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W O R L D T R A D E O R G A N I Z AT I O N

W H AT I S T H E

WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

GATT 1994 Marrakesh Agreement

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an

intergovernmental organization which regulates
international trade.

It was officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under

the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on
15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on
GATT 1994 - Uruguay Round
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.
Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive
from previous trade negotiations, especially from the
Uruguay Round (19861994).

H I S TO RY O F T H E

THE EARLY STAGE OF WTO

Harry
White

John
Maynard
Keynes

Bretton Woods Conference; Both had been

strong advocates of a central-controlled
international trade environment
Thus, recommended the establishment of three
institutions:
the IMF (for fiscal and monetary issues);
the World Bank (for financial & structural issues);
the ITO (for international economic cooperation).

WTO AND ITS PREDECESSOR

Formed by the union of a number of plots of land between
1755 and 1893
In 1785, construction began on the Villa Rappard,
In 1921, the Swiss Confederation acquired the estate and
offered it to the League of Nations, which designated the site
for construction of a headquarters for the International Labor
Office.
Both bodies had been created in 1919 with the signing of the
Treaty of Versailles.
The GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) came into
being in 1947 as the result of Brenton Woods Conference.
Headquarter of WTO

GATT
GATT Logo

(GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS

AND TRADE) AND THE CREATION OF

WTO

The GATT still exists as the WTO's umbrella treaty for

trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round
negotiations.
The agreements fall into a structure with six main parts:

GATT 1994 - Uruguay Round

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 (TRIMS)
Services the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
Intellectual property the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
Dispute settlement (DSU)
Reviews of governments' trade policies (TPRM)

THE KEY MINISTERIAL

CONFERENCE ON MULTILATERAL
TRADE AGREEMENTS.
The inaugural ministerial conference (1996) was held in
Singapore.
The second ministerial conference (1998) was held in Geneva in
Switzerland.
The World Trade Organization
Ministerial Conference of The third conference (1999) in Seattle, Washington .
1998, in the Palace of Nations
The fourth ministerial conference (2001) was held in Doha in the
(Geneva, Switzerland).
Persian Gulf fourth nation of Qatar; The conference also approved the
joining of China, which became the 143rd member to join.
The fifth ministerial conference (2003) was held in Cancun, Mexico,
aiming at forging agreement on the Doha round.
The sixth WTO ministerial conference (2005) was held in Hong
Kong; where tariff lines were then exempted.
WTO Ministerial Conference Hong Kong

THAN EVER BEFORE IN HUMAN HISTORY, WE

MORE
SHARE A COMMON
. WE CAN MASTER IT
DESTINY

ONLY IF WE FACE IT TOGETHER. AND THAT IS WHY

WE HAVE THE UNITED NATIONS.
Kofi Annan

A Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to
December 2006.

FUNCTIONS OF WTO
Oversee the implementation, administration and operation of covered agreement

Forum for negotiation and settling dispute

Review and propagate national trade policies
Ensure coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic
policy making
Assisting the developing, least-developed and low-income countries to adjust to WTO by
technical cooperation and training

ADDITIONAL FUNCTION
Facilitate the implementation, administration and operation and further the objectives of
agreement and of the Multilateral Trade Agreement
Provide the framework for implementation, administration and operation of the Multilateral
Trade Agreement
Provide the forum for negotiations among its members concerning their multilateral trade
relations in matters dealt with under the Agreement in the Annexes to this Agreement

 Administer the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes.
Administer Trade Policy Review Mechanism
With a view to achieving greater coherence in global economic policy making, the WTO shall
cooperate, as appropriate, with the international Monetary Fund (IMF) and with the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and its affiliated agencies

PRINCIPLES OF WTO
Non-Discrimination

Reciprocity
Binding and Enforceable commitments
Transparency

Safety Valves

THE ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE

WTO structure

All WTO members may participate in all councils, committees, etc, except Appellate Body, Dispute Settlement panels, and plurilateral committees.

