Translated material
Case -- Schwab
The US still has a chance to keep Russia out of the WTO
Unexpected statements by US Presidential Trade Representative Susan Schwab that Russia is “not yet ready” to join the World Trade Organization again call into question the realism of forecasts for our country’s accession to this organization by the end of the year . Moreover, the United States still has legal opportunities to seriously complicate Russia’s process of joining the WTO.So far, the Russian negotiating delegation is not inclined to fall into despair. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation even decided not to make official comments on this matter. Moreover, just last week, Ms. Schwab’s immediate boss, US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, stated in Moscow that the United States would do everything in its power to help Russia become a member of the WTO as quickly as possible.
Ms. Schwab's statement is surprising not only because it contradicts what both her immediate boss and US President George W. Bush think, or at least publicly express. After all, it was under her leadership that many years of bilateral negotiations ended with the signing of a protocol in November last year. That is, it turns out that Russia was ready then, but now everything has changed. However, if the US presidential administration really decides that they were in a hurry to give Russia the green light on the path to the WTO, they still have the opportunity to prevent the Russian Federation from joining the international trade club.
The fact is that the completion of bilateral negotiations with WTO member countries is important, but not the only condition for accession. In addition, a multilateral round of negotiations must be completed, at which so-called systemic issues are resolved. The most complex of them are the level of government support for agriculture, protection of intellectual property rights, technical barriers to trade, phytosanitary standards and customs legislation.
For America, the issue of copyright protection is especially important . Washington has repeatedly said that they are not satisfied with the way Russia is fighting piracy . And most importantly, and Ms. Schwab also mentioned this, Washington was badly burned by China, which during the negotiations promised to fight piracy in the most decisive manner, but, having become a member of the WTO, just as decisively forgot about it. The world center of the music and film industry does not intend to make such a mistake for the second time, and multilateral negotiations are the last opportunity to achieve certain concessions from Russia.
Multilateral negotiations are ongoing from the moment an application for accession to the WTO is submitted. But they take much longer than bilateral ones. As the Ministry of Economic Development explained to Vremya Novostei, the list of topics is known in advance, but it has not been fixed. So, if desired, any of the negotiating participants can ask any question that concerns them. All WTO member countries can also take part in multilateral negotiations. So this part of the negotiations is the most expensive, both in terms of time and the amount of materials prepared.
“We receive homework, for example, to tell how the customs value of goods is calculated, then our report is discussed at the working group, and often we receive an additional list of questions,” the Ministry of Economic Development explained to Vremya Novostei. For example, Russian legislation in the field of copyright protection fully complies with international standards. And in this matter there can be no complaints. According to the American side, we lack rigidity in law enforcement. Not a single factory caught producing counterfeit products has yet been closed. However, in Russia they believe that this is an assessment issue and we are doing everything possible.
Disputes of this kind can delay the negotiation process for years. Therefore, it now becomes fundamentally important to understand whether there are serious political forces behind Ms. Schwab's harsh assessments. After all, it depends on whether Russia will be able to join the WTO in the foreseeable future or not.