WORLD BANK Functions and role 1.

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. 2. Mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors. 3. Together the development institutions provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture and environmental and natural resource management. 4. To ensure countries continue to have access to the best global expertise and cutting-edge knowledge, the World Bank Group revises its programs to assist the poor, as well as its range of financing options, to meet pressing development priorities. 5. Reconstruction remains an important part of work Significance Results: Together, they are continuing to sharpen their focus on helping developing countries deliver measurable results. Reform: New reforms at the World Bank Group are aimed at improving every aspect of work: the way projects are designed (investment lending), how information is made available (access to information), and how the staff is deployed to best assist governments and communities (decentralization). . However, the global challenges in the world compels it to focus on: 1. poverty reduction and the sustainable growth in the poorest countries, especially in Africa; 2. solutions to the special challenges of post-conflict countries and fragile states; 3. development solutions with customized services as well as financing for middle-income countries; 4. regional and global issues that cross national borders--climate change, infectious diseases, and trade; 5. greater development and opportunity in the Arab world; 6. Pulling together the best global knowledge to support development. At today's World Bank, poverty reduction through an inclusive and sustainable globalization remains the overarching goal of work.

Organization structure

It is not a bank in the common sense; it is made up of two unique development institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has 187 member countries The International Development Association (IDA) has 168 members. Each member state of IBRD should be also a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and only members of IBRD are allowed to join other institutions within the Bank (such as IDA). Each institution plays a different but collaborative role in advancing the vision of inclusive and sustainable globalization. The IBRD aims to reduce poverty in middleincome and creditworthy poorer countries, while IDA focuses on the world's poorest countries. Their work is complemented by that of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). History The World Bank, established in 1944, is headquartered in Washington; D.C. It has more than 10,000 employees in more than 100 offices worldwide. Since inception in 1944, the World Bank has expanded from a single institution to a closely associated group of five development institutions. Their mission evolved from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) as facilitator of post-war reconstruction and development to the present day mandate of worldwide poverty alleviation in close coordination with our affiliate, the International Development Association, and other members of the World Bank Group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).. Once it had a homogeneous staff of engineers and financial analysts, based solely in Washington, DC. Today, it has a multidisciplinary and diverse staff that includes economists, public policy experts, sector experts and social scientists-and now more than a third of the staff is based in country offices. IMF Functions and Role The IMF's fundamental mission is to help ensure stability in the international system. It does so in three ways: keeping track of the global economy and the economies of member countries; lending to countries with balance of payments difficulties; and giving practical help to members. 1. With its near-global membership of 187 countries, the IMF is uniquely placed to help member governments take advantage of the opportunitiesand manage the challengesposed by globalization and economic development more generally.

2. The IMF tracks global economic trends and performance, alerts its member countries when it sees problems on the horizon, provides a forum for policy dialogue, and passes on know-how to governments on how to tackle economic difficulties. 3. The IMF provides policy advice and financing to members in economic difficulties and also works with developing nations to help them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty. 4. The IMF supports its membership by providing policy advice to governments and central banks based on analysis of economic trends and cross-country experiences 5. Research, statistics, forecasts, and analysis based on tracking of global, regional, and individual economies and markets; 6. Loans to help countries overcome economic difficulties; 7. Concessional loans to help fight poverty in developing countries; 8. Technical assistance and training to help countries improve the management of their economies. History The IMF was founded more than 60 years ago toward the end of World War II. The founders aimed to build a framework for economic cooperation that would avoid a repetition of the disastrous economic policies that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s and the global conflict that followed. The IMF has played a part in shaping the global economy since the end of World War II. Cooperation and reconstruction (194471) As the Second World War ends, the job of rebuilding national economies begins. The IMF is charged with overseeing the international monetary system to ensure exchange rate stability and encouraging members to eliminate exchange restrictions that hinder trade. The end of the Bretton Woods System (197281) After the system of fixed exchange rates collapses in 1971, countries are free to choose their exchange arrangement. Oil shocks occur in 197374 and 1979, and the IMF steps in to help countries deal with the consequences. Debt and painful reforms (198289) The oil shocks lead to an international debt crisis, and the IMF assists in coordinating the global response. Societal Change for Eastern Europe and Asian Upheaval (19902004) The IMF plays a central role in helping the countries of the former Soviet bloc transition from central planning to market-driven economies. Globalization and the Crisis (2005 - present) The implications of the continued rise of capital flows for economic policy and the stability of the international financial system are still not entirely clear. The current credit crisis and the food and oil price shock are clear signs that new challenges for the IMF are waiting just around the corner. Countries signed the agreement with a goal to stabilize exchange rates and assist the reconstruction of the world's international payment system. Countries contributed to a pool

