TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapterization Page No.

Disclaimer………………..............................................................................................3
Acknowledgement………………………………………………...................................4
Table of Abbreviation ....................................................................................................5

Chapters

I. Chapter 1 – Introduction................................................................................................5

Brief introduction of the research project

Research Methodology

Objects of research

Scheme of Chapterization

II. Chapter 2 – What is WTO?...................................................................................8

III. Chapter 3 – Structure of WTO.............................................................................10

IV. Chapter 4 – Functions of WTO..............................................................................13

V. Chapter 5 – Conclusion…………………………………………………………….14

VI. Bibliography................................................................................................................15

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Disclaimer

This project report has been prepared by the author as a student of 3rd year under the five
year BBA.LL.B (H) Program in the MATS Law School for academic purposes only. The
views expressed in this report are personal to the student and do not reflect the view of
commission or any another person, law school or any of its staff or personnel. Any for
academically publishing of this article then it must be authority from the respective law
school in any manner. This report is the “Structure and Functions of WTO” and the same or
any part thereof may not be used in any manner whatsoever, without express permission of
the MATS Law School in writing.

Divyansh Sharma

MU13BBALLB09

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I feel highly elated to work on this dynamic and highly important topic that is
“International Law And Regulation of Refugees”. This topic instantly drew my attention and
attracted me to research on it.
I am fortunate to be provided with an opportunity to write my paper under the kind
supervision of Miss Disha Sharma (Asst. Prof., MATS Law School) and I am thankful to her
for providing me with the appropriate guidance while writing the paper.
This paper would not have been possible without her valuable inputs, honest remarks
and earnest effort to guide me throughout the drafting of the paper. I would like to extend my
sincere thank to her for giving me her valuable time to view my research from her busy
schedule.
I am highly indebted to the library staff to help me find the relevant books and
journals, and other officials and office staffs, who have also extended their help whenever
needed.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my friends and for their review and honest
remarks.

So, I hope I have tried my level best to bring in new ideas and thoughts regarding the
basics of this topic. Not to forget my deep sense of regard and gratitude to my faculty adviser,
Miss. Disha Sharma who played the role of a protagonist. Last but not the least; I thank all
the members of the MATS Law School and all others who have helped me in making this
project a success.

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 Table of Abbreviations

WTO................................................................................................World Trade Organisation

GATT…………………………...........…………….General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

UN.........................................................................................................................United Nation

Res...............................................................................................................................Resolution

Govt. .......................................................................................................................Government

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CHAPTER- I

INTRODUCTION

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which

regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995
under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in
1948. The WTO deals with regulation of trade between participating countries by
providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution
process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are
signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their
parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade
negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994).

The WTO is attempting to complete negotiations on the Doha Development Round,

which was launched in 2001 with an explicit focus on developing countries. As of
June 2012, the future of the Doha Round remained uncertain: the work programme
lists 21 subjects in which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed, and the
round is still incomplete. The conflict between free trade on industrial goods and
services but retention of protectionism on farm subsidies to domestic agricultural
sector (requested by developed countries) and the substantiation of fair trade on
agricultural products (requested by developing countries) remain the major obstacles.
This impasse has made it impossible to launch new WTO negotiations beyond the
Doha Development Round. As a result, there have been an increasing number of
bilateral free trade agreements between Govts. As of July 2012, there were various
negotiation groups in the WTO system for the current agricultural trade negotiation
which is in the condition of stalemate.

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Research Methodology

Problem: World Trade Organization is the only trade Organization which regulates
international trade of world, so to understand the Structure of WTO and its Functions.

Rationale: 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 world’s trading nations and ratified in
their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and
importers conduct their business.

Objectives:

1) To understand what is WTO?

2) To Know how it functions?
3) To know what comes under the structure of WTO.
4) To know the fuctions of WTO in International Trade.

Review of literature: The sources of data are secondry, which is taken help from library,
books journals and internet.

