[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 50 (Wednesday, April 29, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3749-S3751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SECRET WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION DECISIONS

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and colleagues, the poster that is next to 
me today is a photograph of one of the most important doors in the 
world. It

[[Page S3750]]

is an entry to the World Trade Organization, an organization where 
decisions are made on an ongoing basis that affect the lives of 
millions of Americans and billions of citizens around the world, 
decisions that are directly related to their ability to have good-
paying jobs, decisions related to their health, their safety and their 
well-being.
  Mr. President, these are decisions, as our colleagues can see from 
this photograph next to me that recently appeared in the New York 
Times, that the World Trade Organization makes behind closed doors. In 
fact, they seem to think it is so important to do their business in 
secret that the World Trade Organization has posted it in five 
languages--five languages--just to make it clear that the public, not 
just the public in the United States, but citizens around the world, 
are barred from learning of the deliberations that go on behind those 
doors at the World Trade Organization.
  I do not come to this floor as a protectionist. In fact, I have voted 
for every market-opening trade agreement that has come before the 
Senate and, during my years in the other body. Trade, open and expanded 
trade, is the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest. In my home State of 
Oregon, one out of every five jobs depends on international trade.
  But I am concerned because the World Trade Organization's decisions 
have enormous implications for the daily lives of our citizens, and I 
do not think it is right that those decisions are made behind closed 
doors. I do not think that a new focus by the World Trade Organization 
on openness is inconsistent with the principles of expanded and free 
trade.
  If the World Trade Organization had open meetings and could hear 
evidence from outside experts, it is possible some of their decisions 
would have turned out differently. Take, for example, the recent case 
the United States lost involving shrimp imports. The World Trade 
Organization overturned a U.S. ban on imported shrimp caught without 
turtle excluder devices. If expert witnesses had been allowed to 
demonstrate the effectiveness of these devices in protecting an 
endangered species, I expect that the World Trade Organization would 
have upheld U.S. law. But experts were shut out of those proceedings. 
Environmental groups, just as so many business groups have done, 
condemned that ruling saying, ``Three unaccountable trade bureaucrats 
sitting behind closed doors in Geneva should not have the power to make 
up rules that sabotage global environmental protection.'' The World 
Trade Organization holds more than 150 scheduled meetings a year, and 
hundreds of others. According to World Trade Organization rules, the 
Ministerial Meeting, which is to be held at least once every 2 years, 
shall ordinarily be held in private. The meetings of the General 
Council are also held in private. All other World Trade Organization 
meetings follow the same rules. In fact, one observer noted the World 
Trade Organization carries out all its activities in strict 
confidentiality in meetings closed to the public, including the press 
and nongovernmental organizations.

  Next month, the world's major trading nations will meet in Geneva for 
the second ministerial conference. They will also be celebrating the 
50th anniversary of the world trading system. I urge the President of 
the United States, if he chooses to go to Geneva, to use that 
opportunity to call for an end to the closed meetings of the World 
Trade Organization.
  A few weeks ago, with the bipartisan support of our colleagues, the 
Senate adopted my amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill 
that simply tells the President to instruct the U.S. Representatives to 
the World Trade Organization to open the organization's doors to the 
world's public.
  Today I am joined by several of my colleagues in a letter to the 
President urging that he attach a top priority to opening up the World 
Trade Organization. On a bipartisan basis, Senator Abraham, Senator 
Kerrey, Senator Connie Mack, Senator D'Amato, and Senator Rockefeller 
have joined me in urging that the United States not accept closed 
markets overseas, but also not accept closed doors in Geneva.
  Eliminating the secrecy of meetings takes on a greater sense of 
urgency in light of the growing power of the World Trade Organization. 
Just this year, the World Trade Organization is working behind closed 
doors on new rules on trade in agriculture, financial services, 
information technology, government procurement, and many other areas.
  As the World Trade Organization becomes more enmeshed in global 
standard-setting and multinational regulations, the agency's secrecy 
becomes even more disturbing. For example, an important industry group, 
the American Insurance Association, has publicly criticized the closed-
door nature of the road to Geneva.
  The type of secrecy that is employed at the World Trade Organization 
would not be tolerated here in the United States. In our country, when 
a Federal agency proposes a new rule or regulation, it must seek public 
comment. We hold hearings. There is debate in the press.
  But that fundamental openness is missing in Geneva. The World Trade 
Organization doesn't have to seek public comment on its actions. It 
doesn't have to allow the public to watch its deliberations. And this 
is wrong. The World Trade Organization ought to be held accountable for 
its decisions and actions. They should not be allowed to withhold from 
the public information about their activities in meetings.
  The press has a special place in the gallery here in the U.S. Senate. 
In Geneva, the delegates vote by secret ballot about whether to release 
a statement after the meeting is over.
  The President of the United States, to his great credit, has called 
for greater openness in the World Trade Organization's dispute 
settlement process. This was listed as a principal U.S. trade 
negotiating objective in the fast track legislation of last year. In 
recent testimony before a House committee, senior U.S. officials said 
that the United States will seek greater transparency in the settlement 
process in the World Trade Organization. And Mickey Kantor, President 
Clinton's first trade negotiator, has said, ``These are very important 
issues. But it is like they are being dealt with somewhere in a closet 
and no one is watching.''
  Agricultural trade is just one area where private decisionmaking at 
the World Trade Organization has enormous public implications. Since 
the 1980s, food imports to the United States have doubled. At the same 
time, while most imported food is wholesome, public health scientists 
are saying they are seeing more outbreaks of disease linked to imported 
food--raspberries from Guatemala; carrots from Peru; strawberries, 
scallions, and cantaloupes from Mexico--the list goes on and on, and 
some point to the illnesses from this produce as an unintended 
byproduct of the fact that the safety issues are not debated in the 
open at the World Trade Organization.

