As free trade agreements continue to expand in numbers and complexity, preferential origin requirements also multiply and become more complex. Many recent preferential trade agreements have adopted increasingly tailor-made, more specific, and tighter rules of origin. As is well known, the resulting complexity associated with origin requirements increase trading costs and may diminish the appeal of preferential agreements. It is against that background that monitoring the utilization of preferential agreements vests a strategic interest for policy makers. The calculation and examination of utilization rates can help identify with greater precision rules of origin or origin requirements that may be hindering trade and hence diminishing the value of preferential agreements. The linkages between rules of origin and the utilization of preferences (with a focus on least developed countries) have been at the centre of the work of the WTO Committee on Rules of Origin in the past few years.
However, associating low levels of preference utilization with origin requirements and identifying best practices require the consideration of other factors that may influence the decision by businesses to utilize or not, preferential agreements.
This is the objective of this webinar: to explore other factors that drive the utilization of trade preferences and set rules of origin in that context.
What factors may explain that some agreements are very heavily used and others not so much? Are governments actively monitoring the utilization of their preferential trade agreements? What are some of the difficulties associated with the calculation of utilization? Are efforts being made to promote awareness and use of preferential agreements among the business community? How are governments building the capacity of companies to understand and comply with preferential origin requirements?
This webinar will be held via the platform Zoom and will be open to the public subject to prior registration. The format will be a 10-minute presentation followed by a moderated debate among the speakers.
For more information on the listed speakers, click on the speaker's name.
Programme
10:45
Opening
- Han-Ming HUANG (Chinese Taipei), Chair of the Committee on Rules of Origin 2020-21
11:00 – 11:30
The work of the WTO's Committee on Rules of Origin on the utilization of trade preferences and what has been learnt so far
- Darlan F. MARTÍ, Secretary of the Committee on Rules of Origin, World Trade Organization
Presentation
11:30 – 13:00
Round table 1: what drives the utilization of trade preferences?
What are the main factors which drive the integration of economies and the utilization of preferential trade agreements? How can the utilization of preferences be measured and how can it be associated with origin requirements? How significant are rules of origin and origin requirements among the drivers of utilization?
Moderator:
- Thomas VERBEET, Statistician, Economic Research and Statistics Divisions, World Trade Organization
Speakers:
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Michele RUTA, Lead Economist, World Bank
Presentation
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Jaime DE MELO, Senior fellow, FERDI
Presentation
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Lars NILSSON, Deputy Head of Unit, Chief Economist, Trade Analysis and Evaluation Unit European Commission
Presentation
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Jeremy HARRIS, Economist, InterAmerican Development Bank
Presentation
- Stefano INAMA, Chief, Technical Assistance, Trade and Customs in the Division on African and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), UNCTAD
Presentation
13:00 – 14:30
Round table 2: increasing the capacity of businesses to benefit from preferential trade agreements
Are governments monitoring the utilization of their preferential agreements and if so, what can be learnt from such efforts? How significant is the impact of rules of origin in explaining underutilization? What programmes are currently available to raise awareness about FTAs and preferential trade opportunities among the business community? Are there successful experiences to be shared? In addition to awareness raising and training programmes, what other tools are available to enhance business capacity?
Moderator:
- Simon NEUMUELLER, Economic Affairs Officer, Market Access Division, World Trade Organization
Speakers:
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Don SPEDDING, First Secretary and Consul, Australian Permanent Mission to the WTO
Presentation
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Thembekile Thembi MLANGENI, Director: market access, The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa
Presentation
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Akinobu TOYODA, Assistant Director, Economic Partnership Division, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan
Presentation
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Michèle GLAUSER, Advisor, International Movement of Goods Division, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, Switzerland
Presentation
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Wouter DECOSTER, Head of HR Department & Continuous Improvement, International Trade Analyst, Belgian Foreign Trade Agency
Presentation
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Geraldine EMBERGER, Advisor for Implementation of EU Trade Agreements, Enforcement, Market Access, SMEs, Legal affairs, Technology and Security, DG Trade, European Commission
Michele Ruta is a Lead Economist in the Macroeconomics, Trade & Investment Global Practice of the World Bank, where he oversees the work program on regional integration. He had previous appointments at the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the European University Institute, and holds a PhD in economics from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Ruta’s research focuses on international and regional integration and has been extensively published in academic journals, including the Journal of International Economics, the Journal of Development Economics and the Journal of Public Economics. Most recently, he has been the lead author of the World Bank Group’s studies Belt and Road Economics and The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects and has edited the Handbook of Deep Trade Agreements.
