WTO

Ranjit V. Chavan
Associate Professor
Agricultural Economics
INTRODUCTION
 After II world war, restriction on international trade

 GATT-1947

 Eight round of negotiations

 Arthur Dunkel – DG of GATT

 Uruguay round –strengthens world economy by more

investment ,employments and income

 Negotiations-WTO come in force from 1st Jan.1995

GATT and WTO Trade Rounds

Round YEAR VENUE

First 1947 Geneva(23 countries)
GATT
Second 1949 France
Third 1950-51 Britain
Forth 1955-56 Geneva
Fifth 1960-62 Geneva
Sixth 1964-67 Geneva
Seven 1973-79 Geneva
Eight 1986-94 Uruguay 123 countries
WTO
Ninth 1995-to till today Doha round 164
countries
 World Trade Organization

 It is the only international organization dealing with

the global rules of trade between nations.

 Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as

smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
 World Trade Organization

Created by: Uruguay Round Negotiations

(1986-94)
Established: 1January1995

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Membership: 164 Countries

Secretariat staff: 630

Head: Director-General Pascal Lamy

Budget: 169 million Swiss francs

 STRUCTURE OF WTO
Ministerial Conference
General Council
Dispute Settlement Body Trade Policy Review Body
(DSB) (TPRB)

Goods Council Service Council TRIPS

Secretariat
Director General

Staff 630
 FUNCTIONS OF WTO

Administering trade agreements.

Acting as a forum for trade negotiations.
Handling trade disputes.
Monitoring national trade policies.

Technical assistance and training for developing

countries.
Cooperating with other international
organizations.
 GATT and WTO
GATT WTO

 No legal status.  Legal status

 Multilateral agreements  Agreements permanent &

binding.
of selective nature & not
binding.
 Automatic dispute
 Bilateral dispute settlement mechanism,
faster and binding on the
settlement system.
parties.
 GATT WTO

 Members met once in a Rule-based with time bound

decade to discuss and solve decisions.
world trade problems.
 Rules applied to trade in
 Covers not only trade in
goods and trade in services.
goods and services but also
 Small Secretariat TRIPS and other agreements.
managed by a Director
 Large Secretariat and a
General.
huge organizational set up.
WTO Agreements
 Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)
 Agreement on Textiles and Clothing
 Agreement on Anti-Dumping
 Agreement on Safeguards
 Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs)
 Agreement on Custom Valuation
 Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
 Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitory Measures (SPS)
 Agreement on Tread Related Aspect of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS)
 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
 Special and Different Treatment (S & D)
Agreement on Agriculture (AOA)–Objectives
(1-1-1995)
 To establish a fair and market-oriented
agriculture trading
 To initiate a reform process through
negotiation of commitments on support and
protection .
 To provide for substantial progressive
reduction in support and protection.
 To achieve specific binding commitments in
market access, domestic support and export
competition.
 TRIPs
 TRIPs, negotiated in the Uruguay Round

 Introduced IP protection rules into multilateral

trading system for the first time.

 TRIPS Agreement made it mandatory for all

WTO members to provide for internationally
acceptable and enforceable patent protection
for new inventions in all areas of technology.
 TRIPs
 "to promote access to technology for all.
 WTO document - 73 articles in 7 parts

(I) General provisions and basic principles,

(II) Standards concerning availability, scope, and use of IPRs

(III) Enforcement of IPR,

(IV) Acquisition and maintenance of IPR

(V) Dispute prevention and settlement,

(VI) Transitional arrangements, and

(VII) Institutional arrangements.

 TRIPs
 Sets down minimum standards for many
forms of IP regulation.
 TRIPS contains requirements that nations'
laws must meet for
 Copyright rights
 Geographical indications
 Industrial designs
 Integrated circuit layout-designs
 Patents
 Role of TRIPS Agreement
 Member country must enact the strict IP laws
mandated by TRIPS
 Globalization of intellectual property laws

 Monitoring: Members will review each others’ laws

 Consultations: On any TRIPS issue

 Technical cooperation: A work programme

 Reviews and negotiations on specific subjects

 Review of TRIPS agreement
Major provisions of TRIPs
 Protect plant varieties either through patents
or through an effective sui generis system or
a combination of both.

 Copyright terms must extend to 50 years after

the death of the author,

 Films and photographs are only required to

have fixed 50 and 25 year terms respectively.
 Copyright must be granted automatically.

 Computer programs must be regarded as

"literary works" under copyright law

 National exception to copy right (such as fair

use the US) must be tightly constrained.
 Patents must be granted in all "fields of
technology,(Art. 27.2 and 27.3)

 Enforceable for at least 20 years (Art 33).

 Exceptions to patent law must be limited almost as

strictly as those to copyright law.

 IP protection should contribute to technical innovation

and the transfer of technology. Both producers and
users should benefit, and economic and social
welfare should be enhanced.