The use of export restrictions has become more and more common in recent years,
evidencing the substantial loopholes existing in the WTO regulation on the matter.
As a result of this deficient legal framework, the WTO membership experiences
important losses of welfare and increasing political tensions. The multilateral
negotiations for an updated discipline on export restrictions, in the context of the
Doha Development Round, are blocked. Consequently, members have established a
set of preferential bilateral and multilateral agreements to relieve the negative
effects of these measures. Likewise, some recent WTO members have committed to
stricter regulations as part of their Accession Protocols. Nevertheless, these methods
have evidenced some important flaws, and the multilateral scene remains the
optimum forum to address export restrictions. This Working Paper proposes a
number of measures to improve the legal framework of the quantitative export
restrictions and export duties, as well as their notification procedures
