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WTO
2.1. Briefly outline the historical origins of the GATT. Explain
how the constitutional law of the United States and of other
countries played a decisive role in the genesis of the GATT. Did
the GATT 1947 ever enter into force? How did the PPA solve the
problem faced by those countries that needed parliamentary
approval of the GATT 1947? Has the GATT been a success?

2.2. Did the Punta del Este Ministerial Declaration recognize the
need for a new international organization for trade? Briefly
outline the events between 1990 and 1993 that led to an
agreement on the establishment of a new international trade
organization in December 1993. Which countries or international
entities were the driving forces behind the establishment of the
WTO? Which countries were less enthusiastic and why?

2.3. What are the objectives of the WTO? Are development

cooperation and environmental protection objectives of the
WTO? Explain. What is the legal significance of the Preamble to
the WTO Agreement? What are the main instruments, or means,
of the WTO for achieving its objectives?

2.4. Give two concrete examples of how the WTO facilitates the
implementation, administration and operation of the WTO
Agreement other than the examples given in this section.

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 2.5. Has the WTO thus far been successful as a forum for the
negotiations of new multilateral trade agreements? What is on
the agenda of the Doha Development Round? What is not (or
not yet) on the agenda? Find out exactly what the Doha
Ministerial Declaration of November 2001 says about the
relationship between trade and core labor standards.

2.6. What is the objective of the Trade Policy Review

Mechanism? Is trade policy review under the WTO comparable
with WTO dispute settlement? Find the latest trade policy review
reports concerning the European Communities and the United
States on the WTO website. Find also the latest Annual Report
by the Director-General on the Overview of Developments in the
International Trading Environment.

2.7. Why and how does the WTO cooperate with international
organizations? Why and how does the WTO cooperate with
NGOs? Find out about the next WTO/NGO event on the WTO
website.

2.8. Give a brief overview of the technical assistance efforts of

the WTO. How does the WTO coordinate its technical assistance
efforts with the efforts of other organizations and donors? Look
up how much of the 2004 WTO budget was earmarked for
technical co-operation, trade policy courses and the WTO
contribution to the ITC.

2.9. Can non-State entities become Members of the WTO?

Explain why both the European Communities and all the
Member States of the European Union are Members of the
WTO? Why is the European Communities, and not the European
Community or the European Union, a Member of the WTO?

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 When will a country ‘qualify’ as a developing-country Member or
as a least developed-country Member? Discuss briefly the
various groups and alliances that exist within the WTO
membership.

2.10. Is the country of which you are a national an ‘original

Member’ of the WTO? Does it matter whether it is or not? Why
does the WTO, as do other international organizations, not
automatically allow any country willing to accept the obligations
of membership to join the WTO? Discuss the various steps in
the process of accession to the WTO.

2.11. What is a ‘waiver’ of WTO obligations and under what

conditions can it be granted? Find out how many and which
waivers currently apply in favor of the European Communities.
Can the European Communities invoke the ‘non-application’
clause against a WTO Member that is guilty of gross violations
of human rights or acts of aggression against other countries?

2.12. Can a Member withdraw from the WTO? If so, how? Has
any Member ever withdrawn from the WTO? Can a WTO
Member, guilty of gross violations of human rights or acts of
aggression against other countries, be expelled from the WTO?

2.13. Briefly describe the basic institutional structure of the

WTO. Is the list of WTO bodies prescribed in Article IV of the
WTO Agreement an exhaustive list? Look up the programme of
meetings at the WTO for this month. Which of these meetings
would you definitely want to attend if you were a small, sugar-
exporting, least-developed-country Member (with a diplomatic
staff of two for all international organizations in Geneva)?

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 2.14. Discuss the composition and the scope of the decision-
making competence of the Ministerial Conference.

2.15. What is the relationship between the Ministerial

Conference and the General Council? What is the relationship
between the General Council and the DSB? Look up who serves
this year as the Chairperson of the General Council, the DSB
and the TPRB. Find the minutes of the last meeting of the
General Council. What issues were on the agenda of this
meeting?

2.16. What role do the specialized councils have? Which

committees are explicitly provided for in the WTO Agreement?

2.18. In your opinion, should the WTO have an executive body

and/or a consultative assembly?

2.20. Is the WTO controlled by ‘faceless international

bureaucrats’? Discuss the role and the powers of the WTO
Director-General and the WTO Secretariat.

2.21. What is decision-making by consensus? In practice, does

it amount to a veto power for each WTO Member? Can WTO
bodies take decisions by voting? Do all WTO Members have the
same number of votes? How many votes do the United States,
the European Communities, China, Belgium and Saint Lucia
have? In your opinion, should the number of votes of Members
be related to the size of their population or their share of world
trade?

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 2.23. Why are WTO Members so hesitant to resort to decision-
making by voting? Would decision-making by voting be to the
advantage of the developing country Members?

2.24. Can developing-country Members effectively participate in

the WTO decision-making process? If not, why? What are ‘green
room’ meetings? Could the WTO function without green room or
similar meetings? How can the effective participation of
developing-country Members best be ensured?

2.25. Describe how the WTO currently communicates with civil

society and the role NGOs play within the WTO. How would the
United States and the European Communities like to change
this role? Would the WTO benefit from a greater role for NGOs
in WTO decision-making processes?

2.26. Does the WTO give sufficient attention to the form and
legal basis of its decisions? If not, how could this be improved
and why would such improvement be welcome?

2.27. How is the WTO financed? How is the decision on the

annual budget and on the contributions of Members to that
budget taken? Who is the biggest contributor to the WTO
budget?

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