1. The World Trade Organization Millennium Round: Freer Trade in the Twenty-First
Century By Klaus Günter Deutsch; Bernhard Speyer

2. The Role of the World Trade Organization in Global Governance By Gary P.

Sampson

Concept and variables of the study :

Its goal is to supervise and expand international trade, monitor national trade policies, and
provide technical assistance to developing nations. The WTO is a forum for negotiating and
formalizing agreements between nations, as well as resolving disputes. The organization
grew from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was established
shortly after World War II. The WTO officially began in 1995 and now has 153 member
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countries, representing more than 97% of the world's trade. An additional 30 nations are
currently observers seeking membership.

NATURE AND KIND OF RESEARCH

The doctrinal research methodology would be used in analysing the Natural resource
accounting and to see its international prospective.

Limitation of the study:The research has been completed in approx. 1 week.

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CHAPTER-II

What Is the WTO?

The WTO was born out of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was
established in 1947. A series of trade negotiations, GATT rounds began at the end of World
War II and were aimed at reducing tariffs for the facilitation of global trade on goods. The
rationale for GATT was based on the Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause, which, when
assigned to one country by another, gives the selected country privileged trading rights. As
such, GATT aimed to help all countries obtain MFN-like status so that no single country
would be at a trading advantage over others.

The WTO replaced GATT as the world's global trading body in 1995, and the current set of
governing rules stems from the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, which took place
throughout 1986-1994. GATT trading regulations established between 1947 and 1994 (and in
particular those negotiated during the Uruguay Round) remain the primary rule book for
multilateral trade in goods. Specific sectors such as agriculture have been addressed, as well
as issues dealing with anti-dumping.

The Uruguay Round also laid the foundations for regulating trade in services. The General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is the guideline directing multilateral trade in
services. Intellectual property rights were also addressed in the establishment of regulations
protecting the trade and investment of ideas, concepts, designs, patents, and so forth.

The purpose of the WTO is to ensure that global trade commences smoothly, freely and
predictably. The WTO creates and embodies the legal ground rules for global trade among
member nations and thus offers a system for international commerce. The WTO aims to
create economic peace and stability in the world through a multilateral system based on
consenting member states (currently there are slightly more than 140 members) that have
ratified the rules of the WTO in their individual countries as well. This means that WTO rules
become a part of a country's domestic legal system. The rules, therefore, apply to local
companies and nationals in the conduct of business in the international arena. If a company
decides to invest in a foreign country, by, for example, setting up an office in that country,
the rules of the WTO (and hence, a country's local laws) will govern how that can be done.

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Theoretically, if a country is a member to the WTO, its local laws cannot contradict WTO
rules and regulations, which currently govern approximately 97% of all world trade.

How It Functions

Decisions are made by consensus, though a majority vote may also rule (this is very rare).
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the Ministerial Committee, which holds meetings at least
every two years, makes the top decisions. There is also a General Council, a Goods Council,
Services Council, and an Intellectual Property Rights Council, which all report to the General
Council. Finally, there are a number of working groups and committees.

If a trade dispute occurs, the WTO works to resolve it. If, for example, a country erects a
trade barrier in the form of a customs duty against a particular country or a particular good,
the WTO may issue trade sanctions against the violating country. The WTO will also work to
resolve the conflict through negotiations.

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CHAPTER-III

THE STRUCTURE OF WTO

The structure of the WTO is dominated by its highest authority, the Ministerial Conference,
composed of representatives of all WTO members, which is required to meet at least every
two years and which can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade
agreements.

The day-to-day work of the WTO, however, falls to a number of subsidiary bodies;
principally the General Council, also composed of all WTO members, which is required to
report to the Ministerial Conference. As well as conducting its regular work on behalf of the
Ministerial Conference, the General Council convenes in two particular forms - as the
Dispute Settlement Body, to oversee the dispute settlement procedures and as the Trade
Policy Review Body to conduct regular reviews of the trade policies of individual WTO
members.

The General Council delegates responsibility to three other major bodies - namely the
Councils for Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property. The Council for Goods oversees the implementation and functioning of all the
agreements (Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement) covering trade in goods, though many such
agreements have their own specific overseeing bodies. The latter two Councils have
responsibility for their respective WTO agreements (Annexes 1B and 1C) and may establish
their own subsidiary bodies as necessary.

