도하 라운드와 WTO 투자협정 논의의 방향 = WTO DDA Negotiation and Investment Agreement

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The 2001 Doha declaration did not launch negotiation on investment issue immediately. It says negotiation will take place after the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference on the basis of a decision to be taken, by explicit consensus, at that Session on Modalities of negotiations[i.e., how the negotiations are to be conducted]. It is still not certain whether or not a multilateral framework on investment(MFI) is eventually negotiated at the WTO. If negotiations on an MFI eventually begin, experience with the existing investment-related provisions in the WTO might prove useful. However, at the same time, the existing architecture could also pose challenges associated with issues of compatibility. The General Agreement on Trade in Service(GATS) is the WTO agreement that clearly covers foreign investment and that displays the elements of traditional investment architecture. If an MFI is negotiated, a basic question would be how to establish the relationship between the GATS and the MFI. Would an MFI just cover manufacturing? Or might Mode 3(commercial presence) of the GATS be transferred to the MFI? This paper argues that it is desirable to build a comprehensive MFI that covers investments in all sectors, though in plurilateral form. The GATS can be a good guidance as to the application of the non-discrimination principle in the MFI. But the major shortcoming of the GATS is that it does not distinguish the pre-establishment stage and post-establishment stage. A precautionary reservation is allowed, thus backsliding from the existing level of liberalization is possible. This paper suggests that the MFI needs a stronger disciplines on the post-establishment stage.