World Trade Organization

Coordinates: 46.12N 6.09E

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and
liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on 1 January 1995
under the Marrakech Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.[5] The
organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries by providing a
framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements and a dispute resolution
process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed
by representatives of member governments[6]:fol.910 and ratified by their parliaments.[7]
Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations,
especially from the Uruguay Round (19861994).
The organization is attempting to complete negotiations on the Doha Development Round,
which was launched in 2001 with an explicit focus on addressing the needs of developing
countries. As of June 2012, the future of the Doha Round remained uncertain: the work
programme lists 21 subjects in which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed,
and the round is still incomplete.[8] The conflict between free trade on industrial goods and
services but retention of protectionism on farm subsidies to domestic agricultural sector
(requested by developed countries) and the substantiation of the international liberalization
of fair trade on agricultural products (requested by developing countries) remain the major
obstacles. These points of contention have hindered any progress to launch new WTO
negotiations beyond the Doha Development Round. As a result of this impasse, there has
been an increasing number of bilateral free trade agreements signed.[9] As of July 2012,
there were various negotiation groups in the WTO system for the current agricultural trade
negotiation which is in the condition of stalemate.[10]

World Trade Organization (English)

Organisation mondiale du commerce (French)
Organizacin Mundial del Comercio (Spanish)

Official logo of WTO

Members
Members, dually represented by the EU
Observers
Non-participant states
Abbreviation

WTO

Formation

1 January 1995

Type

International trade organization

WTO's current Director-General is Roberto Azevdo,[11][12] who leads a staff of over 600

Purpose

Liberalize international trade

people in Geneva, Switzerland.[13] A trade facilitation agreement known as the Bali

Package was reached by all members on 7 December 2013, the first comprehensive

Headquarters Centre William Rappard, Geneva,

Switzerland

agreement in the organization's history.[14][15]

Coordinates

46.12N 6.09E

Region

Worldwide

Contents

Region

Contents

Worldwide

served

1 History
1.1 GATT rounds of negotiations
1.1.1 From Geneva to Tokyo
1.1.2 Uruguay Round
1.2 Ministerial conferences

Membership

160 member states [1]

Official
language

English, French, Spanish[2]

DirectorGeneral

Roberto Azevdo

Budget

196 million Swiss francs (approx. 209

million US$) in 2011. [3]

Staff

640[4]

Website

www.wto.org (http://www.wto.org/)

1.3 Doha Round (Doha Agenda)

2 Functions
3 Principles of the trading system
4 Organizational structure
5 Decision-making
6 Dispute settlement
7 Accession and membership
7.1 Accession process
7.2 Members and observers
8 Agreements
9 Office of director-general
9.1 List of directors-general
10 See also
11 Notes and references
12 External links

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.[17][18][19]
In the absence of an international organization for trade, the GATT would over the years "transform itself" into
a de facto international organization.[20]

GATT rounds of negotiations

The GATT was the only multilateral instrument governing international trade from 1946 until the WTO was
established on 1 January 1995.[21] 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.[22]
From Geneva to Tokyo
Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under GATT. The first real GATT trade rounds concentrated on further
reducing tariffs. Then, the Kennedy Round in the mid-sixties brought about a GATT anti-dumping Agreement
and a section on development. The Tokyo Round during the seventies was the first major attempt to tackle
trade barriers that do not take the form of tariffs, and to improve the system, adopting a series of agreements
on non-tariff barriers, which in some cases interpreted existing GATT rules, and in others broke entirely new
ground. Because these plurilateral agreements were not accepted by the full GATT membership, they were
often informally called "codes". Several of these codes were amended in the Uruguay Round, and turned into
multilateral commitments accepted by all WTO members. Only four remained plurilateral (those on government
procurement, bovine meat, civil aircraft and dairy products), but in 1997 WTO members agreed to terminate
the bovine meat and dairy agreements, leaving only two.[21]
Uruguay Round

The economists Harry White (left)

and John Maynard Keynes at the
Bretton Woods Conference. Both had
been strong advocates of a centralcontrolled international trade
environment and recommended the
establishment of three institutions: the
IMF (for fiscal and monetary issues);
the World Bank (for financial and
structural issues); and the ITO (for
international economic
cooperation). [16]

Well before GATT's 40th anniversary, its members concluded that the GATT system was straining to adapt to
a new globalizing world economy.[25][26] 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.[25]

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.[26] The Final Act concluding the Uruguay Round and officially establishing the WTO regime was signed 15 April 1994, during the ministerial
meeting at Marrakesh, Morocco, and hence is known as the Marrakesh Agreement.[27]
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).[25] 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 (TRIMS)
Services the General Agreement on Trade in Services
Intellectual property the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS)
Dispute settlement (DSU)
Reviews of governments' trade policies (TPRM)[28]
In terms of the WTO's principle relating to tariff "ceiling-binding" (No. 3), the Uruguay Round has been
successful in increasing binding commitments by both developed and developing countries, as may be seen in
the percentages of tariffs bound before and after the 19861994 talks.[29]

During the Doha Round, the US

government blamed Brazil and India
for being inflexible and the EU for
impeding agricultural imports. [23] The
then-President of Brazil, Luiz Incio
Lula da Silva (above right), responded
to the criticisms by arguing that
progress would only be achieved if
the richest countries (especially the
US and countries in the EU) made
deeper cuts in agricultural subsidies
and further opened their markets for
agricultural goods. [24]

Ministerial conferences
The highest decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years. It brings together all members of the
WTO, all of which are countries or customs unions. The Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade
agreements. The inaugural ministerial conference was held in Singapore in 1996. 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".
The second ministerial conference was held in Geneva in Switzerland. The third conference in Seattle, Washington ended in failure, with massive
demonstrations and police and National Guard crowd-control efforts drawing worldwide attention. The fourth ministerial conference was held in Doha in
the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. The Doha Development Round was launched at the conference. The conference also approved the joining of China,

which became the 143rd member to join. The fifth ministerial conference was held in Cancn, Mexico, aiming at forging agreement on the Doha round.
An alliance of 22 southern states, the G20 developing nations (led by India, China,[30] Brazil, ASEAN led by the Philippines), 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.
The sixth WTO ministerial conference was held in Hong Kong from 1318 December 2005. It was considered vital if the four-year-old Doha
Development Round 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 to 3% of tariff lines exempted. Other
major issues were left for further negotiation to be completed by the end of 2010. The WTO General Council,
on 26 May 2009, agreed to hold a seventh WTO ministerial conference session in Geneva from 30
November-3 December 2009. A statement by chairman Amb. Mario Matus acknowledged that the prime
purpose was to remedy a breach of protocol requiring two-yearly "regular" meetings, which had lapsed with
the Doha Round failure in 2005, and that the "scaled-down" meeting would not be a negotiating session, but
The World Trade Organization
"emphasis will be on transparency and open discussion rather than on small group processes and informal
Ministerial Conference of 1998, in the
negotiating structures". The general theme for discussion was "The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and
Palace of Nations (Geneva,
[31]
Switzerland).
the Current Global Economic Environment"

Doha Round (Doha Agenda)

The WTO launched the current round of negotiations, the Doha Development Round, at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November
2001. This was to be an ambitious effort to make globalization more inclusive and help the world's poor, particularly by slashing barriers and subsidies in
farming.[32] The initial agenda comprised both further trade liberalization and new rule-making, underpinned by commitments to strengthen substantial
assistance to developing countries.[33]
The negotiations have been highly contentious. Disagreements still continue over several key areas including agriculture subsidies, which emerged as
critical in July 2006.[34] According to a European Union statement, "The 2008 Ministerial meeting broke down over a disagreement between exporters
of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect
farmers from surges in imports."[35] The position of the European Commission is that "The successful conclusion of the Doha negotiations would confirm
the central role of multilateral liberalisation and rule-making. It would confirm the WTO as a powerful shield against protectionist backsliding."[33] An
impasse remains and, as of August 2013, agreement has not been reached, despite intense negotiations at several ministerial conferences and at other

sessions. On 27 March 2013, the chairman of agriculture talks announced "a proposal to loosen price support disciplines for
developing countries public stocks and domestic food aid." He added: ...we are not yet close to agreementin fact, the
substantive discussion of the proposal is only beginning.[36]

The Doha
Development
Round started in
2001 is at an
impasse.

GATT and WTO trade rounds[37]

Name
Geneva
Annecy
Torquay

Start

Kennedy

Tokyo

Uruguay

Doha

Subjects covered

Achievements

April 1947

7 months

23

Tariffs

Signing of GATT, 45,000 tariff concessions

affecting $10 billion of trade

April 1949

5 months

13

Tariffs

Countries exchanged some 5,000 tariff concessions

September
1950

8 months

38

Tariffs

Countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions,

cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%

5 months

26

Tariffs, admission of
$2.5 billion in tariff reductions
Japan

September
1960

11 months

26

Tariffs

May 1964

37 months

62

Tariffs, Anti-dumping Tariff concessions worth $40 billion of world trade

102

Tariffs, non-tariff
measures,
"framework"
agreements

Tariff reductions worth more than $300 billion

achieved

123

Tariffs, non-tariff
measures, rules,
services, intellectual
property, dispute
settlement, textiles,
agriculture, creation
of WTO, etc.

The round led to the creation of WTO, and extended

the range of trade negotiations, leading to major
reductions in tariffs (about 40%) and agricultural
subsidies, an agreement to allow full access for
textiles and clothing from developing countries, and
an extension of intellectual property rights.

159

Tariffs, non-tariff
measures, agriculture,
labor standards,
environment,
The round has not yet concluded. Bali Package
competition,
signed on the 7th December 2013.
investment,
transparency, patents
etc.

Geneva January 1956

II
Dillon

Duration Countries

September
1973

September
1986

November
2001

74 months

87 months

Tariff concessions worth $4.9 billion of world trade

Functions
Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most important:
It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements.[38][39]
It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes.[40][41]
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.[39][41] Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and lowincome countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training.[42]
(i) The WTO shall facilitate the implementation, administration and operation and further the objectives of this Agreement and of the Multilateral Trade
Agreements, and shall also provide the frame work for the implementation, administration and operation of the multilateral Trade Agreements.
(ii) The WTO shall provide 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.
(iii) The WTO shall administer the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes.
(iv) The WTO shall administer Trade Policy Review Mechanism.
(v) With a view to achieving greater coherence in global economic policy making, the WTO shall cooperate, as appropriate, with the international
Monetary Fund (IMF) and with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and its affiliated agencies.[43]
The above five listings are the additional functions of the World Trade Organization. As globalization proceeds in today's society, the necessity of an
International Organization to manage the trading systems has been of vital importance. As the trade volume increases, issues such as protectionism, trade
barriers, subsidies, violation of intellectual property arise due to the differences in the trading rules of every nation. The World Trade Organization serves
as the mediator between the nations when such problems arise. WTO could be referred to as the product of globalization and also as one of the most
important organizations in today's globalized society.
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.[44] Finally, the WTO cooperates closely with the two other components of the Bretton
Woods system, the IMF and the World Bank.[40]

Principles of the trading system

The WTO establishes a framework for trade policies; it does not define or specify outcomes. That is, it is concerned with setting the rules of the trade
policy games.[45] Five principles are of particular importance in understanding both the pre-1994 GATT and the WTO:
1. Non-discrimination. It has two major components: the most favoured nation (MFN) rule, and the national treatment policy. Both are embedded
in the main WTO rules on goods, services, and intellectual property, but their precise scope and nature differ across these areas. The MFN rule
requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members, i.e. a WTO member has to grant the most
favorable conditions under which it allows trade in a certain product type to all other WTO members.[45] "Grant someone a special favour and you
have to do the same for all other WTO members."[29] National treatment means that imported goods should be treated no less favorably than
domestically produced goods (at least after the foreign goods have entered the market) and was introduced to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade
(e.g. technical standards, security standards et al. discriminating against imported goods).[45]
2. Reciprocity. It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule, and a desire to obtain better access
to foreign markets. A related point is that for a nation to negotiate, it is necessary that the gain from doing so be greater than the gain available from
unilateral liberalization; reciprocal concessions intend to ensure that such gains will materialise.[46]
3. Binding and enforceable commitments. The tariff commitments made by WTO members in a multilateral trade negotiation and on accession
are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions. These schedules establish "ceiling bindings": a country can change its bindings, but only after
negotiating with its trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of trade. If satisfaction is not obtained, the complaining country
may invoke the WTO dispute settlement procedures.[29][46]
4. Transparency. The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions allowing for the review of administrative
decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO. These
internal transparency requirements are supplemented and facilitated by periodic country-specific reports (trade policy reviews) through the Trade
Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM).[47] The WTO system tries also to improve predictability and stability, discouraging the use of quotas and
other measures used to set limits on quantities of imports.[29]
5. Safety valves. In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade. The WTO's agreements permit members to take measures to
protect not only the environment but also public health, animal health and plant health.[48]
There are three types of provision in this direction:

articles allowing for the use of trade measures to attain non-economic objectives;
articles aimed at ensuring "fair competition"; members must not use environmental protection measures as a means of disguising
protectionist policies.[48]
provisions permitting intervention in trade for economic reasons.[47]
Exceptions to the MFN principle also allow for preferential treatment of developing countries, regional free trade areas and customs
unions.[6]:fol.93

Organizational structure
The General Council has the following subsidiary bodies which oversee committees in different areas:
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.[49]
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 WTO's work
with other international organizations in the field.[50]
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.[51]
Trade Negotiations Committee
The Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) is the committee that deals with the current trade talks round. The chair is WTO's director-general. As
of June 2012 the committee was tasked with the Doha Development Round.[52]

The Service Council has three subsidiary bodies: financial services, domestic regulations, GATS rules and specific commitments.[49] The council has
several different committees, working groups, and working parties.[53] 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.

Decision-making
The WTO describes itself as "a rules-based, member-driven organization all decisions are made by the member governments, and the rules are the
outcome of negotiations among members".[54] The WTO Agreement foresees votes where consensus cannot be reached, but the practice of consensus
dominates the process of decision-making.[55]
Richard Harold Steinberg (2002) argues that although the WTO's consensus governance model provides law-based initial bargaining, trading rounds
close through power-based bargaining favouring Europe and the U.S., and may not lead to Pareto improvement.[56]

Dispute settlement
In 1994, the WTO members agreed on the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) annexed to the "Final
Act" signed in Marrakesh in 1994.[57] Dispute settlement is regarded by the WTO as the central pillar of the multilateral trading system, and as a "unique
contribution to the stability of the global economy".[58] WTO members have agreed that, if they believe fellow-members are violating trade rules, they will
use the multilateral system of settling disputes instead of taking action unilaterally.[59]
The operation of the WTO dispute settlement process involves the DSB panels, the Appellate Body, the WTO Secretariat, arbitrators, independent
experts and several specialized institutions.[60] Bodies involved in the dispute settlement process, World Trade Organization.

Accession and membership

The process of becoming a WTO member is unique to each applicant country, and the terms of accession are dependent upon the country's stage of
economic development and current trade regime.[61] The process takes about five years, on average, but it can last more if the country is less than fully
committed to the process or if political issues interfere. The shortest accession negotiation was that of the Kyrgyz Republic, while the longest was that of
Russia, which, having first applied to join GATT in 1993, was approved for membership in December 2011 and became a WTO member on 22 August
2012.[62] The second longest was that of Vanuatu, whose Working Party on the Accession of Vanuatu was established on 11 July 1995. After a final

meeting of the Working Party in October 2001, Vanuatu requested more time to consider its accession terms. In 2008, it indicated its interest to resume
and conclude its WTO accession. The Working Party on the Accession of Vanuatu was reconvened informally on 4 April 2011 to discuss Vanuatu's
future WTO membership. The re-convened Working Party completed its mandate on 2 May 2011. The General Council formally approved the
Accession Package of Vanuatu on 26 October 2011. On 24 August 2012, the WTO welcomed Vanuatu as its 157th member.[63] An offer of accession
is only given once consensus is reached among interested parties.[64]

Accession process
A country wishing to accede to the WTO submits an application to the General
Council, and has to describe all aspects of its trade and economic policies that
have a bearing on WTO agreements.[65] The application is submitted to the
WTO in a memorandum which is examined by a working party open to all
interested WTO Members.[66]
After all necessary background information has been acquired, the working party
focuses on issues of discrepancy between the WTO rules and the applicant's
international and domestic trade policies and laws. The working party determines
the terms and conditions of entry into the WTO for the applicant nation, and may
consider transitional periods to allow countries some leeway in complying with
the WTO rules.[61]
The final phase of accession involves bilateral negotiations between the applicant
nation and other working party members regarding the concessions and
commitments on tariff levels and market access for goods and services. The new
member's commitments are to apply equally to all WTO members under normal
non-discrimination rules, even though they are negotiated bilaterally.[65]

WTO accession progress:

Members (including dual-representation with the European
Union)
Draft Working Party Report or Factual Summary adopted
Goods and/or Services offers submitted
Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime (FTR) submitted
Observer, negotiations to start later or no Memorandum on FTR
submitted

