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In a rapidly changing trade environment, marked by economic slowdown and impasse in the Doha Round, the success of the WTO in promoting and legitimizing the rules-based multilateral trading system rests, to a large extent, on maintaining effective relations with civil society, including non-governmental organisations. This paper provides an overview of the WTO's rules and practices for transparency and engagement with NGOs. First, it looks at both internal and external transparency. Second, it deals with how the WTO engages with civil society and illustrates how this has evolved over time. Third, it looks at how NGOs and civil society contribute to the dispute settlement process. In concluding, it explores whether there is scope for enhancing the WTO's current practices for engagement with NGOs, and if so how. It also offers some suggestions on how NGOs can render the WTO more accountable to the public. One area in which the WTO's practices for transparency and channels of engagement with civil society actors has evolved considerably is dispute settlement. Although only WTO members can bring a dispute to the WTO, the practice of opening hearings to the public, upon the parties' request, and inviting contributions from non-members, including NGOs, shows to what extent WTO transparency and engagement with civil society have improved in recent times. In particular, NGOs have assisted parties to a dispute prepare their briefs. This has included annexing studies to the parties's submissions, submitting amicus curiae briefs, and supporting the panel as experts under Article 13 of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). Forging links with civil society is a formidable task for any intergovernmental organization; at issue are the rights of governments to set WTO policy and the need to respect the voices of those without a vote. Although the WTO's rules for engagement with civil society based on Article V:2 of the Marrakesh Agreement and further elaborated in the 1996 Guidelines have not been updated, the actual practices for engagement have evolved considerably over time and it is likely that they will continue to be improved upon in the future.

Given its size, public procurement matters for economic development. Transparency, competition, accountability, efficiency, and innovation are most commonly noted as guiding principles for achieving best value for money in public contracts. Yet, large-scale, frequently updated, and comparable data on public procurement processes are scarce. This paper presents the methodology and findings of a new global indicator that benchmarks public procurement regulations and practices across 191 economies. The indicator proposes three dimensions to measure the effective implementation of public procurement systems in practice, as applied to a standardized recurrent infrastructure (roads) contract. The three dimensions include the steps and associated time required to complete the procurement process, and the availability and sophistication of e-procurement platforms. A final, fourth component benchmarks the regulatory framework applicable to such contracts. Economies that score higher in the indicator are those with more effective governments, higher quality of roads, and smaller perceptions of corruption. Looking more closely at the scores along the four dimensions reveals that countries differ to a lesser extent in terms of regulatory practices, compared with the use of new technologies such as e-procurement, where considerable gaps between economies exist.

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of Contributors -- Foreword -- Introduction -- PART I: RULES AND PROCEDURES: DESCRIPTION AND ASSESSMENT -- Chapter 1: State Aid Control: Objectives and Procedures -- Chapter 2: State Aid Rules: Do They Promote Efficiency? -- Chapter 3: Is State Aid in Decline? Trends of State Aid to Industry in the Member States of the European Union -- Chapter 4: EC Policy on State Aid: Are the Procedures "User-friendly"? The Rights of Third Parties -- PART II: THE "GUIDELINE" MECHANISM: HORIZONTAL, SECTORAL AND REGIONAL GUIDELINES -- Chapter 5: The Community Framework for State Aid for Research and Development: The Recent Practice of the Court and the Commission -- Chapter 6: Horizontal Guidelines: Do They Facilitate Job Creation? The Example of Employment Subsidies -- Chapter 7: Do State Aid Guidelines Facilitate Improvements in Competitiveness? The Example of Maritime Transport -- Chapter 8: State Aid in the Energy Sector in the EC: The Application of the Market Economy Investor Principle -- Chapter 9: Regional Development Guidelines: Do They Really Help Regional Development? -- Chapter 10: Competition Policy, Cohesion and Coherence? Member State Regional Policies and the New Regional Aid Guidelines -- PART III: FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS -- Chapter 11: State Aid Procedures: The Reform Project -- Chapter 12: Unequal Twins: Reform of the State Aid Rules under Article 94 -- ANNEXES.