International
organizations and movements. Their role in the promotion of peace, global
cooperation and mutual understanding
WORLD
TRADE ORGANISTAION
Matveev
Andrey 11 “A”
Center
of Education №1816
2002
WORLD
TRADE ORGANISATION
Nobody
will deny if I say that in our modern world it is very important to control the
relationship between different countries. There are different organizations
nowadays. They control different aspects of our everyday life. I would like to
speak about world trade organization. It deals with the global rules of trade
between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly,
predictably and freely as possible.
First
of all I would like to give some facts about the creation and location of WTO.
Location:
Geneva, Switzerland
Established:
1 January 1995
Created
by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986–94)
Membership:
134 countries (as of February 1999)
Budget:
122 million Swiss francs for 1999
Secretariat
staff: 500
Head:
Director-general
Functions:
•
Administering WTO trade agreements
•
Forum for trade negotiations
•
Handling trade disputes
•
Monitoring national trade policies
•
Technical assistance and training for developing countries
•
Cooperation with other international organizations
The
World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One of the youngest of the
international organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War. So
while the WTO is still young, the multilateral trading system that was
originally set up under GATT is already 50 years old. The system celebrated its
golden jubilee in Geneva on 19 May 1998, with many heads of state and
government leaders attending. The past 50 years have seen an exceptional growth
in world trade. Merchandise exports grew on average by 6% annually. Total trade
in 1997 was 14-times the level of 1950. GATT and the WTO have helped to create
a strong and prosperous trading system contributing to unprecedented growth.
The system was developed through a series of trade negotiations, or rounds,
held under GATT. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff reductions but later
negotiations included other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff measures.
The latest round—the 1986-94. Uruguay Round—led to the WTO’s creation. The
negotiations did not end there. Some continued after the end of the Uruguay
Round. In February 1997 agreement was reached on telecommunications services,
with 69 governments agreeing to wide-ranging liberalization measures that went
beyond those agreed in the Uruguay Round. In the same year 40 governments
successfully concluded negotiations for tariff-free trade in information
technology products, and 70 members concluded a financial services deal
covering more than 95% of trade in banking, insurance, securities and financial
information. At the May 1998 ministerial meeting in Geneva, WTO members agreed
to study trade issues arising from global electronic commerce. The next
ministerial conference is due to be held in the United States in late 1999. In
2000, new talks are due to start on agriculture and services and possibly a
range of other issues.
FUNCTIONS
The
WTO’s overriding objective is to help trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly and
predictably. It does this by:
•
Administering trade agreements
•
Acting as a forum for trade negotiations
•
Settling trade disputes
•
Reviewing national trade policies
•
Assisting developing countries in trade policy issues, through technical
assistance and training programs
•
Cooperating with other international organizations
STRUCTURE
The
WTO has more than 130 members, accounting for over 90% of world trade. Over 30
others are negotiating membership. Decisions are made by the entire membership.
This is typically by consensus. A majority vote is also possible but it has
never been used in the WTO, and was extremely rare under the WTO’s predecessor,
GATT. The WTO’s agreements have been ratified in all members’ parliaments. The
WTO’s top level decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference which meets
at least once every two years. Below this is the General Council (normally
ambassadors and heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent
from members’ capitals) which meets several times a year in the Geneva
headquarters. The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body
and the Dispute Settlement Body. At the next level, the Goods Council, Services
Council and Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Council report to the General
Council. Numerous specialized committees, working groups and working parties
deal with the individual agreements and other areas such as the environment,
development, membership applications and regional trade agreements. The first
Ministerial Conference in Singapore in 1996 added three new working groups to
this structure. They deal with the relationship between trade and investment,
the interaction between trade and competition policy and transparency in
government procurement. At the second Ministerial Conference in Geneva in 1998
ministers decided that the WTO would also study the area of electronic
commerce, a task to be shared out among existing councils and committees.
SECRETARIAT
The
WTO Secretariat, based in Geneva, has around 500 staff and is headed by a
director-general. It does not have branch offices outside Geneva. Since
decisions are taken by the members themselves, the Secretariat does not have
the decision-making role that other international bureaucracies are given. The
Secretariat’s main duties are to supply technical support for the various
councils and committees and the ministerial conferences, to provide technical
assistance for developing countries, to analyze world trade, and to explain WTO
affairs to the public and media.
The
Secretariat also provides some forms of legal assistance in the dispute
settlement process and advises governments wishing to become members of the
WTO.
