Presented By, Arun Prakash (27064) Kirubakaran (27020) Saravanan (27110) Siddhaarthan (27115)

WTO History:
Location : Geneva, Switzerland Established: 1 January 1995

FACT FILE

Created by : Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94) Membership :153 countries (on 23 July 2008) Budget : 196 million Swiss francs for 2011

2011 Secretariat Staff : 640

Head : Director-General, Pascal Lamy

WTO History:
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment. GATT was signed in 1947 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995.

Key functions
Implementation of WTO Agreements. Forum for negotiations and for settling disputes. Providing assistance to least developed countries for transition to adjust to WTO rules. The WTO is also a centre of economic research and provides analysis of global trade.

Major Principles of WTO Framework of Trade Policies

Non-Discrimination
Most Favored Nation National treatment policy

Reciprocity-Mutual Benefit with trade. Binding and enforceable commitments Transparency Safety valves.

Organizational structure of WTO

Ministerial Conference General Committee(Dispute Settlement and Trade policy review)

Council for Trade in Goods Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council for Trade in Services Trade Negotiations Committee

Basic Rules of WTO

Some of the basic premises under which WTO law were founded on are: 1. Non- Discrimination 2. Market Access 3. Protection against unfair trades 4. Trading and competing interests and values

 Non Discrimination
The two principles of non-discrimination in WTO law are: 1. Most Favored Nation treatment obligation 2. National treatment obligation

Market Access
The rules of WTO looks at 3 areas of regarding market access concerning: 1. Custom duties 2. Quantitative restrictions 3. Non-tariff barriers

 Protection Against Unfair Trade

There are no direct regulations regarding unfair trading, but rules regarding specific trade practices are available. They are: 1. Dumping 2. Subsidies

Trade and Competing Interest and Values

Apart from above WTO law also provides general rules regarding 1. Competing Non-Economic Interest and Values 2. Competing Economic Interest and Values

Scope of Developing countries with regards to WTO

Developing countries & WTO

Recognition of interests and needs of developing countries Special and differential treatment of developing countries
General prohibition of export subsidies does not apply to developing country members whose per capita income is below $1000 per annum Lesser demands for reducing tariffs of export subsidies for agricultural products of developing countries (average of 24%) than the developed nations (average of 24%)

Longer implementation periods for Developing country members regarding WTO agreements Providing technical support to developing nation by developed nation or through the WTO secretariat

Differential Treatment for Least-Developed Nation members

Additional differential treatment is provided by the WTO law to the leastdeveloped nation members in the form of: 1. Increased trade opportunities 2. Support for Economic development 3. Longer Implementation periods

WTO Dispute Settlement System

The aim of the dispute settlement mechanism is to secure a positive solution to a dispute. A solution mutually acceptable to the parties to a dispute and consistent with the covered agreements is clearly to be preferred. Settling disputes is the responsibility of the Dispute Settlement Body, which consists of all WTO members. The Dispute Settlement Body has the sole authority to establish panels of experts to accept or reject the panels findings or the results of an appeal. It monitors the implementation of the rulings and recommendations to authorize retaliation when a country does not comply with a ruling.

Dispute Settlement
Since 1995, 427 disputes have been brought to WTO and only 88 have been resolved.

WTO & US
US as respondent (113 cases)

WTO & US
US as complainant (98 cases)

WTO & US

Developing Country Members

The most active users of the dispute settlement system among developing country Members are Brazil, India, Mexico, Thailand and Chile. DSU requires the WTO Secretariat to make available qualified legal experts to help any developing country Member which so requests.

India as Complainant & Respondent

FUTURE ROLE OF WTO

WTO an imperfect body from a business point of view Trade policy decisions - Now simulated by Game Theory Changing nature of trade Possible formation of new trade blocs Consequences of failure

DDA STALLED
Uni/Bilateral setting to Multilateral setting Changing nature of WTO Changing equation between poor and small Evolution of negotiation into sticky areas Exploitation of imprecision in Formula + Flexibility approach Difficulty in valuing the final package

CASE FOR COMPLETION

Insurance policy against future protectionism Reform of farm trade New Market Access Reinforcing of WTO system

Opportunity Cost of failure ?

MOVING TO FINAL DEAL

General Agreement on Trade in Services

GATS is one of the treaties of WTO aimed at extending its multilateral trading system to the service sector for its member nations GATS defines Trade in services as any of these four modes of supply Cross border supply (mode1) Consumption abroad (mode 2) Commercial Presence (mode 3) Movement of natural persons ( mode 4) All other general obligations mentioned below also apply to the members Most Favored Nation

Transparency Market Access National Treatment

Queries?