World Trade Organization: Definition from Answers.com

WTO

The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, based on a 1947 agreement) established the World Trade Organization. Upon ratification of the Round's Final Act by members, the WTO replaced GATT as the global multilateral trade organization, and a series of agreements associated with but legally distinct from GATT were also placed under the WTO umbrella (such as the GATS, the Agreement on Agriculture, on Textiles and Clothing, on Rules of Origin, etc.).

The 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) emerged from wartime and post-war negotiations (see Bretton Woods) to establish a stable, multilateral economic order. The lengthy negotiating process (1944-7) reflected the controversial nature of the politics of international trade at domestic and international levels of bargaining: changing patterns of international trade could have dramatic and fairly immediate effects on domestic employment and income levels within and among national economies. While it has never proved possible to gain broad agreement on the extent of liberalization in most domains of international trade, it was accepted that the unilateralist and discriminatory practices of the inter-war period had had particularly negative consequences for all concerned.

GATT itself was an interim accord which sought to codify the rules of the emerging trade regime and to proceed with important reductions in national barriers to trade. The US delegation was determined to press other countries to reduce their discriminatory trade practices (particularly the British ‘Imperial Preference’) and in exchange the United States was willing to reduce its traditionally high tariffs. The USSR and its allies remained outside GATT, only considering membership at the end of the Cold War in 1989. Following the signature of the Havana Charter in 1948, the GATT was supposed to form the ‘rule book’ of the newly established International Trade Organization (ITO). The ITO charter prescribed a far more ambitious multilateral institution than the eventual WTO, but this was in part its eventual downfall. When the US failed to ratify the ITO charter, the institution was dead and only the ‘interim’ GATT survived.

The GATT agreement enunciated the principles of reciprocity and non-discrimination, encapsulated in the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and National Treatment concepts. National Treatment implies that governments cannot treat foreign exporting firms any less favourably than domestic producers. Reciprocity meant that any negotiations among trading partners were to yield roughly reciprocal concessions and/or benefits in the eyes of the parties. Non-discrimination meant that any trade concession advanced by a country to one GATT trading partner had to be extended to all others simultaneously. In this way, bilateral negotiations among trading parties would be ‘multilateralized’, leading to the establishment of a liberal trading order.

GATT negotiating ‘Rounds’ were difficult due to the weak state of most post-war economies, and the extraordinary competitive edge of American industry at the time. Most economies would have experienced severe balance-of-payments difficulties had they removed barriers to imports, and domestic employment would have been adversely affected as well. As post-war recovery rendered more liberal trading policies acceptable, the American government sought to replace the piecemeal approach with reciprocal across-the-board tariff cuts by all participating parties on a wide range of traded products. This initiative developed into the ‘Kennedy Round’ agreements of June 1967 which stands as a watershed in post-war trade liberalization. Tariffs on manufactured goods were reduced by 36 per cent on average, and this progress was continued in the later Tokyo Round (1974-9).

The United States had originally taken unilateral measures to keep agricultural trade out of the GATT process in 1955, but had reversed this position in the Kennedy Round. This led to a long-running conflict with the EU (with its Common Agricultural Policy, which represented a delicate internal compromise difficult to disturb) and Japan, both with protected agricultural markets. Agriculture is still central to conflict over the trade regime, and held up the Uruguay Round of negotiations (completed in December 1993).

As tariffs were lowered, so-called non-tariff barriers (NTBs) became the remaining instruments of trade policy. Examples were voluntary export restraint agreements and Orderly Marketing Arrangements, running against the spirit of GATT non-discrimination. As these were ‘voluntary’, GATT rules theoretically did not apply. Furthermore, the principles of liberalization called into question many economic policy measures associated with successful national economic development strategies in the post-war period, particularly in Japan, Europe, and the developing world. Finally, the Less Developed Countries sought exemption from many of GATT's rules, pointing out that their weak economies benefited little from free trade arrangements. All governments abused the escape clauses in GATT (e.g. through anti-dumping measures) and attempts have been made to tighten up the rules over time. None of these disputes is likely to be resolved in any permanent fashion; it is the nature of the eventual compromise which will be crucial to the continued success of the WTO as GATT's successor. There none the less remains broad agreement on the need to continue the momentum of the liberalization process through further rounds of WTO negotiations.