The
annual budget is roughly 122 million Swiss francs. How can you ensure that
trade is as fair as possible, and as free as is practical? By negotiating rules
and abiding by them. The WTO’s rules—the agreements—are the result of
negotiations between the members. The current set were the outcome of the
1986–94 Uruguay Round negotiations which included a major revision of the
original General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT is now the WTO’s
principal rule-book for trade in goods. The Uruguay Round also created new
rules for dealing with trade in services, relevant aspects of intellectual
property, dispute settlement, and trade policy reviews. The complete set runs
to some 30,000 pages consisting of about 60 agreements and separate commitments
(called schedules) made by individual members in specific areas such as lower
customs duty rates and services market-opening. Through these agreements, WTO
members operate a non- discriminatory trading system that spells out their
rights and their obligations. Each country receives guarantees that its exports
will be treated fairly and consistently in other. These principles appear in
the new General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). WTO members have also
made individual commitments under GATS stating which of their services sectors
they are willing to open to foreign competition, and how open those markets
are. countries’ markets. Each promises to do the same for imports into its own
market. The system also gives developing countries some flexibility in
implementing their commitments.
GOODS
It
all began with trade in goods. From 1947 to 1994, GATT was the forum for
negotiating lower customs duty rates and other trade barriers; the text of
General Agreement spelt out important rules, particularly non- discrimination.
Since 1995, the updated GATT has become the WTO’s umbrella agreement for trade
in goods. It has annexes dealing with specific sectors such as agriculture and
textiles, and with specific issues such as state trading, product standards,
subsidies and actions taken against dumping.
SERVICES
Banks,
insurance firms, telecommunications companies, tour operators, hotel chains and
transport companies looking to do business abroad can now enjoy the same
principles of freer and fairer trade that originally only applied to trade in
goods.
INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
The
WTO’s intellectual property agreement amounts to rules for trade and investment
in ideas and creativity. The rules state how copyrights, trademarks,
geographical names used to identify products, industrial designs, integrated
circuit layout-designs and undisclosed information such as trade
secrets—“intellectual property”—should be protected when trade is involved.
DISPUTE
SETTLEMENT
The
WTO’s procedure for resolving trade quarrels under the Dispute Settlement
Understanding is vital for enforcing the rules and therefore for ensuring that
trade flows smoothly. Countries bring disputes to the WTO if they think their
rights under the agreements are being infringed. Judgments by
specially-appointed independent experts are based on interpretations of the
agreements and individual countries’ commitments. The system encourages
countries to settle their differences through consultation. Failing that, they
can follow a carefully mapped out, stage-by-stage procedure that includes the
possibility of a ruling by a panel of experts, and the chance to appeal the
ruling on legal grounds. Confidence in the system is borne out by the number of
cases brought to the WTO—167 cases by March 1999 compared to some 300 disputes
dealt with during the entire life of GATT (1947–94).
POLICY
REVIEW
The
Trade Policy Review Mechanism’s purpose is to improve transparency, to create a
greater understanding of the policies that countries are adopting, and to
assess their impact. Many members also see the reviews as constructive feedback
on their policies. All WTO members must undergo periodic scrutiny, each review
containing reports by the country concerned and the WTO Secretariat. Over 54
members have been reviewed since the WTO came into force.
DEVELOPMENT
AND TRADE
Over
three quarters of WTO members are developing or least-developed countries.
Special provisions for these members are included in all the WTO agreements.
They include longer time periods for implementing agreements and commitments,
measures to increase trading opportunities for these countries, provisions
requiring all WTO members to safeguard the trade interests of developing
countries, and support to help developing countries build the infrastructure
for WTO work, handle disputes, and implement technical standards. In 1997, a
high-level meeting on trade initiatives and technical assistance for
least-developed countries brought their concerns to centre stage. The meeting
involved six intergovernmental agencies and resulted in an “integrated
framework” to help least-developed countries increase their ability to trade,
and some additional preferential market access agreements. A committee on trade
and development, assisted by a sub- committee on least-developed countries,
looks at developing countries’ special needs. Its responsibility includes
implementation of the agreements, technical cooperation, and the increased
participation of developing countries in the global trading system
TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING
The
WTO organizes around 100 technical cooperation missions to developing countries
annually. It holds on average three trade policy courses each year in Geneva
for government officials. Regional seminars are held regularly in all regions
of the world with a special emphasis on African countries. Training courses are
also organized in Geneva for officials from countries in transition from
central planning to market economies. In 1997/98, the WTO set up reference
centers in over 40 trade ministries in capitals of least-developed countries,
providing computers and internet access to enable ministry officials to keep
abreast of events in the WTO in Geneva through online access to the WTO’s
immense database of official documents and other material.
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