Deepening Cooperation on Medical Goods and Services Trade
assurances that their supplies of critical medical goods will not be arbitrarily cut off (Evenett and Winters 2020). Exporters could limit their rights to introduce temporary export controls in times of crisis in exchange for better market access in the importers’ markets in normal times. This would not be a deal of reciprocal market opening (the standard practice in trade agreements) but a promise to limit supply disruptions during a health crisis in exchange for a promise to retain open markets in normal times. Box 3.3 summarizes specific policy commitments to support such a bargain. Box 3.3 crises
Potential commitments to bolster governance of trade policy in global
Suggested commitments on the use of trade policy instruments in public health emergencies can be grouped into five categories (Espitia, Rocha, and Ruta 2020): 1. Commitments to limit trade policy discretion on medical goods during a pandemic • By importers, to retain policy reforms on medical goods enacted during a pandemic for three years • By exporters, that any export restriction would not exceed a period of three months and would not lower exports to partners by more than 50 p ercent of the average of the past two years • By both exporters and importers, that proposed measures account for the impact on others—a requirement that exists for export controls on agricultural products 2. Actions to ease flows of medical products across borders could include commitments to abide by best trade facilitation practices for medical goods or to adopt international standards for critical medical goods for three years. 3. A commitment to improve transparency on policies and production of medical goods could include • A commitment to improve notifications (for example, by making information on new measures quickly available online), and • Strengthening of the World Trade Organization (WTO) monitoring function during a pandemic, including expanding its analysis of trade effects of policy actions and the Secretariat’s capacity to collect and report on measures from sources other than government notifications. 4. A commitment to basic principles for dispute resolution could include, for instance, an agreement that partners’ responses must be proportional and time-bound if a party walks away from its commitments to restrain export policy or retain import policy reforms. 5. A commitment to create a consultation mechanism could provide a forum to discuss common and country-specific problems, including the emergence of new critical areas such as shortages of medical goods or inputs not covered by the deal or the trade effects of policy changes by one party on other members. This mechanism could be informed by the analysis and enhanced monitoring of policies by the WTO Secretariat.
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