When the bilateral talks conclude, the working party sends to the general council
Frozen procedures or no negotiations in the last 3 years
or ministerial conference an accession package, which includes a summary of all
No official interaction with the WTO
the working party meetings, the Protocol of Accession (a draft membership
treaty), and lists ("schedules") of the member-to-be's commitments. Once the
general council or ministerial conference approves of the terms of accession, the applicant's parliament must ratify the Protocol of Accession before it can
become a member.[67] Some countries may have faced tougher and a much longer accession process due to challenges during negotiations with other
WTO members, such as Vietnam, whose negotiations took more than 11 years before it became official member in January 2007.[68]

Members and observers

The WTO has 160 members and 24 observer governments.[69] In addition to states, the European Union is a member. WTO members do not have to
be full sovereign nation-members. Instead, they must be a customs territory with full autonomy in the conduct of their external commercial relations. Thus
Hong Kong has been a member since 1995 (as "Hong Kong, China" since 1997) predating the People's Republic of China, which joined in 2001 after
15 years of negotiations. The Republic of China (Taiwan) acceded to the WTO in 2002 as "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and
Matsu" (Chinese Taipei) despite its disputed status.[70] The WTO Secretariat omits the official titles (such as Counselor, First Secretary, Second
Secretary and Third Secretary) of the members of Chinese Taipei's Permanent Mission to the WTO, except for the titles of the Permanent
Representative and the Deputy Permanent Representative.[71]
As of 2007, WTO member states represented 96.4% of global trade and 96.7% of global GDP.[72] Iran, followed by Algeria, are the economies with
the largest GDP and trade outside the WTO, using 2005 data.[73][74] With the exception of the Holy See, observers must start accession negotiations
within five years of becoming observers. A number of international intergovernmental organizations have also been granted observer status to WTO
bodies.[75] 14 UN member states have no official affiliation with the WTO.

Agreements
The WTO oversees about 60 different agreements which have the status of international legal texts. Member countries must sign and ratify all WTO
agreements on accession.[76] A discussion of some of the most important agreements follows. The Agreement on Agriculture came into effect with the
establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995. The AoA has three central concepts, or "pillars": domestic support, market access and export
subsidies. The General Agreement on Trade in Services was created to extend the multilateral trading system to service sector, in the same way as the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provided such a system for merchandise trade. The agreement entered into force in January 1995. The
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP)
regulation. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.[77]
The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measuresalso known as the SPS Agreementwas negotiated during the Uruguay
Round of GATT, and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995. Under the SPS agreement, the WTO sets
constraints on members' policies relating to food safety (bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection and labelling) as well as animal and plant health
(imported pests and diseases). The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade 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 at the
end of 1994. The object ensures that technical negotiations and standards, as well as testing and certification procedures, do not create unnecessary
obstacles to trade".[78] The Agreement on Customs Valuation, formally known as the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of GATT, prescribes
methods of customs valuation that Members are to follow. Chiefly, it adopts the "transaction value" approach.

In December 2013, the biggest agreement within the WTO was signed and known as the Bali Package.[79]

Office of director-general
The procedures for the appointment of the WTO director-general were published in January 2003.[80]
Additionally, there are four deputy directors-general. As of 1 October 2013, under director-general Roberto
Azevdo, the four deputy directors-general are Yi Xiaozhun of China, Karl-Ernst Brauner of Germany, Yonov
Frederick Agah of Nigeria and David Shark of the United States.[81]

List of directors-general
Source: Official website[82]
Roberto Azevedo, 2013
Pascal Lamy, 20052013
Supachai Panitchpakdi, 20022005
Mike Moore, 19992002
Renato Ruggiero, 19951999
Peter Sutherland, 1995
(Heads of the precursor organization, GATT):
Peter Sutherland, 19931995
Arthur Dunkel, 19801993
Olivier Long, 19681980
Eric Wyndham White, 19481968

See also
Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMS)

The headquarters of the World Trade

Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

Aide-mmoire non-paper
Anti-globalization movement
Criticism of the World Trade Organization
Foreign Affiliate Trade Statistics
Global administrative law
Globality
Information Technology Agreement
International Trade Centre
Labour Standards in the World Trade Organisation
List of member states of the World Trade Organization
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Subsidy
Swiss Formula
Trade bloc
Washington Consensus
World Trade Report
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity
China and the World Trade Organization
Geographical indication
Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
List of Geographical Indications in India

Notes and references

1. ^ Members and Observers (http://wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm) at WTO official website
2. ^ Languages, Documentation and Information Management Division (http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/secre_e/div_e.htm) at WTO official site

3. ^ "WTO Secretariat budget for 2011" (http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/secre_e/budget_e.htm). WTO official site. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
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