|
Items in cart [0] |
Questions? Call 888-624-8373 |
| Copyright © 2009. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Terms of Use and Privacy Statement |
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 5
ITI. Steering Committee Policy
Recommendations and Finding so
1. High-technology products alla their development require particular
attention in light of their importance to the national economy and because
these industries are the target of industrial policies of many participants in
the multilateral trading system.
OPEN MARKETS
2. Markets for high-technology industries should be open and contest-
able. Market openness through both trade and investment is a powerful
means for improving national and global welfare.
3. Governments should seek to enhance competition, and thereby in-
crease global efficiency, rather than resisting market forces and discourag
. . .
sing competition.
4. Public policymakers should avoid restricting, wherever possible,
transnational cooperative efforts among, firms, provided that sufficient com-
petition is preserved.
*Recommendations and Findings Endorsed by all Members of the Steering Committee.
OCR for page 6
6
CO.NFLICT AND COOPERATION
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH
5. Government support for public research infrastructure and its link-
ages to private sector research is essential for scientific and technological
progress. In addition, governments should support research and develop-
ment for essential government functions.
6. In general, social benefits of RED exceed private benefits of R&D,
providing justification for government support.
7. When supporting R&D, governments should generally support R&D
itself, and not target products or trade to avoid distorting markets.
8. Government can serve as a facilitating agent to create the necessary
credibility, commitment and mutual trust among private firms in the forma-
tion of research consortia. It would be valuable for policymakers to learn
from private sector experiments in structuring, and participating in, interna-
tional consortia undertaken to reduce the risks and costs associated with the
development of new technologies and standards for their application.
9. Governments should be encouraged to allow qualified foreign enti-
ties' participation in national R&D programs which receive government
support, on conditions which are transparent, mutually agreed, and mutually
beneficial. To the extent that international agreements have not been reached,
governments' national benefits requirements for participants in national technology
development programs should seek to avoid imposing constraints on private
participants concerning the transfer or deployment of technologies resulting
from such programs.
10. Effective protection of intellectual property is also a key element of
viable programs of international cooperation in research and development.
TRADE ISSUES
11. With respect to the Subsidies Code of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), governments should consider, In light of current
experience, eliminating the special treatment (greenlighting)* now provided
for R&D and certain other subsidies.
12. Effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights is
essential for encouraging innovation, and its commercial exploitation, throughout
the global economy.
13. Governments must also address challenges to the existing intellectual
property regime. These challenges include: differences in intellectual property
regimes among major trading countries; effective enforcement in the rapidly
industrializing countnes; the issues posed by rapid technological change in
high-technology industries such as biotechnology (e.g., the Human Genome
*Editor's note: "greenlighting" refers to subsidies that are not actionable under trade remedy
provisions because their purpose is internationally accepted.
OCR for page 7
RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDINGS
7
Project); and the global information infrastructure (e.g., copyright of digital
information). International negotiations are needed to adjust existing norms.
14. Foreign direct investment remains a central issue in high-technology
development and trade. It is a major channel for both technology and trade
flows. An effective international investment regime based on a multilateral
investment accord should promptly be completed. Excessive incentives in
competition for new investments should be limited at the national, regional,
and perhaps international level. Compulsory technology transfer must be
prohibited. Market access through investment must be open.
15. Some policies designed to support high-technology industries are
harmful to the multilateral trading system. In addition to investment re
strictions and performance requirements, activities such as discriminatory
public procurement, offsets, and counter trade, and exclusionary product
standards and certification requirements should therefore be brought under
.
internationa . review and scrutiny.
16. Discrimination based on national origin in the public procurement of
high-technoloay products and services should be minimized. To the extent
it exists, it should be expressed as a clear price or cost margin differential,
the levels of which should be bounds and then reduced or eliminated.
17. Standards competition has become increasingly important in high-
technology sectors. In this context, new issues of market power and collu-
sive behavior (including "fair" access for competing firms) may arise, pos-
ing problems for international competition policy. Standards-setting should
not be designed to achieve anticompetitive results. In addition, government
regulation and participation should not unduly delay the establishment of
new standards.
18. For certain technology products, substantial tariff barriers still per-
sist. A concerted multilateral effort should be undertaken to eliminate re-
maining tariffs in high-technology sectors by the year 2000, or sooner, and
should be promptly agreed.
19. Existing barriers to market access for information technologies and
the development of a global information infrastructure, e.g., restrictions on
telecommunications investment and services, should be removed.
20. Structural impediments to trade must be eliminated. Existing GATT
articles offer a multilateral route to conflict resolution. The nonviolation
clause of Article 23 of GATT provides access to multilateral dispute settle-
ment even when the defending country has not explicitly violated the GATT.
Where actionable under the World Trade Organization (WTO), multilateral
dispute settlement should be utilized. Where the WTO rules are inadequate,
they should be amended to achieve these results.
21. No consensus could be achieved over dumping and antidumping issues.
*Editor's note: contractually committed to by international agreement.
OCR for page 8
8
CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
COMPETITION POLICY
22. Anticompetitive business practices, both within national economies
and in the international system, can have severe trade-distorting effects. A
sustained effort to develop principles and practical guidelines for interna-
tional cooperation with respect to competition policy should be undertaken
as a natural extension of international trade principles.
23. In this regard, three steps should be taken: Minimum standards
should be developed, to be observed by antitrust authorities in the partici-
pating countries in dealing, with private restraints of international trade.
Multilateral means should be developed to ensure the application of na-
tional law by an inactive member state where it will not act on its own
initiative. Governments should consider applying WTO dispute settlement
to anticompetitive activities which, occurring in one signatory country, have
adverse effects in another.
FURTHER WORK
24. To address the issues raised by international competition among na-
tional economies for hi:,h-technology industry, governments must ensure
adequate information and analysis on which to base policy. A number of
issues requiring further study were raised in the course of our discussions,
including
· Further analytical work concerning the principles of effective coop-
eration in technology development, the lessons from national and interna-
tional consortia, including eligibility standards, should be undertaken. This
work could also include assessments of what new cooperative mechanisms
might be applied to meet the challenges of international cooperation in
hi=,h-technology products.
· Further work on the role and support for the university and research
institutes in international science and technology research should be under-
taken.
· Further work on current trends in public and private support for basic
research is recommended.
Specific projects related to research and development and trade in high-
technology goods and services might include further analytical work in
Government procurement
Intellectual property protection
R&D subsidies
Standards competition
Investment restrictions and performance requirements
Private restraints of trade
Representative terms from entire chapter:
dispute settlement
