Forex Presentation On Gatt And Wto

WTO & GATT

Presented By: Tanay Sinha

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Aim at expanding competency of GATT to new areas.

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Agriculture was one of the important part of the conference.

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On umbrella agreement Agreements for each 3 broad areas of trade that WTO covers. Dispute settlement Reviews of government trade policies

CRITICISMS  

By groups such as Oxfam NGO such as Health Gap and Global Trade Watch

General Agreement On Tariffs & Trade Fundamental Principles 

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General principle of most favored nation treatment Principle of national treatment with regard to taxation and internal regulations

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The Doha Declaration was approved by 142 countries at the fourth Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization. The agreement states that if a country is not in full agreement with the proposed WTO declaration, it can be put out of discussions. Its objective is to lower trade barriers around the world, which allows countries to increase trade globally. The outcome of the conference took into account a number of concerns expressed by India.

 Implementations  Agriculture  Services  TRIPS  Labor

Issues

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Paragraph 1: “We recognize the gravity of public health problems afflicting many developing and least developed countries, especially those resulting from HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics”. Paragraph 2: “We stress the need for the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs Agreement) to be part of the wider national and international action to address these problems”. Paragraph 3: “We recognize that intellectual property protection is important for the development of new medicines. We also recognize the concerns about its effects on prices”. Paragraph 4: “The TRIPS Agreement does not and should not prevent members from taking measures to protect public health. Accordingly, reiterating our commitment to the TRIPS Agreement, we affirm that the Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO members’ right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all”.

The agreements fall into a simple structure with six main parts: An

umbrella agreement (the Agreement Establishing the WTO)

Agreements

for each of the three broad areas of trade that the WTO covers: goods and investment (the Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods including the GATT 1994 and the Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMS), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Dispute Reviews

settlement (DSU) and of government’s trade policies (TPRM).

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It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements.

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WTO is also a center of economic research and analysis.

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WTO cooperates closely with the two other components of the Bretton Woods system, the IMF and the World Bank.

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade. The WTO's headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. The WTO came into being on 1 January 1995, and is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created in 1947, and continued to operate for almost five decades. The WTO's stated goal is to improve the welfare of the people of its member countries. This main mission is further specified in certain core functions serving and safeguarding five fundamental principles, which are the foundation of the multilateral trading system.

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The WTO has 153 members, which represents more than 95% of total world trade. The WTO is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years It has General Council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for dayto-day administration director-general of WTO is appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The World Trade Organization deals with the rules of trade between nations at a near-global level; it is responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements, and is in charge of policing member countries' adherence to all the WTO agreements, signed by the majority of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.

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Reduce distortions and impediments to international trade. Smooth Functioning of IPR’s.

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Resolve disputes on trade related IP issues.

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To establish a mutually supportive relationship between the WTO & WIPO. 12

Non-discrimination features prominently in TRIPS, similar to GATT and GATS by following principles of:  National Treatment (Article 3): Equal treatment for foreign and domestic individuals and companies  Most Favored Nation (Article 4): Equal treatment for nationals of all trading partners in the WTO  TRIPS Agreement has additional important principle: Intellectual property protection should contribute to technical innovation and transfer of technology

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COPYRIGHTS TRADEMARKS GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS PATENTS LAYOUT DESIGN of INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND TRADE SECRETS

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Setting minimum standards.

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Enforcement

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Dispute Settlement- TRIP’s, DSB, SS.

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Benefits and costs of higher IP standards for developing countries Protection of traditional knowledge and culture Biological diversity Health Food Investment and transfer of technology

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Trade Related Investment Measures Agreement (TRIMS) came into effect on 1 January, 1995 as part of the Uruguay Round negotiations.  It prohibited member countries making the approval of investment conditional on compliance with laws, policies or administrative regulations that favored domestic products. 

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Local content requirements where governments require enterprises to use or purchase domestic products. Trade balancing measures where governments impose restrictions on imports by an enterprise or link the amount of imports to the level of its exports. Foreign exchange balancing requirements where an enterprise has the level of imports linked to the value of its exports in order to maintain a net foreign exchange earnings.

The lack of a precise definition means that the issue is not always clear cut and there has been considerable disagreement as to whether or not certain measures are covered by the Agreement.

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9 developing countries have applied for extension of transition period in respect of certain TRIMs which had been notified by them. Members who have not notified TRIMs or have not yet requested an extension are to be pursued as a matter of priority, under the aegis of the General Council, by the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods.

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The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established after World War II in the wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic cooperation.

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The GATT was the only multilateral instrument governing international trade from 1948 until the WTO was established in 1995.

There were several rounds of Negotiations under the GATT. GATT trade rounds concentrated on further reducing tariffs. The Kennedy Round in the mid-sixties brought about a GATT antidumping. The Tokyo Round during the seventies was the first major attempt to tackle trade barriers that do not take the form of tariffs.

These plurilateral agreements were not accepted by the full GATT membership, they were often informally called "codes". Several of these codes were amended in the Uruguay Round, and turned into multilateral commitments accepted by all WTO members. Only four remained plurilateral, but in 1997 WTO members agreed to terminate

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WTO –Implication on Indian Economy By P.K.Vasudeva

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Google.com

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Wikipedia.com

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