Evolution of WTO, its functions

2. The only international organization that deals with trade legislation is the
World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The WTO Accords, which have been negotiated and ratified by the majority
of the world's trading nations and are recognized by their parliaments, are
at its heart.
The World Trade Organisation is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
The organization's highest decision-making body is the Ministerial
Conference, which meets twice a year and is made up of all member
states.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is made up of 164 countries (160 UN
countries, EU, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan).

4. EVOLUTION
OF WTO
The WTO precursor General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was
established by a multilateral treaty of 23 countries in 1947 after World War II in the
wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic
cooperation—such as the World Bank (founded 1944) and the International
Monetary Fund (founded 1944 or 1945).
A comparable international institution for trade, named the International Trade
Organisation, never started as the U.S. and other signatories did not ratify the
establishment treaty, and so GATT slowly became a de facto international
organization.

5. GATT Negotiations
Before Uruguay
Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under GATT (1949 to 1979).
The first real GATT trade rounds, which took place from 1947 through 1960, focused on further lowering tariffs.
The Kennedy Round, which took place in the mid-1960s, resulted in a GATT anti-dumping accord as well as a development
component.
The Tokyo Round, which took place in the 1970s, was the first major attempt to address non-tariff trade barriers and
improve the system, adopting a series of non-tariff barriers agreements that interpreted existing GATT rules in some cases
and broke new ground in others.
As not all GATT members agreed to these plurilateral agreements, they were dubbed "codes" informally.
Several of these regulations were changed as part of the Uruguay Round, which resulted in multilateral agreements that
were adopted by all WTO members.
Only four remained plurilateral (those on government procurement, bovine meat, civil aircraft, and dairy products), but the
bovine meat and dairy agreements were terminated in 1997, leaving only two.
Despite attempts in the mid-1950s and 1960s to establish some form of institutional mechanism for international trade, the
GATT continued to operate as a semi-institutionalized multilateral treaty régime on a provisional basis for almost half a
century

6. Uruguay Round:
1986–1994
 GATT members recognized, well before the 40th anniversary, that the GATT system was struggling to adapt to a
new globalizing world economy.
 The eighth GATT round, known as the Uruguay Round, was launched in September 1986 in Punta del Este,
Uruguay, in response to the problems identified in the 1982 Ministerial Declaration (structural deficiencies,
spillover effects of certain countries' policies on world trade that the GATT could not manage, and so on).
 It was the largest trade negotiating mandate ever agreed upon: the talks aimed to expand the trading system
into several new areas, including services and intellectual property, as well as reform trade in the sensitive
agricultural and textile sectors; all of the original GATT articles were up for review.
 The Marrakesh Agreement is the last act ending the Uruguay Round and officially establishing the WTO
framework, which was signed on April 15, 1994, during a ministerial meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco.
 The GATT is still in effect as the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) umbrella convention for goods trade, having
been amended as a result of the Uruguay Round discussions.
 However, GATT 1994 was not the only legally binding agreement contained in the Marrakesh Treaty; a long list
of roughly 60 agreements, annexes, judgments, and understandings were accepted.
 The agreements are divided into six sections:
• Agreement Establishing the WTO.
• Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods.
• General Agreement on Trade in Services
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
• Dispute settlement
• Governments' trade policies reviews
 The Uruguay Round was successful in expanding binding commitments by both rich and developing countries,
as seen by the percentages of tariffs bonded before and after the 1986–1994 talks, according to the WTO's
principle of “tariff ceiling-binding"

7. Ministerial
Conferences
 The Ministerial Conference, the WTO's top decision-making body, meets every two
years.
 It brings all WTO members together, whether they are countries or customs unions.
 The Ministerial Conference has the authority to make decisions on all issues relating to
multilateral trade agreements.
 Some sessions, like the initial ministerial conference in Singapore and the Cancun
conference in 2003, included debates between developed and developing nations about
"Singapore issues" such as agricultural subsidies, while others, like the Seattle summit in
1999, sparked significant protests.
 In 2001, the fourth WTO ministerial conference in Doha approved China's admission to the
WTO and launched the Doha Development Round.
 WTO started the Aid for Trade program in December 2005 at the sixth WTO Ministerial
Conference, with the goal of assisting poor nations in the trade as outlined in Sustainable
Development Goal 8, which is to boost aid for trade support and economic growth.
 The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the Twelfth Ministerial Conference

8. IT EXTENDED GATT IN TWO MAJOR WAYS

10. Significance
Administers signed documents: It manages international trade agreements that have been signed, such as the Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
Dispute Settlement: It uses its Dispute Settlement Mechanism to resolve disagreements among its members and to prevent
trade wars.
Manages new negotiations: It acts as a platform and coordinator for new global trade agreements, such as the Doha Round.
Multilateral trading system based on rules: The World Trade Organization (WTO) assures that global trade is governed by
universal rules that are suitable for and recognized all around the world.
Stimulate global growth: Removes trade obstacles, which opens up new markets for the world's resources, hence encouraging
global growth.
A global arbitrator: The World Trade Organization (WTO) acts as a mediator between warring countries, aiming to bring policies
and practices closer together.
Promotes standardization: The World Trade Organization (WTO) and its members establish standards for trade in commodities,
services, and intellectual property (IP) governance, reducing the gap between the quality produced and the quality demanded.

11. Non Discrimination
There will be no discrimination among nations.
Most Favoured Nation (MFN)
All nations should be treated fairly.
No one country can give a particular favor to another member country.
For example, if one government lowers tariffs for one country, the other member countries must follow suit.
National Treatment
All items, whether domestic or imported, receive the same treatment.
Local products, as well as those imported from other nations, are treated fairly and equally.
Reciprocity
Lowering import taxes and other trade barriers in exchange for similar concessions from another country is known as reciprocity.
Predictability
To provide a stable business climate predictability is provided by binding and enforceable pledges.
Transparency
WTO members must publish their trade regulations and notify the WTO of any changes in trade policies.
Reform And Development
Promoting Economic Reform and Development is encouraged.

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13. CASE
STUDY 1

16. Panel view

17. CASE
STUDY
2