Membership of the WTO guarantees countries certain trading rights and could protect the Island from costly trade tariffs and quotas when the UK exits the European Union.
During an in-committee States debate yesterday to update Members on the progress of Brexit negotiations, External Relations Minister Sir Philip Bailhache said the current state of negotiations in relation to the WTO was ‘not entirely satisfactory’ but that discussions with UK representatives were ongoing.
Jersey would be able to join the WTO by the UK extending its membership to the Island. Virtually every country in the world is already a member.
Deputy John Le Fondré asked whether Jersey could seek its own membership to the organisation rather than be part of an extension of the UK’s.
Sir Philip said: ‘It would be possible in theory for Jersey to become an independent member. However, it would require unanimous approval from all other countries, and so the sensible option is to seek that the UK should ratify the agreement on our behalf and extend the WTO agreement to Jersey.’
He added that discussions had been held up because of concerns over the Island’s intellectual property legislation and its compliance with an international treaty known as the Paris Convention.‘The relevant UK departments have brought forward changes to our intellectual property law to enable us to meet the requirements of the organisation,’ he said.
‘Unhappily, about a year ago the legal advisers in the relevant UK departments either changed or formed a different view. This is a legal view not shared with our law officers.
‘That has caused delays in processing our wish to have the WTO agreement extended to us.
‘Without going into the technical details, it means Jersey cannot in effect have its own intellectual property registration system. We think that is constitutionally wrong and legally wrong.’
He added that the UK Ministry for Justice is ‘aware of the importance we attach to having the WTO treaty extended to the Channel Islands’.
During the in-committee debate – which has no time limit and no formal proposition to pass – Chief Minister Ian Gorst said he was ‘optimistic’ about the Island’s post-Brexit future and added he had not seen clamour from businesses to leave the Island.
He said: ‘At this stage we have not looked at potential job losses in our sector arising from Brexit because what we are now seeing is growth.
‘I see our challenge around the change in employment is not Brexit-related. The challenge is around technology and what effect that is going to have on the service industry over the coming period.’
