Désignation de la nouvelle directrice de l'OMC - entre droit et politique comme à l'accoutumée

Abstract

International audience ; The World Trade Organization (WTO), established in 1994 as a successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), has a governing structure called the "Director-General". Their appointment did not pose any major legal and/or political problems until 2021. The procedure for appointing a Director-General is explicitly specified in Article VI of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. In this respect, however, the actual appointment of the first Directors-General from 1994 to 2004 was somewhat unusual. Both the first Director-General of the WTO, who was already in place as a Director in the GATT, and who remained, at the request of the contracting parties, to ensure continuity between the two organisations. In 2002, WTO members adopted a resolution, organising the appointment of each Director-General for the future. From that date onwards, the following Directors-General were appointed successively for four years, following difficult negotiations due to political and regional oppositions between members concerning their effective representation within the WTO. The appointment of Directors-General is made not only according to the procedure established in 2002, but also in a way that is specific to the WTO, which is the adoption of a decision by consensus. This method assumes that no member of the organisation objects to an appointment. From 2005 to 2017, two Directors-General were appointed, and their terms were renewed once. However, before the end of the second term of the last Director-General, Roberto Azavêdo, he submitted his resignation, which he justified with the proximity of the next WTO Ministerial Conference, which he did not want to interfere with the appointment of the next Director. But this resignation came in a delicate political and economic context due to the stances of US President Trump and the COVID-19 crisis. This resignation provoked a real crisis for the appointment of the next Director. Initially, the President of the General Council, ...