History

The Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 proposed the creation of an International Trade
Organization (ITO) to establish rules and regulations for trade between countries.
Members of the UN Conference on Trade and Employment in Havana agreed to the ITO
charter in March 1948, but ratification was blocked by the U.S. Senate (WTO, 2004b).
Some historians have argued that the failure may have resulted from fears within the
American business community that the International Trade Organization could be used to
regulate (rather than liberate) big business (Lisa Wilkins, 1997; Helen Milner 1993).
Only one element of the ITO survived: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT). Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under the GATT before the eighth round
- known as the Uruguay Round which began in 1986 and concluded in 1995 with the
establishment of the WTO. The GATT principles and agreements were adopted by the
WTO, which was charged with administering and extending them and approximately 30
other agreements and resolving trade disputes between member countries. Unlike the
GATT, the WTO has a substantial institutional structure

Mission
he WTO states that its aims are to increase international trade by promoting lower trade
barriers and providing a platform for the negotiation of trade and to their business.
Principles of the trading system
The WTO discussions should follow these fundamental principles of trading.[3]
1. A trading system should be free of discrimination in the sense that one country
cannot privilege a particular trading partner above others within the system, nor
can it discriminate against foreign products and services.
2. A trading system should tend toward more freedom, that is, toward fewer trade
barriers (tariffs and non-tariff barriers).
3. A trading system should be predictable, with foreign companies and governments
reassured that trade barriers will not be raised arbitrarily and that markets will
remain open.
4. A trading system should tend toward greater competition.
5. A trading system should be more accommodating for less developed countries,
giving them more time to adjust, greater flexibility, and more privileges.
According to WTO rules, all WTO members may participate in all councils, committees,
etc., except Appellate Body, Dispute Settlement panels, and plurilateral committees. In
practice, most of the WTO's decisions are made in informal meetings, often called "Green
Room" meetings, to which most members are not invited. See criticism.

Formal Structure
Highest level: Ministerial Conference
The topmost decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which has
to meet at least every two years. It brings together all members of the WTO, all of which
are countries or separate customs territories. The Ministerial Conference can make
decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements.
Second level: General Council
The daily work of the ministerial conference is handled by three groups: the General
Council, the Dispute Settlement Body, and the Trade Policy Review Body. All three
consist of the same membership - representatives of all WTO member states - but each
meets under different rules.
1. The General Council- is the WTOs highest-level decision-making body in Geneva,
meeting regularly to carry out the functions of the WTO. It has representatives (usually
ambassadors or equivalent) from all member governments and has the authority to act on
behalf of the ministerial conference which only meets about every two years. The council
acts on behalf on the Ministerial Council on all of the WTO affairs. The current chairman
is Amb. Eirik Glenne (Norway).
2. The Dispute Settlement Body - Made up of all member governments, usually
represented by ambassadors or equivalent. The current chairperson is H.E. Mr. Muhamad
Noor Yacob (Malaysia).
3. The Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) - the WTO General Council meets as the
Trade Policy Review Body to undertake trade policy reviews of Members under the
TRPM. The TPRB is thus open to all WTO Members. The current chairperson is H.E.
Ms. Claudia Uribe (Colombia).
Third level: Councils for Trade
The Councils for Trade work under the General Council. There are three councils Council for Trade in Goods, Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights, and Council for Trade in Services - each council works in different fields. Apart
from these three councils, six other bodies report to the General Council reporting on
issues such as trade and development, the environment, regional trading arrangements
and administrative issues.
1. Council for Trade in Goods- The workings of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) which covers international trade in goods, are the responsibility of the
Council for Trade in Goods. It is made up of representatives from all WTO member
countries. The current chairperson is Amb. Yonov Frederick Agah (Nigeria).

2. 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.
3. 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). Its open to all WTO members, and can
create subsidiary bodies as required.
Fourth level: Subsidiary Bodies
There are subsidiary bodies under each of the three councils.
1. The Goods Council- subsidiary under the Council for Trade in Goods. It has 11
committees consisting of all member countries, dealing with specific subjects such as
agriculture, market access, subsidies, anti-dumping measures and so on. Committees
include the following:

Information Technology Agreement (ITA) Committee

State Trading Enterprises
Textiles Monitoring Body - Consists of a chairman and 10 members acting under
it.
Groups dealing with notifications - process by which governments inform the
WTO about new policies and measures in their countries.

2. The Services Council- subsidiary under the Council for Trade in Services which deals
with financial services, domestic regulations and other specific commitments.
3. Dispute Settlement panels and Appellate Body- subsidiary under the Dispute
Settlement Body to resolve disputes and the Appellate Body to deal with appeals.
Other committees

Committees on
o Trade and Environment
o Trade and Development (Subcommittee on Least-Developed Countries)
o Regional Trade Agreements
o Balance of Payments Restrictions
o Budget, Finance and Administration
Working parties on
o Accession
Working groups on
o Trade, debt and finance
o Trade and technology transfer

Chronology

1986-1994 - Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations culminating in the Marrakech