which could be borrowed from, on a temporary basis, by countries with payment imbalances (Condon, 2007). The IMF was important when it was first created because it helped the world stabilize the economic system. The IMF works to improve the economies of its member countries.[7] The IMF describes itself as "an organization of 187 countries (as of July 2010), working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty". Since then the world has changed dramatically, bringing extensive prosperity and lifting millions out of poverty, especially in Asia The IMF's way of operating has changed over the years and has undergone rapid change since the beginning of the 1990s as it has sought to adapt to the changing needs of its expanding membership in a globalize world economy. Most recently, the IMF's Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has launched an ambitious reform agenda, aimed at making sure the IMF continues to deliver the economic analysis and multilateral consultation that is at the core of its missionensuring the stability of the global monetary system. Significance Marked by massive movements of capital and abrupt shifts in comparative advantage, globalization affects countries' policy choices in many areas, including labor, trade, and tax policies. It helps country benefit from globalization while avoiding potential downsides is an important task for the IMF. The global economic crisis has highlighted just how interconnected countries have become in todays world economy. In many ways the IMF's main purposeto provide the global public good of financial stabilityis the same today as it was when the organization was established. More specifically, the IMF continues to provide a forum for cooperation on international monetary problems, facilitate the growth of international trade, thus promoting job creation, economic growth, and poverty reduction; promote exchange rate stability and an open system of international payments; and lend countries foreign exchange when needed, on a temporary basis and under adequate safeguards, to help them address balance of payments problems. With cross-border financial flows increasing sharply in recent decades, the interdependence of countries has deepened. The turbulence in advanced economy credit markets in 2007-08 has demonstrated that domestic and international financial stability cannot be taken for granted, even in the world's wealthiest countries. The spike in food and fuel prices, which has hit import-dependent poor and middle-income countries particularly hard, is another aspect of the globalized economy we all are part of. In response, the IMF has rethought its operations in several ways: 1. Enhancing IMF lending facilities 2. Strengthening the monitoring of global, regional, and country economies. 3. Helping resolve global economic imbalances 4. Analyzing capital market developments

5. 6. 7. 8.

Assessing financial sector vulnerabilities. Working to cut poverty Improving IMF governance. Greater accountability and transparency.

Organization structure Members of the IMF are 187 of the UN members and Kosovo Former members are: Cuba (left in 1964), Taiwan (expelled in 1980 due to political reasons), The other non-members are: North Korea, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Nauru, Cook Islands, Niue, Vatican City and the rest of the states with limited recognition. All member states participate directly in the IMF. Member states are represented on a 24member Executive Board (five Executive Directors are appointed by the five members with the largest quotas, nineteen Executive Directors are elected by the remaining members), and all members appoint a Governor to the IMF's Board of Governors. All members of the IMF are also IBRD members, and vice versa. WTO Organization structure Organizational structure The General Council has multiple bodies which oversee committees in different areas, they are as following: 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 WTOs 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.[40] Trade Negotiations Committee The Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) is the committee that deals with the current trade talks round. The chair is WTOs director-general. The committee is currently tasked with the Doha Development Round. The Service Council has three subsidiary bodies: financial services, domestic regulations, GATS rules and specific commitments. The General council has several different committees, working groups, and working parties. There are committees on the following: Trade and Environment; Trade and Development (Subcommittee on Least-Developed Countries); Regional Trade Agreements; Balance of Payments Restrictions; and Budget, Finance and Administration. There are working parties on the following: Accession. There are working groups on the following: Trade, debt and finance; and Trade and technology transfer. Functions and role Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most important: 1. It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements. 2. It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes. 3. 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. 4. 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. The WTO is also a center of economic research and analysis: regular assessments of the global trade picture in its annual publications and research reports on specific topics are produced by the organization. Finally, the WTO cooperates closely with the two other components of the Bretton Woods system, the IMF and the World Bank. GATT & Uruguay conference History The WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established after World War II in the wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic cooperation notably the Bretton Woods institutions known as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A comparable international institution for trade, named the International Trade Organization was successfully negotiated. The ITO was to be a United Nations specialized agency and would address not

