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 Azevêdo of Brazil (Director-General)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the international body dealing with

the rules of trade between nations. 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 countries, representing

more than 97% of the world's trade. An additional 30 nations are

currently observers seeking membership.

Administering trade agreements Acting as a forum for trade negotiations Settling trade disputes Reviewing national trade policies Assisting developing countries in trade policy issues,

through technical assistance and training programmes Cooperating with other international organizations

• (i) to implement the new world trade system as visualized in the Agreement;

• (ii) to promote World Trade in a manner that benefits every country;

• (iii) to ensure that developing countries secure a better balance in the sharing of the advantages

resulting from the expansion of international trade corresponding to their developmental needs;

• (iv) to demolish all hurdles to an open world trading system and usher in international economic

renaissance because the world trade is an effective instrument to foster economic growth;

• (v) to enhance competitiveness among all trading partners so as to benefit consumers and help

in global integration;

• (vi) to increase the level of production and productivity with a view to ensuring level of

employment in the world;

• (vii) to expand and utilize world resources to the best;

• (viii) to improve the level of living for the global population and speed up economic development

of the member nations.

• The Ministerial Conference

• The General Council

• The Trade Policy Review Body 

• The Dispute Settlement Body 

• The Councils on Trade in Goods and Trade in Services 

• THE COUNCIL FOR IPR ISSUES

The Agreement on Agriculture is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization. It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO on January 1, 1995.

The Agreement on Agriculture contains three main categories of commitments:

Market Access Domestic Support Export Subsidies.

This includes tarrification,tariff reduction and access opportunities.

Tarrification means all non-tariff barriers such as:

QuotasVariable LeviesMinimum import pricesDiscretionary licensingState trading measures.

It measures that have a minimum impact on trade also

known as “Green Box policies”.It includes general

government services like-As in the area of Research,

disease control, infrastructure and food security. Also

includes direct payment to producers in form of income

support etc.

The agreement contains provisions regarding members commitment to reduce Export subsidies.

Developed countries are required to reduce their export subsidy expenditure by 36%.

For developing countries the percentage cuts are 24%.

The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of

Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO Members. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.

Some of the important terms used in TRIPS Agreement are:

Standards

Enforcement

Dispute Settlement.

The Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) are rules that apply to the domestic regulations a country applies to foreign investors, often as part of an industrial policy. The agreement was agreed upon by all members of the World Trade Organization. The agreement was concluded in 1994 and came into force in 1995. 

Trade Related Investment Measures is the name of one of the four principal legal agreements of the WTO trade treaty.

TRIMs are rules that restrict preference of domestic firms and thereby enable international firms to operate more easily within foreign markets.

The General Agreement On Trade In Services(GATS) which extends multilateral rules and discipline to services is regarded as a Landmark achievement of the Uruguay Round.

In short ,GATT covers the four modes of international delivery of services-

1)Cross-border supply(trans-border data flows ,transportation services)

2)Commercial Presence (provision of services abroad through FDI or Representative Offices).

3)Consumption Abroad(Tourism)4)Movement of personal(entry and temporary stay of foreign

consultants)

The General Agreement On Tariff And Trade(GATT),the predecessor of WTO , was born in 1948 ,as result of the international desire to liberalize trade.

The GATT was transformed into a World Trade Organization(WTO) with effect from January 1995.

India is one of the founder member of IMF,world bank,GATT and the WTO.

The Preamble to the GATT mentioned the following as its important objectives-

1)Raising standard of living.

2) Ensuring full employment and a large and steadily grow

volume of real income and effective demand.

3) Developing full use of the resources of the world.

4) Expansion of production and international trade.

For the realization of its objectives , GATT adopted the following principles:

1) Non-Discrimination-The principle of non-discrimination requires that no member country shall discriminate between the members of GATT in the conduct of international trade.

2) Prohibition of Quantitative Restrictions: GATT rules seek to prohibit quantitative restrictions as far as possible and limit restrictions on trade to the less rigid tariffs.

3) Consultation: By providing a forum for continuing consultations , it sought to resolve disagreements through consultations.

• GATT was formed in 1948 with 23 contracting parties. Were WTO was formed in 1995 by replacing GATT.

• GATT was a provisional legal agreement whereas WTO is an organization with permanent agreements. 

• WTO has members while GATT had only contracting parties.• GATT dealt only with trade in goods while WTO covers

services and intellectual property rights as well. • The real critical distinction between GATT and WTO is creation

of a binding dispute settlement system. Under GATT contracting parties could bring cases before international body but there was no effective enforcement mechanism. But in WTO an effective enforcement mechanism exists.

India , as a developing economy , has been benefitted

being a founding member of World Trade Organization . The

country at large has seen many significant changes which

have taken place after the formation of WTO . There are

some issues which are yet to be sorted out with the WTO

and but by and large things are falling in shape for the

Indian Economy.

By-Vijay Harinkhede