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 Born in 1995, but not so young

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j the WTO is a place where member
governments go, to try to sort out the trade
problems they face with each other. The first
step is to talk. The WTO was born out of
negotiations, and everything the WTO does is
the result of negotiations. The bulk of the
WTO's current work comes from the 1986-1986-94
negotiations called the Uruguay Round and
earlier negotiations under the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
 a
  
 

j WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by

the bulk of the world¶s trading nations. These
documents provide the legal ground-
ground-rules for
international commerce.
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j This is a third important side to the WTO¶s

work. Trade relations often involve conflicting
interests. Agreements, including those
painstakingly negotiated in the WTO system,
often need interpreting.
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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 .
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   Under the WTO
agreements, countries cannot normally
discriminate between their trading partners.
Grant someone a special favour (such as a
lower customs duty rate for one of their
products) and you have to do the same for all
other WTO members.
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   Imported and locally-
locally-produced
goods should be treated equally ² at least after the
foreign goods have entered the market. The same
should apply to foreign and domestic services, and to
foreign and local trademarks, copyrights and patents.
This principle of ³national treatment´ (giving others
the same treatment as one¶s own nationals) is also
found in all the three main WTO agreements
j G?
? .. It reflects both a desire to limit
the scope of free
free--riding that may arise because
of the MFN rule, and a desire to obtain better
access to foreign markets.
j 2?? 
 ?  . . The
tariff commitments made by WTO members in
a multilateral trade negotiation and on
accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of
concessions.
j 

. 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.
j  . In specific circumstances,
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governments are able to restrict trade.
trade. There
are three types of provisions in this direction
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