RP joins call for WTO to defer phaseout of garment quotas

The Philippines joined 36 other signatory nations to the Istanbul Declaration (ID) that are asking the World Trade Organization (WTO) to put off for three years or until Dec. 31, 2007, the phaseout of the quota garments system because this will give undue advantage to emerging economic giant China.

The Confederation of Garments Exporters of the Philippines (CONGEP) yesterday became the 37th signatory to the US-led ID initiative seeking to extend the deadline for the removal of the quota garments system which lapses on Dec. 31, 2005.

The three-year extension is being pushed to give time to affected countries to undertake a full review of global textile and clothing production, export and market circumstances to determine whether the phaseout will be completed in Jan. 1, 2008, or to develop an appropriate alternative arrangement.

Under the quota garments system, garments-exporting countries, mostly from developing nations, are allocated quotas by major markets such as the US, Europe and Canada.

"All studies indicate that in a quota free environment, China will end up controlling two-thirds of the entire textile and garments trade around the world. It is also known that China subsidizes their exports. It does not practice the labor standards. And we believe that unless the developed countries can impose certain rules in order to force China to play on the same field, then it is unfair for the WTO to insist that the quota be integrated at the end of this year," said CONGEP president Donald Dee.

ID petitioners are urging the WTO to convene an emergency session to discuss their petition not later than July this year.

The ID members pointed out that circumstances have changed drastically since the initiation of the quota-phaseout process in 1995. For instance, the admission of China into the WTO in 2002 was not factored in that time.