  So, our message is simple. The decisions of the World Trade 
Organization on food safety or other key standards should not be made 
behind closed doors. The World Trade Organization has the regulatory 
power to decide whether an Oregon wheat farmer can sell his wheat 
overseas and whether an Oregon cattle rancher can sell his beef in 
Europe. A November 28, 1997, WTO report on relations with 
nongovernmental organizations found that the World Trade Organization 
restricts the availability of documents on these and many other 
important issues for our constituents.
  The World Trade Organization's dispute settlement process is binding. 
Last November, an opinion piece in the Journal of Commerce stated:

       World Trade Organization dispute settlement process 
     operates largely in the dark with confidential briefs, closed 
     hearings, unsigned opinions and non-transparent, ad hoc panel 
     appointments. Clearly defined rules on procedure, conflicts 
     of interest and other ethical issues for litigants and judges 
     are not established.

  Opening dispute settlement to public view, as the President has 
called for and as our bipartisan group of Senators calls for today, is 
essential to maintaining the integrity of the process.
  Last December, 129 Members of the Swiss Parliament criticized the 
World Trade Organization for its lack of democracy, calling for greater 
transparency. The Swiss should know. They have a front row seat on the 
proceedings in Geneva, and even they believe that it is difficult, if 
not impossible, to come up with information about these important 
proceedings.

[[Page S3751]]

  I close with this last comment. The call for openness at the World 
Trade Organization is a pro-trade position. It will strengthen this 
organization. Sunshine will be beneficial to the cause of free and 
expanded trade, a cause that I have consistently voted for in my years 
in the U.S. Congress. But if there is a continued lack of 
accountability, if there is a continued obsession with secrecy, I 
believe that is going to undermine the cause of expanded trade in the 
world. I am very hopeful that as we look to bring more openness to the 
World Trade Organization, we will see the importance of doing the 
public's business in public all through the world.
  Mr. President, many of our colleagues are aware that I am trying to 
bring more openness to the U.S. Senate, with Senator Grassley, by 
barring the right of a Senator to put a secret hold or objection on 
business here in the U.S. Senate. So I am very hopeful that this year 
will see changes, changes in the rules in the U.S. Senate, that will 
bring more openness to the way decisions are made here, changes at the 
World Trade Organization so there is more openness and more 
accountability in the way decisions are made there.
  I hope I will be able to come back to this floor in the months ahead 
without this poster, and say the World Trade Organization has taken 
down the ``private'' signs and shown the public how it is making its 
decisions and why. Doing the public's business in public is more likely 
to generate confidence in the important decisions that are made at the 
World Trade Organization and here in the U.S. Senate.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I ask unanimous consent that I may speak for about 7 
minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator from Alaska is recognized.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thank my friend.

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