EVOLUTION OF WTO

 WTO had its origin in Bretton woods conference after the end of second
world war. It was founded in 1948 with 23 members by the name of
GATT[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade].

 WTO replaced GATT on 1st January 1995.

 WTO substituted GATT for providing more effective stimuli to

multilateral trading system.

 The WTO provides a permanent arena for member governments to

address international trade issues and it oversees the implementation
of the trade agreements negotiated in the Uruguay Round of trade talks
Differences Between GATT and WTO

 GATT was a provisional legal agreement whereas WTO is an

organization with permanent agreements.

 WTO has members while GATT had only contracting parties.

 GATT dealt only with trade in goods while WTO covers services and
intellectual property rights as well.

 The real critical distinction between GATT and WTO is creation of a

binding dispute settlement system. Under GATT contracting parties
could bring cases before international body but there was no effective
enforcement mechanism. But in WTO an effective enforcement
mechanism exists.
AGREEMENTS IN WTO

MULTILATERAL AGREEMENTS – are binding on all members.

PLURILATERAL AGREEMENTS – are binding only on their signatories

Multilateral Agreements

Some of the important agreement are:

 AGRICULTURE
The agreement on agriculture included three aspects : market access, domestic support and export
subsidies

 TEXTILES and CLOTHING

The WTO agreement on the textiles and clothing states that the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) will
eventually be eliminated.

 THE TRADE RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS (TRIPS) It set minimum standards
for protection of IPRs, a standard that is closer to the level of protection provided in the developed
world.

 GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES(GATS)

It involved reduction and elimination of barriers to international trade In services and establishment
of Most-Favored Nations (MFN) in this area.

 TRADE POLICY REVIW MECHANISM(TPRM)

The purpose of TPRM is to monitor the trade policies and practices of the member countries and to
achieve a greater degree of transparency.
Plurilateral Agreements

 PUBLIC PROCUREMENT –Implies that the foreign suppliers must be

given equal treatment in government procurement as the domestic
suppliers get.

 TRADE IN CIVIL AIRCRAFTS –Aims at elimination of import duties

on all aircraft.

 AGREEMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DAIRY PRODUCTS –It tries to

introduce greater stability in the market by seeking to limit surpluses,
shortages and fluctuation in price.
 INDIA and WTO ISSUES

 India is a founding member of the GATT (1947), it actively participated in the

Uruguay Round Negotiations, and is a founding member of the WTO.

 India strongly favours the multilateral approach to trade relations and grants
MFN treatment to all its trading partners, including some who are not members
of WTO.

 Within the WTO, India is committed to ensuring that the sectors in which the
developing countries enjoy a comparative advantage are adequately opened up to
international trade.

 It also has to see that the different WTO Agreements are translated into specific
enforceable dispensations, in order that developing countries are facilitated in
their developmental efforts.

 India feels that the multilateral system would itself gain if it adequately reflected
these concerns of the developing countries, so as to create the necessary impetus
to enable developing country members to catch up with their developed country
counterparts
IMPACT ON INDIA

Before becoming the member of WTO:

Its agreed that India was one of the founder member of WTO; it faced problems in Foreign
Trade grounds. The problems that India faced before the formation of WTO were the
following:
(1)Absence of Anti ± dumping
(2)No Subsidy Facilities
(3)Absence of TRIMs & TRIPs
(4)Lack of Market Scenario & Strategies

After becoming the member of WTO: India benefitted due to the following agreements:
(1)Anti-Dumping laws
(2)Dumping Technical barriers to trade
(3) Right of market
(4)TRIMs (Trade related investment measures)
 WTO AT A GLANCE
FIELDS INFORMATION

Formation January 1, 1995

Headquarters Centre William Rappard, Geneva,

Switzerland
Membership 153 member states

Official languages English, French , Spanish

Director -General Pascal Lamy

Budget 189 million Swiss francs (approx. 182

million USD) in 2009.

Staff 625
THANK YOU