only trade barriers but other issues indirectly related to trade, including employment, investment, restrictive business practices, and commodity agreements. But the ITO treaty was not approved by the U.S. and a few other signatories and never went into effect. In the absence of an international organization for trade, the GATT would over the years "transform itself" into a de facto international organization. The GATT was the only multilateral instrument governing international trade from 1945 until the WTO was established in 1995.Despite attempts in the mid 1950s and 1960s to create some form of institutional mechanism for international trade; the GATT continued to operate for almost half a century as a semi-institutionalized multilateral treaty regime on a provisional basis. Uruguay Round During the Doha Round, the US government blamed Brazil and India for being inflexible, and the EU for impeding agricultural imports. The President of Brazil, Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, responded to the criticisms by arguing that progress would only be achieved if the richest countries (especially the US and countries in the EU) make deeper cuts in their agricultural subsidies, and further open their markets for agricultural goods. Well before GATT's 40th anniversary, its members concluded that the GATT system was straining to adapt to a new globalizing world economy. In response to the problems identified in the 1982 Ministerial Declaration (structural deficiencies, spill-over impacts of certain countries' policies on world trade GATT could not manage etc.), the eighth GATT round known as the Uruguay Round was launched in September 1986, in Punta del Este, Uruguay. It was the biggest negotiating mandate on trade ever agreed: the talks were going to extend the trading system into several new areas, notably trade in services and intellectual property, and to reform trade in the sensitive sectors of agriculture and textiles; all the original GATT articles were up for review.The Final Act concluding the Uruguay Round and officially establishing the WTO regime was signed during the April 1994 ministerial meeting at Marrakesh, Morocco, and hence is known as the Marrakesh Agreement. The GATT still exists as the WTO's umbrella treaty for trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations (a distinction is made between GATT 1994, the updated parts of GATT, and GATT 1947, the original agreement which is still the heart of GATT 1994).GATT 1994 is not however the only legally binding agreement included via the Final Act at Marrakesh; a long list of about 60 agreements, annexes, decisions and understandings was adopted. The agreements fall into a structure with six main parts: The Agreement Establishing the WTO Goods and investment the Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods including the GATT 1994 and the Trade Related Investment Measures Services the General Agreement on Trade in Services

 TRIPS

Intellectual property the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Dispute settlement (DSU) Reviews of governments' trade policies (TPRM) Ministerial conferences

Role and function The WTOs Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), negotiated in the 1986-94 Uruguay Round, introduced intellectual property rules into the multilateral trading system for the first time. The areas covered by the TRIPS Agreement: 1. Copyright and related rights 2. Trademarks, including service marks 3. Geographical indications 4. Industrial designs 5. Patents 6. Layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits 7. Undisclosed information, including trade secrets Significance Ideas and knowledge are an increasingly important part of trade. Most of the value of new medicines and other high technology products lies in the amount of invention, innovation, research, design and testing involved. Films, music recordings, books, computer software and on-line services are bought and sold because of the information and creativity they contain, not usually because of the plastic, metal or paper used to make them. Many products that used to be traded as low-technology goods or commodities now contain a higher proportion of invention and design in their value for example brandnamed clothing or new varieties of plants. Creators can be given the right to prevent others from using their inventions, designs or other creations and to use that right to negotiate payment in return for others using them. These are intellectual property rights. They take a number of forms, Governments and parliaments have given creators these rights as an incentive to produce ideas that will benefit society as a whole. The extent of protection and enforcement of these rights varied widely around the world; and as intellectual property became more important in trade, these differences became a source of tension in international economic relations. New internationally-agreed trade rules for intellectual property rights were seen as a way to introduce more order and predictability, and for disputes to be settled more systematically. The Uruguay Round achieved that. The WTOs TRIPS Agreement is an attempt to:

Narrow the gaps in the way these rights are protected around the world, and to bring them under common international rules. It establishes minimum levels of protection that each government has to give to the intellectual property of fellow WTO members. It strikes a balance between the long term benefits and possible short term costs to society. Society benefits in the long term when intellectual property protection encourages creation and invention, especially when the period of protection expires and the creations and inventions enter the public domain. Governments are allowed to reduce any short term costs through various exceptions. When there are trade disputes over intellectual property rights, the WTOs dispute settlement system is now available.

GATS Role and function 1. The creation of the GATS was one of the landmark achievements of the Uruguay Round, whose results entered into force in January 1995. 2. The GATS was inspired by essentially the same objectives as its counterpart in merchandise trade, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): creating a credible and reliable system of international trade rules; ensuring fair and equitable treatment of all participants (principle of non-discrimination); stimulating economic activity through guaranteed policy bindings; and promoting trade and development through progressive liberalization. Significance While services currently account for over 60 percent of global production and employment, they represent no more than 20 per cent of total trade (BOP basis). This seemingly modest share should not be underestimated, however. Many services, which have long been considered genuine domestic activities, have increasingly become internationally mobile. This trend is likely to continue, owing to the introduction of new transmission technologies (e.g. electronic banking, tele-health or tele-education services), the opening up in many countries of long-entrenched monopolies (e.g. voice telephony and postal services), and regulatory reforms in hitherto tightly regulated sectors such as transport. Combined with changing consumer preferences, such technical and regulatory innovations have enhanced the tradability of services and, thus, created a need for multilateral disciplines.

Dispute settlement body: Role & Function

The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) makes decisions on trade disputes between governments that are adjudicated by the Organization. The power to settle international disputes with binding authority distinguishes the World Trade Organization from most other intergovernmental institutions. The Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes gives the WTO unprecedented power to resolve trade-related conflicts between nations and assign penalties and compensation to the parties involved. Dispute settlement is administered by a Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) that consists of the WTO's General Council. The DSB has the authority to "establish panels, adopt panel and Appellate Body reports, maintain surveillance of implementation of rulings and recommendations, and authorize suspension of concessions and other obligations." The Dispute Settlement system aims to resolve disputes by clarifying the rules of the multilateral trading system; it cannot legislate or promulgate new rules.

Significance The primary goal of dispute settlement is to ensure national compliance with multilateral trade rules. Accordingly, the Dispute Settlement Body encourages Members to their make best possible efforts to bring legislation into compliance with the panel ruling within a reasonable period of time established by the parties to the dispute. Ultimately, the dispute settlement system is a significant milestone in the development of a rules-based multilateral trading system. WTO & agriculture History 1. The WTOs Agriculture Agreement was negotiated in the 198694 Uruguay Round and is a significant first step towards fairer competition and a less distorted sector. 2. WTO member governments agreed to improve market access and reduce tradedistorting subsidies in agriculture. In general, these commitments were phased in over a six years from 1995 (10 years for developing countries). The Agriculture Committee oversees the agreements implementation. 3. Meanwhile, members also agreed to continue the reform. Further talks, which are separate from the committees regular work, began in 2000. They were included in the broader negotiating agenda set at the 2001 Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar. 4. The present rules and commitments on agriculture are often called the Uruguay Round reform programme they were negotiated in the Uruguay Round and they include reductions in subsidies and protection as well as other disciplines on the trade. Significance While the volume of world agricultural exports has substantially increased over recent decades, its rate of growth has lagged behind that of manufactures, resulting in a steady

