World Trade Organization (WTO) quiz

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a formal international organization dealing with trade rules between nations.
• WTO agreements are negotiated, signed, and ratified by trading nations' parliaments.
• The WTO came into being in 1995.
• The WTO succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
• GATT was established in the wake of World War II.
• The headquarters of the WTO is in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The WTO was established on January 1, 1995.
• The WTO was created by the Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94).
• There are 166 member countries as of August 30, 2024.
• The WTO's 2016 budget was 197 million Swiss francs.
• The WTO secretariat staff consists of 628 people.
• The Director-General of the WTO is Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala.
• GATT is a multilateral treaty concluded in 1947.
• GATT provided a code of agreed rules for international trade, embodying rights and obligations of a legal character.
• GATT entered into force on January 1, 1948, and lasted until 1994.
• The Uruguay Round (1986-94) led to the WTO's creation.

Main Objectives

• Facilitating trade as freely as possible
• Liberalizing trade through negotiations
• Establishing impartial dispute settlement mechanisms

Functions

• Administering trade agreements
• Providing a forum for trade negotiations and dispute resolution
• Monitoring national trade policies
• Offering technical assistance and training to developing countries

WTO Secretariat

• The WTO Secretariat is headed by a Director-General.
• The WTO has approximately 623 staff members.
• The WTO Secretariat provides independent support to member governments.
• The WTO Secretariat assists in carrying out activities and upholding professionalism, impartiality, and integrity.

Divisions of the Secretariat

• Accessions Division facilitates negotiations between WTO members and states requesting accession.
• Administration and General Services Division provides administrative services for the Secretariat and WTO members.
• Agriculture and Commodities Division handles ongoing negotiations on agriculture.
• Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division supports the Ministerial Conference and Dispute Settlement Body.
• Development Division focuses on policy issues related to trade and development.
• Human Resources Division manages human resources for WTO staff members.
• Information Technology Solutions Division ensures efficient operation of the WTO's IT infrastructure.
• Legal Affairs Division provides legal advice to WTO dispute settlement panels.
• Market Access Division assists WTO Members in implementing GATT-WTO agreements.
• Rules Division ensures the smooth functioning of all WTO bodies.
• Trade and Environment Division supports committees dealing with trade, environment, and technical barriers.

Organizational Structures

• The Ministerial Conference is the highest authority, meeting at least once every two years.
• The Ministerial Conference reviews work, provides guidance, and sets agendas.
• The Ministerial Conference is the topmost decision-making body.
• The General Council is the highest-level decision-making body in Geneva, meeting regularly.
• The General Council has representatives from all member governments and acts on behalf of the Ministerial Conference.
• Three bodies that handle the Ministerial Conference: The General Council, the Dispute Settlement, and the Trade Policy Review Body.
• Councils are the third level, handling different areas of trade and reporting to the General Council. They include Councils for Trade in Goods, Services, and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
• The WTO is run by its member governments, who make major decisions.
• Ministers meet at least once every two years, and ambassadors or delegates meet regularly in Geneva.
• The WTO operates as a set of rules governing the trade behavior of governments.
• The WTO serves as a forum for trade negotiations and as an international court for dispute resolution.

Fundamental Principles

• Trade must be conducted without discrimination, granting equal treatment to all contracting parties.
• Exceptions to non-discrimination are granted under special circumstances like regional trading arrangements.
• Protection is primarily achieved through customs tariffs.

Stable Basis for Trade

• Binding of negotiated tariff levels provides a stable basis for trade.
• Renegotiation of tariffs is discouraged and requires compensation.
• Consultations enable countries to seek fair settlements for rights withheld under the General Agreement.
• Quantitative Restrictions include a general prohibition on maintaining restrictions, although some remain.
• Regional Trading Arrangements involve countries abolishing barriers against imports from one another.
• Waiver procedures allow WTO members to seek derogations when economic circumstances warrant.
• The WTO Agreement on Safeguards permits temporary protection for domestic industries under defined circumstances.
• Members may impose import restrictions or suspend tariff concessions on products causing injury to domestic industries.

Trade Liberalization

• Trade liberalization is administered through multilateral negotiations called "rounds".
• Eight rounds of negotiations lowered industrial tariffs in developed countries to about 7%.
• Negotiations expanded in the 1980s to include non-tariff barriers, services, and intellectual property.

Uruguay Round

• The Uruguay Round spanned from 1986 to 1994.
• It involved 123 countries.
• It covered agriculture, textiles, services, intellectual property rights, and investment measures.
• The Uruguay Round transformed GATT into the World Trade Organization.
• The Final Act was signed on April 15, 1994, in Marrakesh, Morocco.
• The Uruguay Round came into effect in 1995 which was implemented up to 2000.
• Implementation was extended to 2004 for developing countries.
• Key Result Areas of the Uruguay Round include market access, rules and disciplines, and institutional topics.
• Market Access includes negotiations in industrial tariffs, agriculture, textiles, clothing, and services.
• Rules and Disciplines included negotiating topics that ranged from trade measures against unfair trade such as anti-dumping and countervailing measures, trade measures to protect a country against import surges and a deterioration of its balanced-of-payments, e.g., safeguards, trade restrictions, customs valuation, subsidies, intellectual property rights, and investment measure.
• Institutional Topics include dispute settlement and ways to improve the multilateral trading system.

Trade Remedy Measures

• Measures against Unfair Trade include anti-dumping measures against dumped imports that cause injury.
• Countervailing Measures can be employed against subsidized imports, called “countervailing duty”.
• The WTO allows for a renegotiation of bound tariffs subject to the requirements that a return to higher tariffs be compensated for.
• Measures against Fair Trade (Import Surges) include safeguard measures that are temporary which are put into place for domestic industries or workers are seriously injured by increased but fairly traded imports, while Balance-of-Payments Measures reaffirm that the country can restricts imports which can in the form of price-based measures over the bound duty rates of a member country, subject on the Understanding on the Balance-of-Payments Provisions of GATT 1994.

This quiz assesses understanding of the World Trade Organization's functions, history, and impacts. Questions cover its role in trade negotiations, dispute resolution, and its organizational divisions. The World Trade Organization's key agreements and objectives are also explored.