The QCD Potential at O(1/m)

Within an effective field theory framework, we obtain an expression for the next-to-leading term in the 1/m expansion of the singlet $Q{\bar Q}$ QCD potential in terms of Wilson loops, which holds beyond perturbation theory. We explicitly evaluate this expression at one loop and compare the outcome with the existing perturbative results. The ambiguities in the definition of the QCD potential beyond leading order in 1/m are briefly discussed. On general grounds we show that for quenched QED and fully Abelian-like models the 1/m contribution exactly vanishes.