WTO BY VINOD GOSWAMI

2. IN THE PRESENTATION
• INTRODUCTION
• WTO CURRENT STRUCTURE
• OBJECTIVES
• FUNCTIONS
• PRINCIPLES

3. INTRODUCTION TO WTO
• The Uruguay round of GATT (1986-94) gave
birth to World Trade Organization.
• The members of GATT singed on an agreement
of Uruguay round in April 1994 in Morocco for
establishing a new organization named WTO.
• WTO was officially constituted on January 1,
1995 which took the place of GATT as an
effective formal, organization.
• GATT was an informal organization which
regulated world trade since 1948.

4. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only
global international organization dealing with the
rules of trade between nations.
WTO agreements are negotiated and signed by
the trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.
The Goal :To improve the welfare of the peoples
of the member countries.
The goal is to help producers of goods and
services, exporters, and importers conduct and
grow their business.

5. • The WTO agreements are lengthy and
complex because they are legal texts covering
a wide range of activities.
• They deal with: agriculture, textiles and
clothing, banking, telecommunications,
government purchases, industrial standards
and product safety, food sanitation regulations,
intellectual property, and much more.
• Location: Geneva, Switzerland
• Membership : 160 countries (on 26 June 2014)

6. WTO Current Structure
Goods Services
Intellectual
property Disputes
Basic
principles
GATT GATS TRIPS Dispute
settlement
Additional
details
Other goods
agreements
and annexes
Services
annexes
Market access
commitments
Countries’
schedules of
commitments
Countries’
schedules of
commitments

7. • General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT), set of multilateral trade agreements
aimed at the abolition of quotas and the reduction
of tariff duties among the contracting nations.
• GATT was concluded by 23 countries at Geneva, in
1947
• The General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS) is the first set of multilateral rules covering
international trade in services
such as : Education; Financial; Health;
Tourism and Travel; Transport and Other

8. 1)Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) • is an international agreement
administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that
sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual
property (IP) regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO
Members
2) Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures
(TRIMs) • refers to certain conditions or restrictions imposed
by a governments in respect of foreign investment in the
country.
• The agreement on TRIMs provides that no contracting party
shall apply any TRIM which is inconsistent with the WTO
Articles.

9. • Procedure for resolving trade quarrels under the Dispute
Settlement
• The system encourages countries to settle their
differences through consultation

10. Objectives:
1. To improve the standard of living of people in the
member countries.
2. To ensure full employment and broad increase in
effective demand.
3. To enlarge production and trade of goods.
4. To increase the trade of services.
5. To ensure optimum utilization of world resources.
6. To protect the environment.
7. To accept the concept of sustainable
development.

11. Functions:
1. To implement rules and provisions related to
trade policy review mechanism.
2. To provide a platform to member countries to
decide future strategies related to trade and tariff.
3. To provide facilities for implementation,
administration and operation of multilateral and
bilateral agreements of the world trade.
4. To administer the rules and processes related to
dispute settlement.
5. To ensure the optimum use of world resources.
6. To assist international organizations such as, IMF
and IBRD for establishing coherence in Universal
Economic Policy determination.

12. 7. Technical assistance and training for developing
countries
8. Cooperation with other international organizations
9. Handling trade disputes
10. Monitoring national trade policies
11. To ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably
and freely as possible

13. PRINCIPLES OF WTO
Trade Without Discrimination
1. Most- favored -nation (MFN): treating other people equally Under the
WTO agreements, countries cannot normally discriminate between their
trading partners. Grant someone a special favor (such as a lower customs
duty rate for one of their products) and you have to do the same for all
other WTO members.
2. National treatment: Treating foreigners and locals equally Imported
and locally-produced goods should be treated equally — at least after
the foreign goods have entered the market. The same should apply to
foreign and domestic services, and to foreign and local trademarks,
copyrights and patents

14. 3. 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
4. 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
5. Safety values. In specific circumstances,
governments are able to restrict trade. The WTO's
agreements permit members to take measures to
protect not only the environment but also public
health, animal health and plant health