World Trade Organization (WTO): Objectives and Functions

By Smriti Chand

The Uruguay round of GATT (1986-93) gave birth to World Trade Organization. The members of GATT singed on an agreement of Uruguay round in April 1994 in Morocco for establishing a new organization named WTO.
It was officially constituted on January 1, 1995 which took the place of GATT as an effective formal, organization. GATT was an informal organization which regulated world trade since 1948.
Contrary to the temporary nature of GATT, WTO is a permanent organization which has been established on the basis of an international treaty approved by participating countries. It achieved the international status like IMF and IBRD, but it is not an agency of the United Nations Organization (UNO).

Structure:

The WTO has nearly 153 members accounting for over 97% of world trade. Around 30 others are negotiating membership. Decisions are made by the entire membership. This is typically by consensus.
A majority vote is also possible but it has never 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.
The WTO’s top level decision-making body is the Ministerial Conferences which meets at least once in every two years. Below this is the General Council (normally ambassadors and heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent from members’ capitals) which meets several times a year in the Geneva headquarters. The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and the Disputes Settlement Body.
At the next level, the Goods Council, Services Council and Intellectual Property (TRIPs) Council report to the General Council. Numerous specialized committees, working groups and working parties deal with the individual agreements and other areas such as, the environment, development, membership applications and regional trade agreements.

Secretariat:

The WTO secretariat, based in Geneva, has around 600 staff and is headed by a Director-General. Its annual budget is roughly 160 million Swiss Francs. It does not have branch offices outside Geneva. Since decisions are taken by the members themselves, the secretariat does not have the decision making the role that other international bureaucracies are given.
The secretariat s main duties to supply technical support for the various councils and committees and the ministerial conferences, to provide technical assistance for developing countries, to analyze world trade and to explain WTO affairs to the public and media. The secretariat also provides some forms of legal assistance in the dispute settlement process and advises governments wishing to become members of the WTO.

Objectives:

The important objectives of WTO are:
1. To improve the standard of living of people in the member countries.
2. To ensure full employment and broad increase in effective demand.
3. To enlarge production and trade of goods.
4. To increase the trade of services.
5. To ensure optimum utilization of world resources.
6. To protect the environment.
7. To accept the concept of sustainable development.

Functions:

The main functions of WTO are discussed below:
1. To implement rules and provisions related to trade policy review mechanism.
2. To provide a platform to member countries to decide future strategies related to trade and tariff.
3. To provide facilities for implementation, administration and operation of multilateral and bilateral agreements of the world trade.
4. To administer the rules and processes related to dispute settlement.
5. To ensure the optimum use of world resources.
6. To assist international organizations such as, IMF and IBRD for establishing coherence in Universal Economic Policy determination.
Table: 2 WTO Ministerial Conference:

Conference	Year	Place
I	9-13 Dec., 1996	Singapore
II	18-20 May 1998	Geneva (Switzerland)
III	30 Nov.-З Dec., 1999	Seattle (USA)
IV	9-14 Nov., 2001	Doha (Qatar)
V	10-14 Sep., 2003	Cancun (Mexico)
VI	13-18 Dec.. 2005	Hong Kong
VII	30 Nov-2Dec., 2009	Geneva (Switzerland)

WTO Agreements:

The WTO’s rule and the agreements are the result of negotiations between the members. The current sets were the outcome to the 1986-93 Uruguay Round negotiations which included a major revision of the original General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATI).
GATT is now the WTO’s principal rule-book for trade in goods. The Uruguay Round also created new rules for dealing with trade in services, relevant aspects of intellectual property, dispute settlement and trade policy reviews.
The complete set runs to some 30,000 pages consisting of about 30 agreements and separate commitments (called schedules) made by individual members in specific areas such as, lower customs duty rates and services market-opening.
Through these agreements, WTO members operate a non-discriminatory trading system that spells out their rights and their obligations. Each country receives guarantees that its exports will be treated fairly and consistently in other countries’ markets. Each country promises to do the same for imports into its own market. The system also gives developing countries some flexibility in implementing their commitments.
(a) Goods:
It all began with trade in goods. From 1947 to 1994, GATT was the forum for negotiating lower customs duty rates and other trade barriers; the text of the General Agreement spelt out important, rules, particularly non-discriminations since 1995, the updated GATT has become the WTO s umbrella agreement for trade in goods.
It has annexes dealing with specific sectors such as, agriculture and textiles and with specific issues such as, state trading, product standards, subsidies and action taken against dumping.
(b) Services:
Banks, insurance firms, telecommunication companies, tour operators, hotel chains and transport companies looking to do business abroad can now enjoy the same principles of free and fair that originally only applied to trade in goods.
These principles appear in the new General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). WTO members have also made individual commitments under GATS stating which of their services sectors, they are willing to open for foreign competition and how open those markets are.
(c) Intellectual Property:
The WTO’s intellectual property agreement amounts to rules for trade and investment in ideas and creativity. The rules state how copyrights, patents, trademarks, geographical names used to identify products, industrial designs, integrated circuit layout designs and undisclosed information such as trade secrets “intellectual property” should be protected when trade is involved.
(d) Dispute Settlement:
The WTO’s procedure for resolving trade quarrels under the Dispute Settlement Understanding is vital for enforcing the rules and therefore, for ensuring that trade flows smoothly.
Countries bring disputes to the WTO if they think their rights under the agreements are being infringed. Judgments by specially appointed independent experts are based on interpretations of the agreements and individual countries’ commitments.
The system encourages countries to settle their differences through consultation. Failing that, they can follow a carefully mapped out, stage-by-stage procedure that includes the possibility of the ruling by a panel of experts and the chance to appeal the ruling on legal grounds.
Confidence in the system is bourne out by the number of cases brought to the WTO, around 300 cases in eight years compared to the 300 disputes dealt with during the entire life of GATT (1947-94).
(e) Policy Review:
The Trade Policy Review Mechanism’s purpose is to improve transparency, to create a greater understanding of the policies that countries are adopting and to assess their impact. Many members also see the reviews as constructive feedback on their policies.
All WTO members must undergo periodic scrutiny, each review containing reports by the country concerned and the WTO Secretariat.