World Trade Organisation

• Submitted By- Apoorv Salar
• Submitted To- Ms. Mansi Khanna

• Subject- Economics-II
• Topic- World Trade Organisation
• Semester-4th
• Section-A
• Roll No- 0361340819
World Trade Organisation
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is
an intergovernmental organization that regulates and
facilitates international trade between nations. It
officially commenced operations on 1 January 1995,
pursuant to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, thus
replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) that had been established in 1948. The
WTO is the world's largest international economic
organization, with 164 member states representing
over 96% of global trade and global GDP.
Functions
• It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of
the covered agreements
• Negotiations and for settling disputes.
• 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.
• The WTO shall facilitate the implementation, administration, and
operation and further the objectives of Multilateral Trade
Agreements.
• Provision of 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.
• Administering the Understanding on Rules
and Procedures Governing the Settlement of
Disputes.
• to achieve greater coherence 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.
• The WTO shall administer a Trade Policy
Review Mechanism.
Principles of the trading system
• Non-discrimination. It has two major components: the most
favored nation (MFN) rule and the national treatment policy.
Both are embedded in the main WTO rules on goods, services,
and intellectual property.
• Reciprocity. It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-
riding
• Binding and enforceable commitments. The tariff commitments
made by WTO members in multilateral trade negotiation and on
accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions.
• Transparency. The WTO members are required to publish their
trade regulations
• Safety values. The WTO's agreements permit members to take
measures to protect public health, animal health and plant
health.
Organizational structure
• The highest authority is the Ministerial Conference.
• In between each Ministerial Conference, the daily
work is handled by three bodies-
• The General Council
• The Dispute Settlement Body
• The Trade Policy Review Body
The General Council has the following subsidiary
bodies :
• Council for Trade in Goods: There are 11
committees under the jurisdiction of the Goods
Council each with a specific task.
• Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights
• Council for Trade in Services
• Trade Negotiations Committee
Members and observers
• 164 members and 25 observer governments
• WTO members do not have to be fully independent
states; they need only be a customs territory with full
autonomy in the conduct of their external
commercial relations
• As of 2007, WTO member states represented 96.4%
of global trade and 96.7% of global GDP
• A number of international intergovernmental
organizations have also been granted observer status
to WTO bodies.
• Ten UN members have no affiliation with the WTO.
Agreements
Some important agreements are:
• The Agreement on Agriculture (1995)
• The General Agreement on Trade in Services (1995)
• The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (1994)
• The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures (1995)
• The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (1994)
• The Agreement on Customs Valuation (1994)
• Bali Package (2013)
Impact
• Studies show that the WTO boosted trade.[
• Research shows that in the absence of the WTO,
the average country would face an increase in
tariffs on their exports by 32 percentage points
• According to a 2017 study in the Journal of
International Economic Law, "nearly all recent
[preferential trade agreements (PTAs) reference
the WTO explicitly, often dozens of times across
multiple chapters.
FIN

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World Trade Organisation

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• Submitted By- Apoorv Salar

• Submitted To- Ms. Mansi Khanna

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