The Uruguay Round negotiations successfully expanded the scope of GATT. It now includes multilateral rules applied to the services sector (see GATS), intellectual property, investment measures, and some aspects of agricultural trade. The Round also ended the provisional status of GATT by establishing the World Trade Organization with an enhanced institutional framework and dispute settlement procedure. The WTO's judgements on trade disputes now bind member countries to change their trade practices, though the US Congress formally refuses this implication and asserts the superiority of US laws.

The new WTO is not without tensions among its members and their societies, as its history would suggest is likely to be the case. Developing countries argue strongly that the WTO as constituted does not adequately take into account the difficulties and asymmetries of economic development under conditions of liberalization. Developed countries and the international organizations they control such as the IMF have put strong pressure on developing countries to liberalize their trade laws despite uncertain consequences for long-run development prospects. Developed countries are often less than generous in opening their markets to developing country exports, especially in the domain of agriculture and garment production.

Perhaps the biggest challenge to the WTO comes not from member states but from civil society groups such as non-governmental organizations. Many social activists in the anti-globalization movement draw attention to the difficulties of liberalization in both developed and developing countries, especially for the weaker members of society and less market-competitive forms of economic organization which may none the less be crucial to local identities and cultures. Organized labour maintains an uneasy relationship with the liberalization process, for fear of job losses. Finally, the emergence of the European Union (EU), the NAFTA, and other nascent regional arrangements such as MERCOSUR or the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (APEC), are also potential challenges to young WTO. So far these regional arrangements have not emerged as discriminatory trading blocs, and the WTO expressly permits regional economic integration if compatible with its rules. Despite the ultimate success of the long Uruguay Round, regional arrangements and indeed bilateral/unilateral solutions (especially on the part of the United States) may become the order of the day if ongoing agreement cannot be reached on outstanding issues. However, global companies would be likely to put up stiff resistance to any attempt to substantially restrict the liberal or global nature of the trade regime. In short, conflict in the WTO continues to mirror socio-political tensions across its member economies and is intimately related to the tensions of global economic integration largely driven by liberalization policies.

— Geoffrey R. D. Underhill

"WTO" redirects here. For other uses, see WTO (disambiguation).

World Trade Organization (English) Organisation mondiale du commerce (French) Organización Mundial del Comercio (Spanish)

WTO members EU and WTO members Observers
Formation	January 1, 1995
Headquarters	Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland
Membership	157 member states
Official languages	English, French, Spanish^[1]
Director-General	Pascal Lamy
Budget	196 million Swiss francs (approx. 209 million USD) in 2011.^[2]
Staff	629^[3]
Website	wto.org

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.^[4]^[5] Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994).

The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain."^[6]

History

Harry White (l) and John Maynard Keynes at the Bretton Woods Conference — Both economists had been strong advocates of a liberal international trade environment, and recommended the establishment of three institutions: the IMF (fiscal and monetary issues), the World Bank (financial and structural issues), and the ITO (international economic cooperation).^[7]

The WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established after World War II in the wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic cooperation — notably the Bretton Woods institutions known as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A comparable international institution for trade, named the International Trade Organization was successfully negotiated. The ITO was to be a United Nations specialized agency and would address not only trade barriers but other issues indirectly related to trade, including employment, investment, restrictive business practices, and commodity agreements. But the ITO treaty was not approved by the U.S. and a few other signatories and never went into effect.^[8]^[9]^[10]

In the absence of an international organization for trade, the GATT would over the years "transform itself" into a de facto international organization.^[11]

GATT rounds of negotiations

The GATT was the only multilateral instrument governing international trade from 1947 until the WTO was established in 1995.^[12] Despite attempts in the mid 1950s and 1960s to create some form of institutional mechanism for international trade, the GATT continued to operate for almost half a century as a semi-institutionalized multilateral treaty regime on a provisional basis.^[13]