Jaime de Melo, professor emeritus from the University of Geneva is a CEPR fellow, and a senior fellow at FERDI. He has consulted for the AfDB, the European Commission, the IMF, USAID, the Swiss Government, and has participated in several projects with the LSE and IGC. He has held several editorial positions, and was Editor of the World Bank Economic Review, 2005-2010.
Lars Nilsson is Deputy Head of the Chief Economist, Trade Analysis and Evaluation Unit of the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade, which he joined in 2004. He is specialized in regional and bilateral aspects of European Union (EU) trade policy, including EU trade policy towards developing countries, areas in which he has published widely. He is also Associate Professor of economics at Lund University, Sweden, from where he obtained his PhD. Previously, he worked for the European Commission's Directorate General for External Relations and he has also served as a Special Advisor in the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Jeremy Harris worked as Consultant, Economist, and Integration and Trade Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank for more than eighteen years. In this context, he has participated in supporting several trade negotiations processes, including the FTAA and the DR-CAFTA, as well as others within Latin America, with an emphasis on rules of origin and market access. At the IDB he has participated in the design and development of several databases and information systems regarding market access. He has written on preferential trade agreements and their systemic effects on regional and global trade. Outside the IDB he has worked as a consultant for the UN-ECLAC, the CARICOM Secretariat, DFID, and GTZ. Mr. Harris holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland.
Stefano Inama is a Chief, Technical Assistance, Trade and Customs in the Division on African and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), UNCTAD Geneva, Switzerland. He possesses over 30 years of experience on trade and customs issues matured advising Governments and private sector. He is the author of one of the most comprehensive analytical books on rules of origin. He has been representing UNCTAD during the negotiations in the Technical Committee on Rules of Origin (TCRO) established at the World Customs Organizations and most recently at the Working group on the revision of annex K of the Kyoto convention. His work of advice and technical assistance to the WTO LDC group during WTO negotiations on Duty Free and Quota Free (DFQF) and rules of origin has been instrumental to the adoption of the Bali and Nairobi WTO Ministerial Decisions on preferential rules of origin for LDCs.
Don Spedding commenced as First Secretary and Consul at the Australian Permanent Mission to the WTO in March 2021. He was previously Assistant Director of the FTA Implementation and Policy Branch in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His responsibilities in that role included detailed preference utilisation analysis for Australia’s regional trade agreements, contributing to the development of Australia’s FTA Portal, FTA implementation, and trade advocacy. He has a particular interest in trade statistics, and previously served at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Thembekile Mlangeni is a qualified and experienced international trade negotiator with extensive knowledge on market access issues. Her areas of competence cover industrial tariffs, non-tariff barriers, trade facilitation and rules of origin. She spent eight years as a market access negotiator representing South Africa in the WTO. She chaired the WTO Committee on rules of origin in 2018/2019. Currently she is based in Pretoria and while providing support for WTO market access negotiations, she also provides expertise and leads the market access technical negotiation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). She holds a Master in Economics, a Master in Diplomatic Studies and other certificates from the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Akinobu Toyoda is an Assistant Director of Economic Partnership Division in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. He takes part in the negotiations on the rules of origin and, works with the utilisation and application of trade agreements. In the past, he held the position of Deputy Director of Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters in the Cabinet office. He joined the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2015 and served as an officer in Budget and Accounts Division.
Michèle Glauser is an Advisor at the International Movement of Goods Division at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). She has been involved in the negotiations and implementation of Switzerland’s Free Trade Agreements in the area of trade in goods and coordinates the analysis on the preference utilisation of the Swiss Free Trade Agreements. She graduated from the Master in International Law and Economics at the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern.
After obtaining a Master in History and an Advanced Master in International Relations & Diplomacy, Wouter Decoster started working for the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency where he was a coordinator of Belgian Economic Missions and State Visits. He later joined the studies department and was promoted in 2020 to become Head of Department, responsible for HR and Continuous Improvement, while still being engaged in studies as International Trade Analyst. In the latter capacity, he has a special focus on the utilization of FTAs. Wouter is also guest professor of the course “Foreign Trade” at the Odisee University of applied sciences, based in Brussels.