Regional and Issue Specific Coalitions in the WTO: The Contribution of ASEAN to Legitimizing Decision-Making

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has undertaken systemic reforms since its establishment following the conclusion of the Uruguay Round in 1994. Indeed, the very dynamics of the WTO negotiating processes have underdone transformations nearly unimaginable in the era of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Among the most important changes are those addressing the topic of legitimacy. Sweeping improvements in transparency have led to the declassification of essentially all WTO documents to the general public at the same time of their circulation to WTO Member Governments. Of course a subset of sensitive negotiating proposals often know as “JOB” documents and “Room Documents”, which are normally circulated only at formal and informal WTO meetings, remain restricted and are not available on the public version of the WTO website. Such documents are, however, nevertheless often available on various internet websites of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) covering WTO issues. The current state oftransparency on WTO documentation compares favourably with the practice of the 1990s whenonly selective WTO documents were made available to the general public following mandatory eight-month embargos, and then only when requested from the WTO Secretariat. It is important to recognise the significant improvements in the transparency of WTO processes both in terms ofits relatively recent establishment, and its implications for the legitimacy of the WTO.