From Geneva to Tokyo

Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under GATT. The first real GATT trade rounds concentrated on further reducing tariffs. Then, the Kennedy Round in the mid-sixties brought about a GATT anti-dumping Agreement and a section on development. The Tokyo Round during the seventies was the first major attempt to tackle trade barriers that do not take the form of tariffs, and to improve the system, adopting a series of agreements on non-tariff barriers, which in some cases interpreted existing GATT rules, and in others broke entirely new ground. Because these plurilateral agreements were not accepted by the full GATT membership, they were often informally called "codes". Several of these codes were amended in the Uruguay Round, and turned into multilateral commitments accepted by all WTO members. Only four remained plurilateral (those on government procurement, bovine meat, civil aircraft and dairy products), but in 1997 WTO members agreed to terminate the bovine meat and dairy agreements, leaving only two.^[12]

Uruguay Round

During the Doha Round, the US government blamed Brazil and India for being inflexible, and the EU for impeding agricultural imports.^[14] The Ex-President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, responded to the criticisms by arguing that progress would only be achieved if the richest countries (especially the US and countries in the EU) make deeper cuts in their agricultural subsidies, and further open their markets for agricultural goods.^[15]

Main article: Uruguay Round

Well before GATT's 40th anniversary, its members concluded that the GATT system was straining to adapt to a new globalizing world economy.^[16]^[17] In response to the problems identified in the 1982 Ministerial Declaration (structural deficiencies, spill-over impacts of certain countries' policies on world trade GATT could not manage etc.), the eighth GATT round — known as the Uruguay Round — was launched in September 1986, in Punta del Este, Uruguay.^[16]

It was the biggest negotiating mandate on trade ever agreed: the talks were going to extend the trading system into several new areas, notably trade in services and intellectual property, and to reform trade in the sensitive sectors of agriculture and textiles; all the original GATT articles were up for review.^[17] The Final Act concluding the Uruguay Round and officially establishing the WTO regime was signed April 15, 1994, during the ministerial meeting at Marrakesh, Morocco, and hence is known as the Marrakesh Agreement.^[18]

The GATT still exists as the WTO's umbrella treaty for trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations (a distinction is made between GATT 1994, the updated parts of GATT, and GATT 1947, the original agreement which is still the heart of GATT 1994).^[16] GATT 1994 is not however the only legally binding agreement included via the Final Act at Marrakesh; a long list of about 60 agreements, annexes, decisions and understandings was adopted. The agreements fall into a structure with six main parts:

The Agreement Establishing the WTO
Goods and investment — the Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods including the GATT 1994 and the Trade Related Investment Measures
Services — the General Agreement on Trade in Services
Intellectual property — the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
Dispute settlement (DSU)
Reviews of governments' trade policies (TPRM)^[19]

Ministerial conferences

The topmost decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years. It brings together all members of the WTO, all of which are countries or customs unions. The Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements. The inaugural ministerial conference was held in Singapore in 1996. Disagreements between largely developed and developing economies emerged during this conference over four issues initiated by this conference, which led to them being collectively referred to as the "Singapore issues". The second ministerial conference was held in Geneva in Switzerland. The third conference in Seattle, Washington ended in failure, with massive demonstrations and police and National Guard crowd control efforts drawing worldwide attention. The fourth ministerial conference was held in Doha in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. The Doha Development Round was launched at the conference. The conference also approved the joining of China, which became the 143rd member to join. The fifth ministerial conference was held in Cancún, Mexico, aiming at forging agreement on the Doha round. An alliance of 22 southern states, the G20 developing nations (led by India, China,^[20] Brazil, ASEAN led by the Philippines), resisted demands from the North for agreements on the so-called "Singapore issues" and called for an end to agricultural subsidies within the EU and the US. The talks broke down without progress.

The sixth WTO ministerial conference was held in Hong Kong from 13–18 December 2005. It was considered vital if the four-year-old Doha Development Agenda negotiations were to move forward sufficiently to conclude the round in 2006. In this meeting, countries agreed to phase out all their agricultural export subsidies by the end of 2013, and terminate any cotton export subsidies by the end of 2006. Further concessions to developing countries included an agreement to introduce duty free, tariff free access for goods from the Least Developed Countries, following the Everything but Arms initiative of the European Union — but with up to 3% of tariff lines exempted. Other major issues were left for further negotiation to be completed by the end of 2010. The WTO General Council, on 26 May 2009, agreed to hold a seventh WTO ministerial conference session in Geneva from 30 November-3 December 2009. A statement by chairman Amb. Mario Matus acknowledged that the prime purpose was to remedy a breach of protocol requiring two-yearly "regular" meetings, which had lapsed with the Doha Round failure in 2005, and that the "scaled-down" meeting would not be a negotiating session, but "emphasis will be on transparency and open discussion rather than on small group processes and informal negotiating structures". The general theme for discussion was "The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment"^[21]

Doha Round

Main article: Doha Round

The Doha Development Round started in 2001 and continues today.