Ministerial Conference

General Council meeting as

Dispute Settlement
Body

General Council meeting as

General Council

Trade Policy Review

Body

Doha Development Agenda:

TNC and its bodies

Appellate Body
Dispute Settlement panels

Committees on

Trade and Environment

Trade and Development
Subcommittee on LeastDeveloped Countries
Regional Trade Agreements
Balance of Payments
Restrictions
Budget, Finance and
Administration

Working parties on
Accession

Working groups on

Council for
Trade in Goods

Trade Negotiations
Committee
Council for
Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual
Property Rights

Committees on

Council for
Trade in Services

Committees on

Market Access

Trade in Financial Services

Specific Commitments

Agriculture
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
Technical Barriers to Trade
Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
Anti-Dumping Practices
Customs Valuation
Rules of Origin
Import Licensing
Trade-Related Investment Measures
Safeguards

Working parties on
Domestic Regulation
GATS Rules

Trade, debt and finance

Trade and technology
transfer
(Inactive:
(Relationship between
Working party on
Trade and Investment
State-Trading Enterprises
(Interaction between
Trade and Competition
Policy
(Transparency in
Government Procurement)
Plurilateral
Information Technology Agreement
Committee

Special Sessions of
Services Council
TRIPS Council
Dispute Settlement Body
Agriculture Committee
Cotton Sub-Committee
Trade and Development Committee
Trade and Environment Committee

Negotiating groups on
Market Access
Rules
Trade facilitation

Plurilaterals
Trade in Civil Aircraft
Committee
Government Procurement
Committee

Key
Reporting to General Council (or a subsidiary)
Reporting to Dispute Settlement Body
Plurilateral committees inform the General Council or Goods Council of their activities, although these agreements are not signed by all WTO members
Trade Negotiations Committee reports to General Council
The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and Dispute Settlement Body

Last printed 31/03/2006 3:00 PM

HOW ARE DECISIONS

MADE
?

The WTO is run by its member governments. All major decisions

are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who
meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or
delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva). Decisions are normally

taken by consensus.
When WTO rules impose disciplines on countries policies, that is
the outcome of negotiations among WTO members. The rules are

enforced by the members themselves under agreed procedures

procedures that they negotiated, including the possibility of trade
possibility of trade sanctions. But those sanctions are imposed by
member countries, and authorized by the membership as a whole.

Highest authority:
The Ministerial Conference
Topmost is the ministerial conference which has to meet at least
once every two years. The Ministerial Conference can take decisions
on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements.

Second level:
General Council in three guises
Day-to-day work in between the ministerial conferences is handled
by three bodies:
- The General Council
- The Dispute Settlement Body
- The Trade Policy Review Body
All three are in fact the same the Agreement Establishing the WTO
states they are all the General Council, although they meet under
different terms of reference. Again, all three consist of all WTO
members. They report to the Ministerial Conference.
The General Council acts on behalf of the Ministerial Conference on
all WTO affairs. It meets as the Dispute Settlement Body and the

Trade Policy Review Body to oversee procedures for settling

disputes between members and to analyze members trade
policies.

Third level:
Councils for each broad area of trade,
and more
Three more councils, each handling a different broad area of trade, report to the
General Council:
- The Council for Trade in Goods (Goods Council)
- The Council for Trade in Services (Services Council)
- The Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS
Council)

As their names indicate, the three are responsible for the workings of the WTO
agreements dealing with their respective areas of trade. Again they consist of all
WTO members. The three also have subsidiary bodies. The scope of their
coverage is smaller, so they are committees. But they still consist of all WTO
members. They cover issues such as trade and development, the environment,
regional trading arrangements, and administrative issues. The Singapore
Ministerial Conference in December 1996 decided to create new working groups
to look at investment and competition policy, transparency in government
procurement, and trade facilitation.

Fourth level:
Bottom-level committees
- Each of the higher level councils has subsidiary bodies. The Goods Council
has 11 committees dealing with specific subjects (such as agriculture, market
access, subsidies, anti-dumping measures and so on). Again, these consist of
all member countries. Also reporting to the Goods Council is the Textiles
Monitoring Body, which consists of a chairman and 10 members acting in their
personal capacities, and groups dealing with notifications (governments
informing the WTO about current and new policies or measures) and state
trading enterprises.
- The Services Councils subsidiary bodies deal with financial services,
domestic regulations, GATS rules and specific commitments.
- At the General Council level, the Dispute Settlement Body also has two
subsidiaries: the dispute settlement panels of experts appointed to
adjudicate on unresolved disputes, and the Appellate Body that deals with
appeals.

