January 2000 WTO General Council Meeting
In the last episode of 1999, the General Council Chair left the strong impression that a January meeting would be scheduled. Specifically, it was expected that the General Council would meet in mid-January to revert to agenda item three, "Seattle Follow-up", and in that context resume consideration of expired and lapsed provisions. According to sources in Geneva, a January meeting has not been scheduled, as informal consultations are still underway. A formal meeting is being prepared for February.
It has been noted in some quarters that, under the WTO Charter, the General Council is the supreme decision-making authority between Ministerial Conferences, implying that by holding a formal session on December 20, 1999, the WTO had in effect tacitly acknowledged that the conference was concluded.
There has of course been no official statement to this effect, and none is expected. It is noteworthy, however, that in December 1999, the EC sought an internal legal opinion on the status of Seattle. Reportedly, the opinion supported the view that the Ministerial Conference was concluded in Seattle. By year-end 1999, the EC was still engaged in internal debate over whether the Seattle process could be legally resumed, as Barshefsky had intimated the evening of December 3.
ISSN 1492-7187, TRADE POLICY MONITOR, January 2000,
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