The WTO launched the current round of negotiations, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) or Doha Round, at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. The Doha round was to be an ambitious effort to make globalization more inclusive and help the world's poor, particularly by slashing barriers and subsidies in farming.^[22] The initial agenda comprised both further trade liberalization and new rule-making, underpinned by commitments to strengthen substantial assistance to developing countries.^[23]

The negotiations have been highly contentious and agreement has not been reached, despite the intense negotiations at several ministerial conferences and at other sessions. Disagreements still continue over several key areas including agriculture subsidies.^[24]

v · d · eGATT and WTO trade rounds^[25]
Name	Start	Duration	Countries	Subjects covered	Achievements
Geneva	April 1947	7 months	23	Tariffs	Signing of GATT, 45,000 tariff concessions affecting $10 billion of trade
Annecy	April 1949	5 months	13	Tariffs	Countries exchanged some 5,000 tariff concessions
Torquay	September 1950	8 months	38	Tariffs	Countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%
Geneva II	January 1956	5 months	26	Tariffs, admission of Japan	$2.5 billion in tariff reductions
Dillon	September 1960	11 months	26	Tariffs	Tariff concessions worth $4.9 billion of world trade
Kennedy	May 1964	37 months	62	Tariffs, Anti-dumping	Tariff concessions worth $40 billion of world trade
Tokyo	September 1973	74 months	102	Tariffs, non-tariff measures, "framework" agreements	Tariff reductions worth more than $300 billion dollars achieved
Uruguay	September 1986	87 months	123	Tariffs, non-tariff measures, rules, services, intellectual property, dispute settlement, textiles, agriculture, creation of WTO, etc	The round led to the creation of WTO, and extended the range of trade negotiations, leading to major reductions in tariffs (about 40%) and agricultural subsidies, an agreement to allow full access for textiles and clothing from developing countries, and an extension of intellectual property rights.
Doha	November 2001	?	141	Tariffs, non-tariff measures, agriculture, labor standards, environment, competition, investment, transparency, patents etc	The round is not yet concluded.

Functions

Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most important:

It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements.^[26]^[27]
It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes.^[28]^[29]

Additionally, it is the WTO's duty to review and propagate the national trade policies, and to ensure the coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policy-making.^[27]^[29] Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training.^[30]

The WTO is also a center of economic research and analysis: regular assessments of the global trade picture in its annual publications and research reports on specific topics are produced by the organization.^[31] Finally, the WTO cooperates closely with the two other components of the Bretton Woods system, the IMF and the World Bank.^[28]

Principles of the trading system

The WTO establishes a framework for trade policies; it does not define or specify outcomes. That is, it is concerned with setting the rules of the trade policy games.^[32] Five principles are of particular importance in understanding both the pre-1994 GATT and the WTO:

Non-Discrimination. It has two major components: the most favoured nation (MFN) rule, and the national treatment policy. Both are embedded in the main WTO rules on goods, services, and intellectual property, but their precise scope and nature differ across these areas. The MFN rule requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members, i.e. a WTO member has to grant the most favorable conditions under which it allows trade in a certain product type to all other WTO members.^[32] "Grant someone a special favour and you have to do the same for all other WTO members."^[33] National treatment means that imported goods should be treated no less favorably than domestically produced goods (at least after the foreign goods have entered the market) and was introduced to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade (e.g. technical standards, security standards et al. discriminating against imported goods).^[32]
Reciprocity. It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule, and a desire to obtain better access to foreign markets. A related point is that for a nation to negotiate, it is necessary that the gain from doing so be greater than the gain available from unilateral liberalization; reciprocal concessions intend to ensure that such gains will materialise.^[34]
Binding and enforceable commitments. The tariff commitments made by WTO members in a multilateral trade negotiation and on accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions. These schedules establish "ceiling bindings": a country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of trade. If satisfaction is not obtained, the complaining country may invoke the WTO dispute settlement procedures.^[33]^[34]
Transparency. The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions allowing for the review of administrative decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO. These internal transparency requirements are supplemented and facilitated by periodic country-specific reports (trade policy reviews) through the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM).^[35] The WTO system tries also to improve predictability and stability, discouraging the use of quotas and other measures used to set limits on quantities of imports.^[33]
Safety valves. In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade. There are three types of provisions in this direction: articles allowing for the use of trade measures to attain noneconomic objectives; articles aimed at ensuring "fair competition"; and provisions permitting intervention in trade for economic reasons.^[35] Exceptions to the MFN principle also allow for preferential treatment of developed countries, regional free trade areas and customs unions.^{[citation needed]}

