Реферат: World trade organisation
Internationalorganizations and movements. Their role in the promotion of peace, globalcooperation and mutual understanding
WORLDTRADE ORGANISTAION
MatveevAndrey 11 “A”
Centerof Education №1816
2002
WORLDTRADE ORGANISATION
Nobodywill deny if I say that in our modern world it is very important to control therelationship between different countries. There are different organizationsnowadays. They control different aspects of our everyday life. I would like tospeak about world trade organization. It deals with the global rules of tradebetween nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly,predictably and freely as possible.
Firstof all I would like to give some facts about the creation and location of WTO.
Location:Geneva, Switzerland
Established:1 January 1995
Createdby: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986–94)
Membership:134 countries (as of February 1999)
Budget:122 million Swiss francs for 1999
Secretariatstaff: 500
Head:Director-general
Functions:
•Administering WTO trade agreements
•Forum for trade negotiations
•Handling trade disputes
•Monitoring national trade policies
•Technical assistance and training for developing countries
•Cooperation with other international organizations
TheWorld Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One of the youngest of theinternational organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreementon Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War. Sowhile the WTO is still young, the multilateral trading system that wasoriginally set up under GATT is already 50 years old. The system celebrated itsgolden jubilee in Geneva on 19 May 1998, with many heads of state andgovernment leaders attending. The past 50 years have seen an exceptional growthin world trade. Merchandise exports grew on average by 6% annually. Total tradein 1997 was 14-times the level of 1950. GATT and the WTO have helped to createa strong and prosperous trading system contributing to unprecedented growth.The system was developed through a series of trade negotiations, or rounds,held under GATT. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff reductions but laternegotiations included other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff measures.The latest round—the 1986-94. Uruguay Round—led to the WTO’s creation. Thenegotiations did not end there. Some continued after the end of the UruguayRound. In February 1997 agreement was reached on telecommunications services,with 69 governments agreeing to wide-ranging liberalization measures that wentbeyond those agreed in the Uruguay Round. In the same year 40 governmentssuccessfully concluded negotiations for tariff-free trade in informationtechnology products, and 70 members concluded a financial services dealcovering more than 95% of trade in banking, insurance, securities and financialinformation. At the May 1998 ministerial meeting in Geneva, WTO members agreedto study trade issues arising from global electronic commerce. The nextministerial conference is due to be held in the United States in late 1999. In2000, new talks are due to start on agriculture and services and possibly arange of other issues.
FUNCTIONS
TheWTO’s overriding objective is to help trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly andpredictably. It does this by:
•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 technicalassistance and training programs
•Cooperating with other international organizations
STRUCTURE
TheWTO has more than 130 members, accounting for over 90% of world trade. Over 30others are negotiating membership. Decisions are made by the entire membership.This is typically by consensus. A majority vote is also possible but it hasnever been used in the WTO, and was extremely rare under the WTO’s predecessor,GATT. The WTO’s agreements have been ratified in all members’ parliaments. TheWTO’s top level decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference which meetsat least once every two years. Below this is the General Council (normallyambassadors and heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sentfrom members’ capitals) which meets several times a year in the Genevaheadquarters. The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Bodyand the Dispute Settlement Body. At the next level, the Goods Council, ServicesCouncil and Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Council report to the GeneralCouncil. Numerous specialized committees, working groups and working partiesdeal with the individual agreements and other areas such as the environment,development, membership applications and regional trade agreements. The firstMinisterial Conference in Singapore in 1996 added three new working groups tothis structure. They deal with the relationship between trade and investment,the interaction between trade and competition policy and transparency ingovernment procurement. At the second Ministerial Conference in Geneva in 1998ministers decided that the WTO would also study the area of electroniccommerce, a task to be shared out among existing councils and committees.
SECRETARIAT
TheWTO Secretariat, based in Geneva, has around 500 staff and is headed by adirector-general. It does not have branch offices outside Geneva. Sincedecisions are taken by the members themselves, the Secretariat does not havethe decision-making role that other international bureaucracies are given. TheSecretariat’s main duties are to supply technical support for the variouscouncils and committees and the ministerial conferences, to provide technicalassistance for developing countries, to analyze world trade, and to explain WTOaffairs to the public and media.
TheSecretariat also provides some forms of legal assistance in the disputesettlement process and advises governments wishing to become members of theWTO.