decline in agricultures share in world merchandise trade. In 1998, agricultural trade accounted for 10.5 per cent of total merchandise trade when trade in services is taken into account, agricultures share in global exports drops to 8.5 per cent. However, with respect to world trade agriculture is still ahead of sectors such as mining products, automotive products, chemicals, textiles and clothing or iron and steel. Among the agricultural goods traded internationally, food products make up almost 80 per cent of the total. The other main category of agricultural products is raw materials. Since the mid1980s, trade in processed and other high value agricultural products has been expanding much faster than trade in the basic primary products such as cereals. Agricultural trade remains in many countries an important part of overall economic activity and continues to play a major role in domestic agricultural production and employment. The trading system plays also a fundamentally important role in global food security, for example by ensuring that temporary or protracted food deficits arising from adverse climatic and other conditions can be met from world markets. Role and function 1. The Agreement on Agriculture, (the Agreement), came into force on 1 January 1995. The preamble to the Agreement recognizes that the agreed long-term objective of the reform process initiated by the Uruguay Round reform programme is to establish a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system. 2. The reform programme comprises specific commitments to reduce support and protection in the areas of domestic support, export subsidies and market access, and through the establishment of strengthened and more operationally effective GATT rules and disciplines. 3. The Agreement also takes into account non-trade concerns, including food security and the need to protect the environment, and provides special and differential treatment for developing countries, including an improvement in the opportunities and terms of access for agricultural products of particular export interest to these Members. 4. The Agreement on Agriculture establishes a number of generally applicable rules with regard to trade-related agricultural measures, primarily in the areas of market access, domestic support and export competition. 5. These rules relate to country-specific commitments to improve market access and reduce trade-distorting subsidies which are contained in the individual country schedules of the WTO Members and constitute an integral part of the GATT. 6. The Agreement established a Committee on Agriculture. The Committee oversees the implementation of the Agreement on Agriculture and affords Members the opportunity of consulting on any matter relating to the implementation of commitments, including rule-based commitments WTO & textile (MFA) http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/texti_e/texintro_e.htm#MFA Multifibre Arrangement (MFA) 1974-1994

Up to the end of the Uruguay Round, textile and clothing quotas were negotiated bilaterally and governed by the rules of the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA). This provided for the application of selective quantitative restrictions when surges in imports of particular products caused, or threatened to cause, serious damage to the industry of the importing country. The Multifibre Arrangement was a major departure from the basic GATT rules and particularly the principle of non-discrimination. On 1 January 1995 it was replaced by the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing which sets out a transitional process for the ultimate removal of these quotas. Roles and Significance The Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA, also known as the Agreement on Textile and Clothing (ATC)) governed the world trade in textiles and garments from 1974 through 2004, imposing quotas on the amount developing countries could export to developed countries. It expired on 1 January 2005. The WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) 1995-2004 The ATC is a transitional instrument, built on the following key elements: a. The product coverage, basically encompassing yarns, fabrics, made-up textile products and clothing b. A programme for the progressive integration of these textile and clothing products into GATT 1994 rules c. A liberalization process to progressively enlarge existing quotas (until they are removed) by increasing annual growth rates at each stage. d. A special safeguard mechanism to deal with new cases of serious damage or threat thereof to domestic producers during the transition period. e. Establishment of a Textiles Monitoring Body (TMB) to supervise the implementation of the Agreement and ensure that the rules are faithfully followed. f. other provisions, including rules on circumvention of the quotas, their administration, treatment of non-MFA restrictions, and commitments undertaken elsewhere under the WTO's agreements and procedures affecting this sector. The product coverage, listed in the Annex to the ATC, covers all products which were subject to MFA or MFA-type quotas in at least one importing country. The integration process is laid down in ATC Article 2 and stipulates how Members shall integrate the products listed in the Annex into the rules of GATT 1994 over the 10-year period. This process is to be carried out progressively in three stages (3 years, 4 years, 3 years) with all products standing integrated at the end of the 10-year period. The four WTO Members which maintained import restrictions under the former MFA (Canada, EC, Norway and the US) were required to undertake this integration process and to notify to the TMB the first phase of their programmes of integration by 1 October 1994. Other WTO Members were required, first, to notify the TMB if they wished to retain the right to use the transitional safeguard mechanism in the ATC (Article 6.1) and, if so, to provide their first stage integration lists.