Organizational structure

The General Council has multiple bodies which oversee committees in different areas, re the following:

Council for Trade in Goods: There are 11 committees under the jurisdiction of the Goods Council each with a specific task. All members of the WTO participate in the committees. The Textiles Monitoring Body is separate from the other committees but still under the jurisdiction of Goods Council. The body has its own chairman and only 10 members. The body also has several groups relating to textiles.^[36]

Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: Information on intellectual property in the WTO, news and official records of the activities of the TRIPS Council, and details of the WTO's work with other international organizations in the field.^[37]

Council for Trade in Services: The Council for Trade in Services operates under the guidance of the General Council and is responsible for overseeing the functioning of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It is open to all WTO members, and can create subsidiary bodies as required.^[38]

Trade Negotiations Committee: The Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) is the committee that deals with the current trade talks round. The chair is WTO's director-general. The committee is currently tasked with the Doha Development Round.^[39]

The Service Council has three subsidiary bodies: financial services, domestic regulations, GATS rules and specific commitments.^[36] The General council has several different committees, working groups, and working parties.^[40] There are committees on the following: Trade and Environment; Trade and Development (Subcommittee on Least-Developed Countries); Regional Trade Agreements; Balance of Payments Restrictions; and Budget, Finance and Administration. There are working parties on the following: Accession. There are working groups on the following: Trade, debt and finance; and Trade and technology transfer.

Decision-making

The WTO describes itself as "a rules-based, member-driven organization — all decisions are made by the member governments, and the rules are the outcome of negotiations among members".^[41] The WTO Agreement foresees votes where consensus cannot be reached, but the practice of consensus dominates the process of decision-making.^[42]

Richard Harold Steinberg (2002) argues that although the WTO's consensus governance model provides law-based initial bargaining, trading rounds close through power-based bargaining favouring Europe and the U.S., and may not lead to Pareto improvement.^[43]

Dispute settlement

Main article: Dispute settlement in the WTO

In 1994, the WTO members agreed on the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) annexed to the "Final Act" signed in Marrakesh in 1994.^[44] Dispute settlement is regarded by the WTO as the central pillar of the multilateral trading system, and as a "unique contribution to the stability of the global economy".^[45] WTO members have agreed that, if they believe fellow-members are violating trade rules, they will use the multilateral system of settling disputes instead of taking action unilaterally.^[46]

The operation of the WTO dispute settlement process involves the DSB panels, the Appellate Body, the WTO Secretariat, arbitrators, independent experts and several specialized institutions.^[47] Bodies involved in the dispute settlement process, World Trade Organization.

Accession and membership

Main article: World Trade Organization accession and membership

The process of becoming a WTO member is unique to each applicant country, and the terms of accession are dependent upon the country's stage of economic development and current trade regime.^[48] The process takes about five years, on average, but it can last more if the country is less than fully committed to the process or if political issues interfere. The shortest accession negotiation was that of the Kyrgyz Republic, while the longest was that of the People's Republic of China (P. Farah, Five Years of China's WTO Membership, 263–304). Russia, having first applied to join GATT in 1993, was approved for membership in December 2011.^[49] An offer of accession is only given once consensus is reached among interested parties.^[50]

Accession process

Status of WTO negotiations:

Members (including dual-representation with the European Union)

