The second set of problems resulting from the lack of specific rules to govern the WTO is that it makes the WTO especially prone to power-based improvisation. In the absence of generally agreed rules 47
Decision-making and negotiation processes
A group of Latin American and Caribbean countries issued a similar statement. In the face of such trenchant criticism, a conscious attempt has been made by all parties concerned to improve the process. The schedules of small-group meetings and the list of invitees are now announced; members can self-select participation; at least some minutes are published; and the meetings are open-ended and directed only towards consensus-building rather than any decision-making. But several problems persist. Often developing countries find that they are not well-equipped to even identify their interests in some of the highly technical areas to claim their right to participation in a small-group meeting. They also find that they are unable to exercise the threat to block in the final stages of decision-making if they have not attended the consensus-building small-group meetings. In addition to this, informality places considerable discretion in the hands of the chairpersons at all levels of the WTO hierarchy. These key individuals define the agenda and frequency of meetings as well as the lists of invitees, and can thereby exercise an important influence on negotiated outcomes. In the absence of rules about exactly what the chair can do and how he or she can do it, the role that certain chairpersons choose to play inevitably becomes a source of conflict. Finally, the importance of informal processes means that the WTO retains what Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), describes as the ‘almost English club atmosphere’ of the GATT. This inaccessible culture of the institution, along with language barriers, makes effective participation an especially daunting task for the smaller and newer members of the WTO. As a result, developing countries, in coalitions or individually, have put forth proposals for institutional reform that envisage a WTO whose functioning is tightly bound by a clearly specified set of formal rules and procedures.