Qatar considers complaint against GCC blockade at World Trader Organisation

Qatar is considering launching a complaint at the World Trade Organisation against a blockade by three neighbouring countries — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — and Egypt, its representative at the global trade body said.

“We’re exploring all possible legal avenues, including, but not limited to, the (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body,” Ali Alwaleed Al Thani, director of Qatar's WTO office, said, according to Gulf Times.

A draft agenda of the WTO’s meeting showed that Qatar will raise its dispute on Friday and the issues will be debated at the WTO’s Council on the Trade in Goods, according to a report in Reuters.

The WTO's 164 members can then weigh in on major areas of trade friction. Airing such concerns is not a complaint in itself, but often signals that a legal dispute is on the way.

However, the draft agenda merely said Qatar wanted to discuss ‘trade restrictive measures by certain members.’ It gave no details of what would be said.

The row has not yet been raised at the WTO, where Qatar and its GCC neighbours appeared to work together as usual.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Ali said the measures went against the fundamental principles of WTO laws, including agreements on trade in goods, services and intellectual property rights, as well as the WTO trade facilitation agreement, supposed to cut red tape at customs and speed cross-border trade.

“They were among the first countries to ratify this agreement and now the first to violate it. There’re also issues regarding international maritime law and air transport rights,” he said.

The WTO dispute system can end with costly trade sanctions imposed on wrongdoers, but it normally takes at least two or three years and sometimes much longer.

“We work under the premise that these measures are going to be in place for a while. It’s not necessarily so, but we’ve to work under this premise,” Sheikh Ali said.

He expected the four countries to cite national security as a reason for the trade restrictions, an exemption permitted by the WTO but one that has never been used in its 22-year history.

Such a defence could be challenged on the grounds of proportionality and necessity, Sheikh Ali said.”What’s the national security value of limiting exports of milk to Qatar?”