Draft Working Party Report or Factual Summary adopted

Goods and/or Services offers submitted

Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime (FTR) submitted

Observer, negotiations to start later or no Memorandum on FTR submitted

Frozen procedures or no negotiations in the last 3 years

No official interaction with the WTO

A country wishing to accede to the WTO submits an application to the General Council, and has to describe all aspects of its trade and economic policies that have a bearing on WTO agreements.^[51] The application is submitted to the WTO in a memorandum which is examined by a working party open to all interested WTO Members.^[50]

After all necessary background information has been acquired, the working party focuses on issues of discrepancy between the WTO rules and the applicant's international and domestic trade policies and laws. The working party determines the terms and conditions of entry into the WTO for the applicant nation, and may consider transitional periods to allow countries some leeway in complying with the WTO rules.^[48]

The final phase of accession involves bilateral negotiations between the applicant nation and other working party members regarding the concessions and commitments on tariff levels and market access for goods and services. The new member's commitments are to apply equally to all WTO members under normal non-discrimination rules, even though they are negotiated bilaterally.^[51]

When the bilateral talks conclude, the working party sends to the general council or ministerial conference an accession package, which includes a summary of all the working party meetings, the Protocol of Accession (a draft membership treaty), and lists ("schedules") of the member-to-be's commitments. Once the general council or ministerial conference approves of the terms of accession, the applicant's parliament must ratify the Protocol of Accession before it can become a member.^[52]

Members and observers

The WTO has 157 members and 26 observers.^[53] In addition to states, the European Union is also a member. WTO members do not have to be full sovereign nation-members. Instead, they must be a customs territory with full autonomy in the conduct of their external commercial relations. Thus Hong Kong (as "Hong Kong, China" since 1997) became a GATT contracting party, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) acceded to the WTO in 2002 as "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" (Chinese Taipei) despite its disputed status.^[54] The WTO Secretariat omits the official titles (such as Counselor, First Secretary, Second Secretary and Third Secretary) of the members of Chinese Taipei's Permanent Mission to the WTO, except for the titles of the Permanent Representative and the Deputy Permanent Representative.^[55]

Iran is the biggest economy outside the WTO.^[56] With the exception of the Holy See, observers must start accession negotiations within five years of becoming observers. Some international intergovernmental organizations are also granted observer status to WTO bodies.^[57] 14 states and two territories so far have no official interaction with the WTO.

Agreements

Main article: Uruguay Round

The WTO oversees about 60 different agreements which have the status of international legal texts. Member countries must sign and ratify all WTO agreements on accession.^[58] A discussion of some of the most important agreements follows. The Agreement on Agriculture came into effect with the establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995. The AoA has three central concepts, or "pillars": domestic support, market access and export subsidies. The General Agreement on Trade in Services was created to extend the multilateral trading system to service sector, in the same way the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provides such a system for merchandise trade. The Agreement entered into force in January 1995. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.

The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures — also known as the SPS Agreement was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995. Under the SPS agreement, the WTO sets constraints on members' policies relating to food safety (bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection and labelling) as well as animal and plant health (imported pests and diseases). The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization. It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO at the end of 1994. The object ensures that technical negotiations and standards, as well as testing and certification procedures, do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade".^[59] The Agreement on Customs Valuation, formally known as the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of GATT, prescribes methods of customs valuation that Members are to follow. Chiefly, it adopts the "transaction value" approach.

Effectiveness

Main article: Criticism of the World Trade Organization

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Directors-General

The Directors-General of the WTO have been:^[60]

Pascal Lamy, 2005–
Supachai Panitchpakdi, 2002–2005
Mike Moore, 1999–2002
Renato Ruggiero, 1995–1999
Peter Sutherland, 1995

The Directors-General of the precursor organization, GATT, were:

Peter Sutherland, 1993–1995
Arthur Dunkel, 1980–1993
Olivier Long, 1968–1980
Eric Wyndham White, 1948–1968