Theannual budget is roughly 122 million Swiss francs. How can you ensure thattrade is as fair as possible, and as free as is practical? By negotiating rulesand abiding by them. The WTO’s rules—the agreements—are the result ofnegotiations between the members. The current set were the outcome of the1986–94 Uruguay Round negotiations which included a major revision of theoriginal General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT is now the WTO’sprincipal rule-book for trade in goods. The Uruguay Round also created newrules for dealing with trade in services, relevant aspects of intellectualproperty, dispute settlement, and trade policy reviews. The complete set runsto some 30,000 pages consisting of about 60 agreements and separate commitments(called schedules) made by individual members in specific areas such as lowercustoms duty rates and services market-opening. Through these agreements, WTOmembers operate a non- discriminatory trading system that spells out theirrights and their obligations. Each country receives guarantees that its exportswill be treated fairly and consistently in other. These principles appear inthe new General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). WTO members have alsomade individual commitments under GATS stating which of their services sectorsthey are willing to open to foreign competition, and how open those marketsare. countries’ markets. Each promises to do the same for imports into its ownmarket. The system also gives developing countries some flexibility inimplementing their commitments.
GOODS
Itall began with trade in goods. From 1947 to 1994, GATT was the forum fornegotiating lower customs duty rates and other trade barriers; the text ofGeneral Agreement spelt out important rules, particularly non- discrimination.Since 1995, the updated GATT has become the WTO’s umbrella agreement for tradein goods. It has annexes dealing with specific sectors such as agriculture andtextiles, and with specific issues such as state trading, product standards,subsidies and actions taken against dumping.
SERVICES
Banks,insurance firms, telecommunications companies, tour operators, hotel chains andtransport companies looking to do business abroad can now enjoy the sameprinciples of freer and fairer trade that originally only applied to trade ingoods.
INTELLECTUALPROPERTY
TheWTO’s intellectual property agreement amounts to rules for trade and investmentin ideas and creativity. The rules state how copyrights, trademarks,geographical names used to identify products, industrial designs, integratedcircuit layout-designs and undisclosed information such as tradesecrets—“intellectual property”—should be protected when trade is involved.
DISPUTESETTLEMENT
TheWTO’s procedure for resolving trade quarrels under the Dispute SettlementUnderstanding is vital for enforcing the rules and therefore for ensuring thattrade flows smoothly. Countries bring disputes to the WTO if they think theirrights under the agreements are being infringed. Judgments byspecially-appointed independent experts are based on interpretations of theagreements and individual countries’ commitments. The system encouragescountries to settle their differences through consultation. Failing that, theycan follow a carefully mapped out, stage-by-stage procedure that includes thepossibility of a ruling by a panel of experts, and the chance to appeal theruling on legal grounds. Confidence in the system is borne out by the number ofcases brought to the WTO—167 cases by March 1999 compared to some 300 disputesdealt with during the entire life of GATT (1947–94).
POLICYREVIEW
TheTrade Policy Review Mechanism’s purpose is to improve transparency, to create agreater understanding of the policies that countries are adopting, and toassess their impact. Many members also see the reviews as constructive feedbackon their policies. All WTO members must undergo periodic scrutiny, each reviewcontaining reports by the country concerned and the WTO Secretariat. Over 54members have been reviewed since the WTO came into force.
DEVELOPMENTAND TRADE
Overthree quarters of WTO members are developing or least-developed countries.Special provisions for these members are included in all the WTO agreements.They include longer time periods for implementing agreements and commitments,measures to increase trading opportunities for these countries, provisionsrequiring all WTO members to safeguard the trade interests of developingcountries, and support to help developing countries build the infrastructurefor WTO work, handle disputes, and implement technical standards. In 1997, ahigh-level meeting on trade initiatives and technical assistance forleast-developed countries brought their concerns to centre stage. The meetinginvolved six intergovernmental agencies and resulted in an “integratedframework” to help least-developed countries increase their ability to trade,and some additional preferential market access agreements. A committee on tradeand development, assisted by a sub- committee on least-developed countries,looks at developing countries’ special needs. Its responsibility includesimplementation of the agreements, technical cooperation, and the increasedparticipation of developing countries in the global trading system
TECHNICALASSISTANCE AND TRAINING
TheWTO organizes around 100 technical cooperation missions to developing countriesannually. It holds on average three trade policy courses each year in Genevafor government officials. Regional seminars are held regularly in all regionsof the world with a special emphasis on African countries. Training courses arealso organized in Geneva for officials from countries in transition fromcentral planning to market economies. In 1997/98, the WTO set up referencecenters in over 40 trade ministries in capitals of least-developed countries,providing computers and internet access to enable ministry officials to keepabreast of events in the WTO in Geneva through online access to the WTO’simmense database of official documents and other material.