Agreement that established the WTO.
January 1, 1995 - The WTO came into existence.
May 1, 1995 - Renato Ruggiero became director-general for a 4-year term.
December 9 - December 13, 1996 - The inaugural ministerial conference in
Singapore. Disagreements between largely developed and developing economies
emerged during this conference over four issues initiated by this conference,
which led to them being collectively referred to as the "Singapore issues".
May 18 - May 20, 1998 - 2nd ministerial conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
September 1, 1999 - Mike Moore became director-general. The post had been
fiercely contested; eventually a compromise was reached with Mike Moore and
Supachai Panitchpakdi taking half each of a six-year term.
November 30 - December 3, 1999 - 3rd ministerial conference in Seattle,
Washington, USA. The conference itself ended in failure, with massive
demonstrations and riots drawing worldwide attention.
November 9 - November 13, 2001 - 4th ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar
begins the Doha round. Issuance of the Doha Declaration.
December 11, 2001 - The People's Republic of China joined the WTO after 15
years of negotiations (the longest in GATT history).
January 1, 2002 - Taiwan joined under the name "Separate Customs Territory of
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu".
September 1, 2002 - Supachai Panitchpakdi became director-general.
September 10 - September 14, 2003 - 5th ministerial conference in Cancn,
Mexico aims at forging agreement on the Doha round. An alliance of 22 southern
states, the G20 (led by India, China and Brazil), resisted demands from the North
for agreements on the so-called "Singapore issues" and called for an end to
agricultural subsidies within the EU and the US. The talks broke down without
progress, although trade facilitation, one of the Singapore issues, re-emerged with
the support from both developed and developing countries in later Doha trade
round discussion.
August 2004 - Geneva talks achieve a framework agreement on the Doha round.
Developed countries will lower agricultural subsidies, and in exchange the
developing countries will lower tariff barriers to manufactured goods.
May 2005 - Paris talks aimed at finalizing issues for agreement before the
December 2005 ministerial conference in Hong Kong are hung over technical
issues. The group of five (U.S., Australia, the EU, Brazil and India) fail to agree
over chicken, beef and rice. France continues to protest restrictions on subsidies to
farmers. Oxfam accuses the EU of delaying tactics which threaten to scupper the
Doha round.
November 11 - WTO General Council successfully adopts Saudi Arabias terms of
Accession
December 13 - December 18, 2005 - 6th ministerial conference in Hong Kong.
July 24, 2006 - The Doha Development Agenda negotiations were suspended,
because gaps between key players remained too wide.

Criticism
The stated aim of the WTO is to promote free trade and stimulate economic growth.
Many people argue that free trade does not make ordinary people's lives more prosperous
but only results in the rich (both people and countries) becoming richer. WTO treaties
have also been accused of a partial and unfair bias toward multinational corporations and
wealthy nations.
Critics contend that small countries in the WTO wield little influence, and despite the
WTO aim of helping the developing countries, the influential nations in the WTO focus
on their own commercial interests. They also claim that the issues of health, safety and
environment are steadfastly ignored.
Martin Khor argues that the WTO does not manage the global economy impartially, but
in its operation has a systematic bias toward rich countries and multinational
corporations, harming smaller states which have less negotiation power. Some examples
of this bias are:

Rich countries are able to maintain high import duties and quotas in certain
products, blocking imports from developing countries (e.g. clothing);
The increase in non-tariff barriers such as anti-dumping measures allowed against
developing countries;
The maintenance of high protection of agriculture in developed countries while
developing ones are pressed to open their markets;
Many developing countries do not have the capacity to follow the negotiations
and participate actively in the Uruguay Round; and
The TRIPs agreement which limits developing countries from utilizing some
technology that originates from abroad in their local systems (including medicines
and agricultural products).

Jagdish Bhagwati, although pro-free trade and pro-globalization, has strongly criticized
the introduction of TRIPs (forum shifting) into the WTO/GATT framework. His fear is
that other non-trade agendas might overwhelm the organization's function.
Many non-governmental organizations, such as the World Federalist Movement, are
calling for the creation of a WTO parliamentary assembly to allow for more democratic
participation in WTO decision making [8]. Dr Caroline Lucas recommended that such an
assembly "have a more prominent role to play in the form of parliamentary scrutiny, and
also in the wider efforts to reform the WTO processes, and its rules" [9]. However, Dr
Raoul Marc Jennar argues that a consultative parliamentary assembly would be
ineffective for the following reasons [10]:

It does not resolve the problem of informal meetings whereby industrialized

countries negotiate the most important decisions;

It does not reduce the de facto inequality which exists between countries with
regards to an effective and efficient participation to all activities within all WTO
bodies;
It does not rectify the multiple violations of the general principles of law which
affect the dispute settlement mechanism.

The WTO has 149 members (almost all of the 123 nations participating in the Uruguay
Round signed on at its foundation, and the rest had to get membership). Vietnam will
become the 150th member in January.

Sixth ministerial conference

Main article: WTO Ministerial Conference of 2005
The sixth WTO Conference Ministerial was held in Hong Kong from December 13 December 18, 2005. It was considered vital if the four-year-old Doha Development
Agenda negotiations were to move forward sufficiently to conclude the round in 2006. In
this meeting, countries agreed to phase out all their agricultural export subsidies by the
end of 2013, and terminate any cotton export subsidies by the end of 2006. Further
concessions to developing countries included an agreement to introduce duty free, tariff
free access for goods from the Least Developed Countries, following the Everything But
Arms initiative of the European Union - but with up 3% of tariff lines exempted. Other
major issues were left for further negotiation to be completed by the end of 2006.