NAME: AMIR TEHSEEN ROLL NO 01 CLASS MBA (HRM) 4th SEMESTER

January 28

WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

2014
What is the WTO?

World trade organization was come in to existence in 1 January 1995 replacing GATT general agreement on tariff and trade which was built in 1948.

What is the WTO?

History World trade organization was came in to existence in 1 January 1995 replacing GATT general agreement on tariff and trade which was built in 1948.The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the worlds trading nations. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland Established: 1 January 1995 Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94) Membership: 159 countries on 2 March 2013 Budget: 197 million Swiss francs for 2013 Secretariat staff: 640 Head: Roberto Azevdo (Director-General) Functions: Administering WTO trade agreements Forum for trade negotiations Handling trade disputes

There are a number of ways of looking at the World Trade Organization. It is an organization for trade opening. It is a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements. It is a place for them to settle trade disputes. It operates a system of trade rules. Essentially, the WTO is a place where member governments try to sort out the trade problems they face with each other. The WTO was born out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of negotiations. The bulk of the WTOs current work comes from the 198694 negotiations called the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The WTO is currently the host to new negotiations, under the Doha Development Agenda launched in 2001.

Monitoring national
trade policies Technical assistance and training for developing countries Cooperation with other international organizations

Where countries have faced trade barriers and wanted them lowered, the negotiations have helped to open markets for trade. But the WTO is not just about opening markets, and in some circumstances its rules support maintaining trade barriers for example, to protect consumers or prevent the spread of disease.

At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the worlds trading nations. These documents provide the legal ground rules for international commerce. They are essentially contracts, binding governments to keep their trade policies within agreed limits. Although 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.

Functions
It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements. It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes. it is the WTO's duty to review and propagate the national trade policies, and to ensure the coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policymaking Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training.

Organizational structure
The General Council has the following subsidiary bodies which oversee committees in different areas: Council for Trade in Goods There are 11 committees under the jurisdiction of the Goods Council each with a specific task. All members of the WTO participate in the committees. The Textiles Monitoring Body is separate from the other committees but still under the jurisdiction of Goods Council. The body has its own chairman and only 10 members. The body also has several groups relating to textiles. Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Information on intellectual property in the WTO, news and official records of the activities of the TRIPS Council, and details of the WTO's work with other international organizations in the field. Council for Trade in Services The Council for Trade in Services operates under the guidance of the General Council and is responsible for overseeing the functioning of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It is open to all WTO members, and can create subsidiary bodies as required. Trade Negotiations Committee The Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) is the committee that deals with the current trade talks round. The chair is WTO's director-general. As of June 2012 the committee was tasked with the Doha Development Round.

Accession and membership

The process of becoming a WTO member is unique to each applicant country, and the terms of accession are dependent upon the country's stage of economic development and current trade regime. The process takes about five years, on average, but it can last more if the country is less than fully committed to the process or if political issues interfere. The shortest accession negotiation was that of the Kyrgyz Republic, while the longest was that of Russia, which, having first applied to join GATT in 1993 was approved for membership in December 2011 and became a WTO member on 22 August 2012

WTO accession progress:

Members (including dual-representation with the European Union) Draft Working Party Report or Factual Summary adopted Goods and/or Services offers submitted Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime (FTR) submitted Observer, negotiations to start later or no Memorandum on FTR submitted Frozen procedures or no negotiations in the last 3 years No official interaction with the WTO .A country

wishing to accede to the WTO submits an application to the General Council, and has to describe all aspects of its trade and economic policies that have a bearing on WTO agreements.[64] The application is submitted to the WTO in a memorandum which is examined by a working party open to all interested WTO Members. After all necessary background information has been acquired; the working party focuses on issues of discrepancy between the WTO rules and the applicant's international and domestic trade policies and laws. The working party determines the terms and conditions of entry into the WTO for the applicant nation, and may consider transitional periods to allow countries some leeway in complying with the WTO rules. The final phase of accession involves bilateral negotiations between the applicant nation and other working party members regarding the concessions and commitments on tariff levels and market access for goods and services. The new member's commitments are to apply equally to all WTO members under normal non-discrimination rules, even though they are negotiated bilaterally. When the bilateral talks conclude, the working party sends to the general council or ministerial conference an accession package, which includes a summary of all the working party meetings, the Protocol of Accession (a draft membership treaty), and lists ("schedules") of the member-to-be's commitments. Once the general council or ministerial conference approves of the terms of accession, the applicant's parliament must ratify the Protocol of Accession before it can become a member. Some countries may have faced tougher and a much longer accession process due to challenges during negotiations with other WTO members, such as Vietnam, whose negotiations took more than 11 years before it became official member in January 2007.

