mahesh Sugathan, David Vivas, and Alexander Werth. Doha Mandate. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2003. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/wto_doha_trade_services.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{baumuller2003doha, author = {Baumuller, Heike and Cameron, Hugo and Halle, Anja and Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo and Mosoti, Victor and Primack, David and Sugathan, Mahesh and Vivas, David and Werth, Alexander}, title = {{Doha Mandate}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2003}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/wto_doha_trade_services.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }