What is WTO?
The WTO was formed out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of the talks. The bulk of the WTO’s contemporary work comes from the 1986–94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round and previous negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The WTO is at present the host to new negotiations, under the ‘Doha Development Agenda’ launched in 2001.
Where countries have encountered trade barriers and wanted them reduced, the negotiations have improved to open markets for Trade.
The WTO is not just about opening markets, but in some situations its rules support retaining trade barriers, for example, to protect consumers or prevent the spread of disease.
WTO Agreements
At its heart are the WTO agreements, discussed and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations. These documents require the legal ground-rules for international commerce. They are effectively contracts, binding governments to keep their trade policies contained by agreed limits.
Even though negotiated and signed by governments, the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business while allowing governments to meet social and environmental objectives.
The system’s paramount purpose is to help trade flow as freely as possible — so long as there are no undesirable side effects — because this is important for economic development and well-being. That partly means removing obstacles.
It also means guaranteeing that individuals, companies and governments know what the trade rules are around the world, and giving them the confidence that there will be no sudden changes of policy. In other words, the authorities have to be ‘transparent’ and predictable.
Trade relations often involve contradictory interests. Agreements, including those meticulously negotiated in the WTO system, often need interpreting.
The most congenial way to settle these differences is all through some neutral procedure based on an agreed legal foundation. That is the rationale behind the dispute settlement process written into the WTO agreements.
What does it do?
While its member states drive the WTO, it could not function without its Secretariat to coordinate the activities.
The Secretariat engages over 600 staff, and its experts — lawyers, economists, statisticians and communications experts assist WTO members daily to ensure, among other things, that negotiations proceed smoothly, and that the rules of international Trade are correctly applied and enforced.
Trade Negotiations
The WTO agreements cover-up goods, services and intellectual property. They stretch out the principles of liberalization and the permissible exceptions.
They include separate countries’ commitments to lower customs tariffs and other trade barriers and to open and keep open services markets. They set techniques for settling disputes.
These agreements are not constant; they are renegotiated from time to time, and new contracts can be added to the package.
Many are now being consulted under the Doha Development Agenda, introduced by WTO trade ministers in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001.
Implementation and monitoring
WTO agreements necessitate governments to make their trade policies transparent by notifying the WTO about laws in force and measures adopted.
Various WTO councils and committees seek to guarantee that these requirements are being followed and that WTO agreements are being correctly implemented.
All WTO members must undertake periodic scrutiny of their trade policies and practices, each review containing reports by the country concerned and the WTO Secretariat.
Dispute settlement
The WTO’s method for settling trade quarrels under the Dispute Settlement Understanding is vital for enforcing the rules and therefore for safeguarding that trade flows smoothly.
Countries bring disagreements to the WTO if they think their rights under the agreements are being breached.
Judgements by specifically appointed independent experts are based on understandings of the arrangements and individual countries’ commitments.
Building trade capacity
WTO agreements contain a special provision for developing countries, including more extended time periods to implement agreements and commitments, measures to increase their trading opportunities, and support to help them build their trade capacity, to handle disputes and to implement technical standards.
The WTO organizes hundreds of specialized cooperation missions to developing countries annually. It also holds several courses each year in Geneva for government officials. Aid for Trade intends to help developing countries develop the skills and infrastructure necessary to expand their Trade.
Outreach
- The WTO preserves consistent dialogue with non-governmental organizations, parliamentarians, other international organizations, the media and the general public on various aspects of the WTO and the ongoing Doha negotiations, with the aim of improving cooperation and increasing awareness of WTO activities.
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