Anabel Gonzalez, one of the World Trade Organization's deputy directors-general, said in a farewell column that although progress is being made on improving the WTO, "governments face some tough choices in the months and years to come to deal with pressing matters that, if left unchecked, could seriously erode the multilateral trading system and damage trade as an engine of growth and prosperity."

Indonesia launched a safeguard investigation on slag wool, rock wool and similar mineral wools in bulk, sheets or rolls, it told the World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards July 27. The investigation also will cover intermixtures of slag and rock wool, WTO said. Indonesia's Safeguards Committee said it will hold a hearing on Aug. 10 to give WTO members with an interest in the case to present their views, WTO said, adding that interested parties must submit their evidence and views by Aug. 7.

World Trade Organization members delivered "the first potential outcome on WTO reform" to be presented at the 13th Ministerial Conference by agreeing to a set of measures to boost the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) "as a transparency tool," while making Trade Policy Reviews (TPRs) more efficient, the WTO said. Coming up with the measures during a July 26 meeting on the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM), the members focused on implementing an improved information technology system to better facilitate the questions and answers process during TPRs.

The World Trade Organization's dispute settlement body during its July 28 meeting agreed to the EU's request to create a compliance panel concerning whether the U.S. fully complied with a prior panel ruling on its countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain. During the meeting, the EU said further action was needed given the U.S. failure to fully implement the ruling and engage with the EU, a Geneva-based trade official said in an email. The U.S. said it was disappointed the bloc requested the panel, adding that under a procedural understanding between it and the EU, the U.S. accepts the compliance panel, the official said.

The Dominican Republic violated its World Trade Organization commitments under the Anti-Dumping Agreement when imposing duties on corrugated steel bars from Costa Rica, a World Trade Organization dispute panel said in a July 27 report. The panel said the Dominican Republic's Regulatory Commission on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures "failed to comply with the requirement" to make the comparison between the export price and normal value with sales made at "nearly as possible the same time."

The World Trade Organization on July 24 elected the United Arab Emirates' foreign trade minister, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, chairperson for the 13th Ministerial Conference. The ministerial conference will take place Feb. 26-29 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

Peru formally accepted the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on July 19, becoming the 14th nation to do so, the WTO announced. The deal, which would impose rules to crack down on subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, requires a two-thirds majority for ratification. "Peru's status as one of the leading marine fishing producers is a strong signal of the importance of the Agreement for global fisheries sustainability," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. Peru's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ana Cecilia Gervasi Diaz said the country is "honoured to be the first Latin American member" to accept the deal, and hopes it convinces "the rest of the membership towards a prompt entry into force of this Agreement.”

The World Trade Organization's published agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's July 28 meeting includes U.S. status reports on the implementation of DSB recommendations on antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Status reports are also expected from Indonesia on measures related to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products.

The U.S. and India formally submitted their bids to end five disputes at the World Trade Organization, including a dispute surrounding India's retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. goods due to the Section 232 steel and aluminum duties. India and the U.S. told the WTO that mutually agreed to solutions were reached in India's disputes against U.S. countervailing duties on hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from India, measures on the renewable energy sector and Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum products. Solutions were also reached in the U.S. objection to India's measures on solar cells and modules and export-related restrictions. The deal to drop the cases was struck during a visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House in June (see 2306230038).

During the fourth in a series of "Fish Weeks," World Trade Organization talks on the second wave of fisheries subsidies negotiations, members increased their sense of "urgency" ahead of the text-based talks set to occur at the 13th Ministerial Conference in February, the WTO said. Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, who chaired the July 10-14 meetings, said members' "came to this week with deepened reflections on various ideas on the proposals and texts on the table. This effort remains a real indication of the sense of urgency and seriousness with which we are approaching this process." Gunnarsson said text-based talks need to start "as soon as we come back in the fall."