Notes

^ Languages, Documentation and Information Management Division at WTO official site
^ "WTO Secretariat budget for 2011". WTO official site. http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/secre_e/budget_e.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
^ Overview of the WTO Secretariat (2011) at WTO official site. All WTO staff are based in Geneva.
^ Understanding the WTO – what is the World Trade Organization?, WTO official site
^ Malanczuk, P. (1999). "World Trade Organization". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 442. 305. Bibcode 1999ESASP.442..305M.
^ European Commission The Doha Round
^ A.E. Eckes Jr., US Trade History, 73
* A. Smithies, Reflections on the Work of Keynes, 578–601
* N. Warren, Internet and Globalization, 193
^ P. van den Bossche, The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization, 80
^ Palmeter-Mavroidis, Dispute Settlement, 2
^ Fergusson, Ian F. (9 May 2007). "The World Trade Organization: Background and Issues" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. p. 4. http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/98-928.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
^ It was contemplated that the GATT would be applied for several years until the ITO came into force. However, since the ITO was never brought into being, the GATT gradually became the focus for international governmental cooperation on trade matters (P. van den Bossche, The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization, 81; J.H. Jackson, Managing the Trading System, 134).
^ ^a ^b The GATT Years: from Havana to Marrakesh, WTO official site
^ M.E. Footer, Analysis of the World Trade Organization, 17
^ B.S. Klapper, With a "Short Window"
^ Lula, Time to Get Serious about Agricultural Subsidies
^ ^a ^b ^c P. Gallagher, The First Ten Years of the WTO, 4
^ ^a ^b The Uruguay Round, WTO official site
^ "Legal texts – Marrakesh agreement". WTO. http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/04-wto_e.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
^ Overview: a Navigational Guide, WTO official site. For the complete list of "The Uruguay Round Agreements", see WTO legal texts, WTO official site, and Uruguay Round Agreements, Understandings, Decisions and Declarations, WorldTradeLaw.net
^ "Five Years of China WTO Membership. EU and US Perspectives about China's Compliance with Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review Mechanism". Papers.ssrn.com. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=916768. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
^ WTO to hold 7th Ministerial Conference on 30 November-2 December 2009 WTO official website
^ "In the twilight of Doha". The Economist (The Economist): 65. July 27, 2006. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7218551
^ The Doha Development Agenda, European Commission
^ Fergusson, Ian F. (2008-01-18). "World Trade Organization Negotiations: The Doha Development Agenda" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/RL32060.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
^ a)The GATT years: from Havana to Marrakesh, World Trade Organization
b)Timeline: World Trade Organization – A chronology of key events, BBC News
c)Brakman-Garretsen-Marrewijk-Witteloostuijn, Nations and Firms in the Global Economy, Chapter 10: Trade and Capital Restriction
^ Functions of the WTO, IISD
^ ^a ^b Main Functions, WTO official site
^ ^a ^b A Bredimas, International Economic Law, II, 17
^ ^a ^b C. Deere, Decision-making in the WTO: Medieval or Up-to-Date?
^ WTO Assistance for Developing Countries^{[dead link]}, WTO official site
^ Economic research and analysis, WTO official site
^ ^a ^b ^c B. Hoekman, The WTO: Functions and Basic Principles, 42
^ ^a ^b ^c Principles of the Trading System, WTO official site
^ ^a ^b B. Hoekman, The WTO: Functions and Basic Principles, 43
^ ^a ^b B. Hoekman, The WTO: Functions and Basic Principles, 44
^ ^a ^b "Fourth level: down to the nitty-gritty". WTO official site. http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org1_e.htm#fourth. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
^ "Intellectual property – overview of TRIPS Agreement". Wto.org. 1994-04-15. http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel2_e.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
^ "The Services Council, its Committees and other subsidiary bodies". WTO official site. http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/s_coun_e.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
^ "The Trade Negotiations Committee". WTO official site. http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/tnc_e.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
^ "WTO organization chart". WTO official site. http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org2_e.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
^ Decision-making at WTO official site
^ Decision-Making in the World Trade Organization Abstract from Journal of International Economic Law at Oxford Journals
^ Steinberg, Richard H. "In the Shadow of Law or Power? Consensus-based Bargaining and Outcomes in the GATT/WTO." International Organization. Spring 2002. pp. 339–374.
^ Stewart-Dawyer, The WTO Dispute Settlement System, 7
^ S. Panitchpakdi, The WTO at ten, 8.
^ Settling Disputes:a Unique Contribution, WTO official site
^ "Disputes - Dispute Settlement CBT - WTO Bodies involved in the dispute settlement process - The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) - Page 1". WTO. 1996-07-25. http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/disp_settlement_cbt_e/c3s1p1_e.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
^ ^a ^b Accessions Summary, Center for International Development
^ Ministerial Conference approves Russia's WTO membership WTO News Item, 16 December 2011
^ ^a ^b C. Michalopoulos, WTO Accession, 64
^ ^a ^b Membership, Alliances and Bureaucracy, WTO official site
^ How to Become a Member of the WTO, WTO official site
^ For a list of WTO members and observers (which may not be up to date), see Members and Observers, World Trade Organization. Wikipedia has its own regularly updated list.
^ J.H. Jackson, Sovereignty, 109
^ ROC Government Publication
^^{[dead link]}"Letter of Demand". Iran Trade Law. 2005-05-26. http://www.irantradelaw.com/?page_id=5. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
^ International Intergovernmental Organizations Granted Observer Status to WTO Bodies, WTO official site
^ "Legal texts – the WTO agreements". WTO. http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/legal_e.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
^ "A Summary of the Final Act of the Uruguay Round". Wto.org. http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/ursum_e.htm#dAgreement. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
^ "Previous GATT and WTO Directors-General". WTO. http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/dg_e/exdgs_e.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-21.

