WTO-related issues
Related to the issue of possible MBMs for international
shipping, the MEPC during its sixty-fourth session
considered a submission39 that argued that MBMs
show incompatibility with the WTO rules (IMO, 2012f).
The document also considers that the conclusion of the
third Intersessional Meeting of the Working Group on
GHG Emissions from Ships (GHG-WG 3) – that MBMs
are, in principle, compatible with the WTO rules – was
premature, since most of the MBM proposals were not
yet sufficiently elaborated to support that conclusion.
At the request of the IMO Council, comments were
sought from WTO on the above document, and note
was taken of the response by the WTO Secretariat
(IMO, 2013h) during the sixty-fifth session of the
MEPC. In its response, the WTO Secretariat indicated
that it was not authorized to interpret WTO rules, as
this was the exclusive prerogative of WTO members.
However, it had prepared a neutral document which
set out the WTO disciplines most relevant to the types
of MBMs that the IMO was considering