What WTO stands for

The WTO is run by its member governments. All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).WTO agreements are lengthy and complex because they are legal texts covering a wide range of activities. But a number of simple, fundamental principles run throughout all of these documents. These principles are the foundation of the multilateral trading system. Non-discrimination A country should not discriminate between its trading partners and it should not discriminate between its own and foreign products, services or nationals. More open Lowering trade barriers is one of the most obvious ways of encouraging trade; these barriers include customs duties (or tariffs) and measure such as import bans or quotas that restrict quantities selectively. Predictable and transparent

Foreign companies, investors and governments should be confident that trade barriers should not be raised arbitrarily. With stability and predictability, investment is encouraged, jobs are created and consumers can fully enjoy the benefits of competition choice and lower prices. More competitive Discouraging unfair practices, such as export subsidies and dumping products at below cost to gain market share; the issues are complex, and the rules try to establish what is fair or unfair, and how governments can respond, in particular by charging additional import duties calculated to compensate for damage caused by unfair trade. More beneficial for less developed countries Giving them more time to adjust, greater flexibility and special privileges; over three-quarters of WTO members are developing countries and countries in transition to market economies. The WTO agreements give them transition periods to adjust to the more unfamiliar and, perhaps, difficult WTO provisions. Protect the environment The WTOs agreements permit members to take measures to protect not only the environment but also public health, animal health and plant health. However, these measures must be applied in the same way to both national and foreign businesses. In other words, members must not use environmental protection measures as a means of disguising protectionist policies.

Developing countries and WTO

There are many opportunities for small businesses in developing countries. Exports to developing countries may be eligible for aid finance and imports may benefit from preferential UK and EU customs duties under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). Small businesses can also trade with developing countries as subcontractors to larger businesses. The World Trade Organization (WTO) sets a global trading framework for its 153 member countries, two-thirds of which are developing countries. The WTOs open market policies have led to changes in the EUs main trade and aid agreement with 79 developing countries - the Cotonou Agreement. The WTO has also recognised the need to make greater provision for developing countries and also for small business. This guide covers the main WTO agreements and special measures affecting developing countries - the changes to the Cotonou Agreement - to aid finance and developing country debt, and explains how the GSP works.

How developing countries work within the WTO

The WTO has reached several agreements to reduce and eliminate barriers to global trade, including: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT - goods) the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) dispute resolution between member governments specific product/service and exporter/importer agreements

The WTO also allows developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) to adapt more slowly to free trade. There are 50 LDCs as defined by the UN - 32 of which are WTO members. These include self-defined developing countries, and two of the worlds largest economies - China and India. These developing countries have successfully agreed certain changes in WTO agreements, including: a program of Technical Assistance and Capacity Building - for which the UK has pledged 45 million change in the TRIPS rules on patented medicines to allow developing countries to use cheaper medicines under certain circumstances .There are also other changes being considered by the WTO that would benefit developing countries, such as: special measures for LDCs and small economies changes to the relationship between trade, debt and finance the possibility of technology transfers the relationship between patents and development .There are also some issues which have not been resolved due to disagreements between developed and developing countries. These issues include: agricultural commodities and subsistence farming trade, debt and finance the lack of safeguard mechanisms for developing countries during an economic crisis WTO agreements and their changes have created a vast range of new business opportunities. Rules preventing special help for small business in public procurement - including development aid contracts have been effectively removed in the EU and other developed countries, allowing many opportunities in these markets.