External links

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Official pages

Official WTO homepage
- WTO 10th AnniversaryPDF (1.40 MB) — Highlights of the first decade, Annual Report 2005 pages 116–166
- Glossary of terms—a guide to 'WTO-speak'
International Trade Centre — joint UN/WTO agency

Government pages on the WTO

European Union position on the WTO

Media pages on the WTO

World Trade Organization
BBC News — Profile: WTO
Guardian Unlimited — Special Report: The World Trade Organisation ongoing coverage

Non-governmental organization pages on the WTO

Gatt.org — Parody of official WTO page by The Yes Men
Public Citizen
Transnational Institute: Beyond the WTO

v d e World Trade Organization

System	Accession and membership Appellate Body Dispute Settlement Body International Trade Centre Chronology of key events

Issues	Criticism Doha Development Round Singapore issues Quota Elimination Peace Clause

Agreements	General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Agriculture Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Technical Barriers to Trade Trade Related Investment Measures Trade in Services Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Government Procurement Information Technology Marrakech Agreement Doha Declaration

Ministerial Conferences	1st (1996) 2nd (1998) 3rd (1999) 4th (2001) 5th (2003) 6th (2005) 7th (2009) 8th (2011)

People	Pascal Lamy (Director-General) Supachai Panitchpakdi (Former Director-General) Deputy Directors-General: Alejandro Jara Valentine Rugwabiza Harsha Singh Rufus Yerxa

Members	Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belize Benin Bolivia Botswana Brazil Brunei Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile PR China Colombia Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador European Union¹ Fiji Gabon The Gambia Georgia Ghana Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong² Iceland India Indonesia Israel Jamaica Japan Jordan Kenya South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lesotho Liechtenstein Macau² Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Qatar Russia Rwanda St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saudi Arabia Senegal Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Switzerland Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu³ Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Zambia Zimbabwe 1. All twenty-seven member states of the European Union are also members of the WTO in their own right: Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom 2. Special administrative region of the People's Republic of China 3. Designated name for the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan)

v d e International trade

Terminology	Absolute advantage Balance of payments Balance of trade Capital account Comparative advantage Current account Export-oriented industrialization Fair trade Foreign exchange reserves Globalization Import substitution industrialization Net capital outflow Outsourcing Trade justice Trading nation

Organizations and policies	International Monetary Fund International Trade Centre United Nations Conference on Trade and Development World Bank Group World Trade Organization Economic integration Free trade zone Trade barrier Trade bloc Trade pact

Schools of thought	Economic nationalism Free trade Mercantilism Protectionism

Customs unions	ACU ASEAN CACM CAN CARICOM CEMAC CUBKR EAC EAEC EU GCC Mercosur SACU WAEMU

Trading partners	Argentina Canada China European Union India Japan Pakistan United States

v d e Intergovernmental organizations

Commonwealth of Nations · International Criminal Court · International Monetary Fund · International Seabed Authority · Inter-Parliamentary Union · Interpol · Latin Union · United Nations · World Bank Group · World Trade Organization · CPLP

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World Trade Organization