Concurrent with the integration process, there is a programme for liberalizing the existing restrictions, that is, for enlarging the bilateral quotas carried over from the former MFA on 1 January 1995 (Article 2.1) until such time as the products are integrated into GATT, at which time the quotas terminate. A key aspect of the ATC is the provision in Article 6 for a special transitional safeguard mechanism intended to protect Members against damaging surges in imports during the transition period from products which have not yet been integrated into GATT and which are not already under quota. This clause is based on a two-tiered approach - first, the importing Member must determine that total imports of a specific product are causing serious damage, or actual threat thereof, to its domestic industry and second, it must then decide to which individual Member(s) this serious damage can be attributed. Article 5 of the ATC contains rules and procedures concerning circumvention of the quotas through transshipment, re-routing, false declaration of origin, or falsification of official documents. These require, inter alia, consultation and full cooperation in the investigation of such practices by Members concerned. When sufficient evidence is available, possible recourse might include the denial of entry of goods. There is also a provision whereby all Members should establish, consistent with their domestic laws and procedures, the necessary legal provisions and/or administrative procedures to address and take action against circumvention. Administration of restrictions during the transition period will remain with the exporting Members and any changes in practices, rules or procedures shall be subject to consultations with a view to reaching mutually acceptable solutions (Article 4). Provisions relating to the commitments undertaken in all areas of the Uruguay Round as they relate to textiles and clothing require that all Members shall take such actions as may be necessary to abide by these rules and disciplines so as to achieve improved market access, to ensure the application of fair and equitable trading conditions and to avoid discrimination against textiles and clothing imports (Article 7). If an exporting Member is found not to be complying with its obligations, the Dispute Settlement Body or the Council for Trade in Goods may authorize an adjustment to the quota growth for that country which is otherwise an automatic growth. Trade-Related Investment Measures History In the late 1980's, there was a significant increase in foreign direct investment throughout the world. However, some of the countries receiving foreign investment imposed numerous restrictions on that investment designed to protect and foster domestic industries, and to prevent the outflow of foreign exchange reserves. These measures can also be used in connection with fiscal incentives as opposed to requirement. Some of these investment measures distort trade in violation of GATT Article III and XI, and are therefore prohibited. Until the completion of the Uruguay Round

negotiations, which produced a well-rounded Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (hereinafter the "TRIMs Agreement"), the few international agreements providing disciplines for measures restricting foreign investment provided only limited guidance in terms of content and country coverage. The OECD Code on Liberalization of Capital Movements, for example, requires members to liberalize restrictions on direct investment in a broad range of areas. The OECD Code's efficacy, however, is limited by the numerous reservations made by each of the members. In addition, there are other international treaties, bilateral and multilateral, under which signatories extend most-favoured-nation treatment to direct investment. Only a few such treaties, however, provide national treatment for direct investment. Role And Significance 1. The TRIMs Agreement, contains statements prohibiting any TRIMs that are inconsistent with the provisions of Articles III or XI of GATT 1994. In addition, it provides an illustrative list that explicitly prohibits local content requirements, trade balancing requirements, foreign exchange restrictions and export restrictions (domestic sales requirements) that would violate Article III:4 or XI:1 of GATT 1994. 2. TRIMs prohibited by the Agreement include those which are mandatory or enforceable under domestic law or administrative rulings, or those with which compliance is necessary to obtain an advantage (such as subsidies or tax breaks). 3. Indeed, the TRIMs Agreement is not intended to impose new obligations, but to clarify the pre-existing GATT 1947 obligations. Under the WTO TRIMs Agreement, countries are required to rectify any measures inconsistent with the Agreement, within a set period of time, with a few exceptions. http://www.meti.go.jp/english/report/data/gCT9908e.html