Three other bodies are established by the Ministerial Conference and report to the General
Council. The Committee on Trade and Development is concerned with issues relating to the
developing countries and, especially, to the "least-developed" among them. The Committee
on Balance of Payments is responsible for consultations between WTO members and
countries which take trade-restrictive measures, under Articles XII and XVIII of GATT, in
order to cope with balance-of-payments difficulties. Finally, issues relating to WTO's
financing and budget are dealt with by a Committee on Budget.

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Each of the four plurilateral agreements of the WTO - those on civil aircraft, government
procurement, dairy products and bovine meat - establish their own management bodies which
are required to report to the General Council.

The World Trade Organization came into force on January 1, 1995, fully replacing the
previous GATT Secretariat as the organization responsible for administering the international
trade regime. The basic structure of the WTO includes the following bodies

 The Ministerial Conference, which is composed of international trade ministers from

all member countries. This is the governing body of the WTO, responsible for setting
the strategic direction of the organization and making all final decisions on
agreements under its wings. The Ministerial Conference meets at least once every two
years. Although voting can take place, decisions are generally taken by consensus, a
process that can at times be difficult, particularly in a body composed of 136 very
different members.

 The General Council, composed of senior representatives (usually ambassador level)

of all members. It is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day business and
management of the WTO, and is based at the WTO headquarters in Geneva. In
practice, this is the key decision-making arm of the WTO for most issues. Several of
the bodies described below report directly to the General Council.

 The Trade Policy Review Body is also composed of all the WTO members, and
oversees the Trade Policy Review Mechanism, a product of the Uruguay Round. It
periodically reviews the trade policies and practices of all member states. These
reviews are intended to provide a general indication of how states are implementing
their obligations, and to contribute to improved adherence by the WTO parties to their
obligations.

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  The Dispute Settlement Body is also composed of all the WTO members. It oversees
the implementation and effectiveness of the dispute resolution process for all WTO
agreements, and the implementation of the decisions on WTO disputes. Disputes are
heard and ruled on by dispute resolution panels chosen individually for each case, and
the permanent Appellate Body that was established in 1994. Dispute resolution is
mandatory and binding on all members. A final decision of the Appellate Body can
only be reversed by a full consensus of the Dispute Settlement Body.

 The Councils on Trade in Goods and Trade in Services operate under the mandate of
the General Council and are composed of all members. They provide a mechanism to
oversee the details of the general and specific agreements on trade in goods (such as
those on textiles and agriculture) and trade in services. There is also a Council for the
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, dealing with
just that agreement and subject area.

 The Secretariat and Director General of the WTO reside in Geneva, in the old home
of GATT. The Secretariat now numbers just under 550 people, and undertakes the
administrative functions of running all aspects of the organization. The Secretariat has
no legal decision-making powers but provides vital services, and often advice, to
those who do. The Secretariat is headed by the Director General, who is elected by the
members.

 The Committee on Trade and Development and Committee on Trade and

Environment are two of the several committees continued or established under the
Marrakech Agreement in 1994. They have specific mandates to focus on these
relationships, which are especially relevant to how the WTO deals with sustainable
development issues. The Committee on Trade and Development was established in
1965. The forerunner to the Committee on Trade and Environment (the Group on
Environmental Measures and International Trade) was established in 1971.

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CHAPTER-IV

FUNCTIONS OF WTO

Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most
important:

 It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered

agreements.
 It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes.

Additionally, 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 policy-making. 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.

1. The WTO shall facilitate the implementation, administration and operation and
further the objectives of this Agreement and of the Multilateral Trade Agreements,
and shall also provide the frame work for the implementation, administration and
operation of the multilateral Trade Agreements.
2. The WTO shall provide the forum for negotiations among its members concerning
their multilateral trade relations in matters dealt with under the Agreement in the
Annexes to this Agreement.
3. The WTO shall administer the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the
Settlement of Disputes.
4. The WTO shall administer Trade Policy Review Mechanism.
5. With a view to achieving greater coherence in global economic policy making, the
WTO shall cooperate, as appropriate, with the international Monetary Fund (IMF) and
with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and its
affiliated agencies.

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Biblography

 http://www.projects4mba.com/structure-of-wto-world-trade-organization/142
 www.encyclopedia.com/topic/World_Trade_Organization.aspx
 https://www.iisd.org/trade/handbook/3_1.htm
 https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/agrmntseries1_wto_e.pdf

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