Cefic welcomes draft industrial goods agreement

18 July 2007 17:25  [Source: ICIS news]

PARIS (ICIS news)--The Doha Round draft industrial goods agreement should be sufficient to get the talks back on track, said Neil Harvey, head of industrial trade at the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), on Wednesday.

The draft paper was published yesterday by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and was written by Don Stephenson, the Canadian WTO ambassador

It said developing countries should cut import tariffs on industrial goods, such as chemicals, but by less than richer nations.

Stephenson suggested a ceiling of 19-23% on the tariffs of developing countries - less demanding than the 5% sought by the EU and the US but deeper than the 30% proposed by Brazil and other emerging markets.

Rich countries would cut tariffs to below an average of 3%, with higher tariffs of under 10% for certain products.

Developed countries would have five years to liberalise their trade, while developing countries would be given longer to adapt to the new tariff ceilings.

“There seems to be a little bit of mileage in what has been proposed to get the talks back on track,” said Harvey, adding that it was “the most positive thing the chemicals industry has seen [concerning Doha] for a while”.

He said the industry could accept the tariff co-efficients of 19-23% and less than 10% if developing countries were made to accept an offer at the lower end of the band.

Harvey welcomed the fact Stephenson had not ruled out the idea of sectoral agreements as called for by the chemicals industry to take trade liberalisation forward.

The timeframe would have to be carefully monitored to make sure the gap between tariff lines in rich countries and emerging markets did not broaden after the five-year adaptation period, said Harvey.

The paper, along with a draft agreement on agriculture, was published to try and move the Doha Round towards a conclusion after efforts by the EU, the US, Brazil and India ended in failure on 21 June.

By: Philippa Jones
+44 20 8652 3214

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