ACCESSION TO
THE WTO

HOW TO APPLY
Who can apply
The request for accession

Submission of a memorandum on the foreign trade regime

Conditions of entry
Bilateral negotiations
The final accession package
Approval of the accession package

Becoming a full member

WHO CAN APPLY?

Any state or customs territory having full autonomy in the
conduct of its trade policies is eligible to accede to the
WTO on terms agreed between it and WTO Members.
(Article XII of the WTO Agreement).

THE REQUEST FOR ACCESSION

The accession process commences with the
submission of a formal written request for
accession by the applicant government

SUBMISSION OF A
MEMORANDUM ON THE FOREIGN
TRADE REGIME
The applicant government presents a
memorandum covering all aspects of its trade
and legal regime to the Working Party. This
memorandum forms the basis for detailed fact
finding by the Working Party

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
After examining all aspects of the existing trade and legal
regimes of the acceding government the Working Party
goes into the substantive part of the multilateral
negotiations involved in accessions. This determines the
terms and conditions of entry for the applicant
government.

BILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS
At the same time, the applicant government engages in
bilateral negotiations with interested Working Party
members on concessions and commitments on market
access for goods and services. The results of these bilateral
negotiations are consolidated into a document which is
part of the final accession package.

THE FINAL ACCESSION PACKAGE

The accession package consists of two documents
which represent the results of both the multilateral and
bilateral phases outlined above. These are:
A Report of the Working Party containing a summary of
proceedings and conditions of entry and a Protocol of
Accession.

Schedules of market access commitments in goods and

services agreed between the acceding government and
WTO Members.

APPROVAL OF THE ACCESSION PACKAGE

Two final documents will be issued:

The Decision of the General Council

The Protocol of Accession of the new entrant a Protocol
of Accession annexed to the Report which states that the
country accedes to the WTO Agreement, defines the
Schedules and outlines final provisions for timing of
acceptance of the Protocol and full membership of the
WTO.

BECOMING A FULL MEMBER

Once approved by the General Council of Ministerial
Conference, the applicant is then free to sign the Protocol
of Accession stating that it accepts the approved
accessions package subject to ratification in its national
parliament.

WORLD TRADE
O R G A N I Z AT I O N
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT AND
AG R E E M E N T S YS T E M

IMPORTANCE OF THE WTO DISPUTE

SETTLEMENT SYSTEM
helps to prevent the detrimental effects of unresolved
international trade conflicts
mitigate the imbalances between stronger and weaker
players

THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT

UNDERSTANDING
The current dispute settlement system was created as part
of the WTO Agreement during the Uruguay Round
embodied in the Understanding on Rules and Procedures
Governing the Settlement of Disputes

FUNCTIONS, OBJECTIVES AND KEY

FEATURES OF THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
SYSTEM
Providing security and predictability to the multilateral trading system
Preserving the rights and obligations of WTO Members
Clarification of rights and obligations through interpretation

Mutually Agreed Solutions as Preferred Solution

Prompt settlement of disputes
Prohibition against unilateral determinations
Exclusive jurisdiction
Compulsory nature

WTO
CRITICISM

Benefits developed
countries than developing
countries

Undemocratic

CRITICISM
Destroying the
environment

Decision Making

WTOs Office

Centre William Rappard

Rue de Lausanne 154, Geneva, Switzerland

FIRST DIRECTOR GENERAL OF WTO

Peter Sutherland
In 1993, he became Director General of
the General Agreement of Tarrifs and
Trade (now the World Trade
Organization). Later Mickey Kantor, the
US Trade Minister, credited him with
being the father of globalization and said
that without him there would have been
no WTO.

CURRENT DIRECTOR GENERAL OF WTO

Roberto Azevdo
In May 2013 Azevdo was announced
to be the sixth Director-General of
the WTO. During his time as DirectorGeneral, Ambassador Azevdo has
overseen two successful WTO
Ministerial Conferences in Bali in
2013 and Nairobi in 2015 which
delivered a series of significant
outcomes in support of growth and
development.

THE END
T H A N K S A L OT F O R T H E
AT T E N T I O N T H AT H A S B E E N
G I V E N TO O U R P R E S E N TAT I O N

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