World Trade organisation. WTO - what is it? WTO organization: conditions, countries, membership Wto transcript

World Trade Organization (WTO)- an international economic organization that creates certain conditions of trade in the territory of participating countries.

History of the creation of the WTO

The WTO was created on January 1, 1995 with the aim of regulating trade and political relations between member countries. It was formed on the basis of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), concluded in 1947. The very historical fact of the creation of the World Trade Organization occurred in the city of Marrakesh (country - Morocco) in April 1994. As a result, the agreement between the countries on the creation of common trade rules is called the “Marrakesh Agreement”. However, the date of commencement of operation of the organization is January 1, 1995, therefore this date is recognized as the date of creation. At the start of its operation, the WTO included 76 countries.

The main purpose of creating a world trade organization was to introduce uniform principles of trade on the world stage for all participating countries. However, each of the participants in this association has the right to introduce additional control measures for goods entering their markets.

The application of additional conditions for goods is introduced, to a greater extent, if there is a crisis situation in the country in any area of ​​production. This principle also applies in cases of violation of the WTO partnership principles themselves.

Despite more than twenty years of experience, the WTO has not found favor in a number of countries. The main reason for this was the complexity of the system and structure of the world trade organization itself.

Many enterprises do not see all the possible benefits, and also cannot fully assess the global position of the system as a whole. At the same time, for the participating countries, this system provides not only a single market on common rules, but also a considerable list of rights for each participant in trade relations.

Today, the headquarters of the WTO is located in Geneva (country – Switzerland). The Director General of the WTO is Roberto Azevedo (Brazilian economist).

Principles of the World Trade Organization

• No matter how complicated the WTO rules may seem, in fact they have three basic principles on which the entire single trade system is built - the most favored nation principle (MFN). This principle states that there cannot be any discrimination between participating countries.

For example, if goods are imported from Gambia (serial number 125 in the unified register of WTO member countries) and France (serial number 69 in the unified register of WTO member countries) to the territory of Poland (serial number 99 in the unified register of WTO member countries), then the conditions for the import and registration of these goods will be absolutely the same;

• The principle of national treatment. The most controversial principle. It assumes that the conditions for foreign goods, provided that they are imported by WTO members, will be the same as for goods produced in the host country. However, the conditions for participation in the WTO do not prohibit the introduction of procedures that simplify the systems for selling national goods. But such rules, most often, apply only to their own manufacturing enterprises. Thus confirming that this principle of the world trade organization is not perfect;
• The principle of transparency. This principle is the basis of all legal agreements between WTO participants. He says that each participating country must ensure full accessibility of other participants to its regulatory and legislative framework in terms of trade on its territory. The participating countries are obliged to create information centers where, in an accessible form, each interested party could explain to themselves all the aspects of the legislative regulation of trade relations that interest them.

In order to join the WTO, the country's leadership needs to go through a very long and scrupulous procedure, on average it lasts about five years. The main requirement for potential participating countries is to bring international trade to the standards set out in the agreement signed at the Uruguay Round.

At the first stage, the economy and trade policy of the country as a whole are assessed, after which lengthy negotiations take place about the potential benefits of the parties from joining the new market to the general trading system.

Finally, if the parties have reached a mutual agreement, the new participating country signs an agreement to the proposed terms of trade, and is also assigned an individual, unchangeable number. Also, the new participating country is required to pay for membership in this organization in accordance with current tariffs.

In order to leave the WTO, you must send a written notice to the Director General of the World Trade Organization, which must indicate your desire to leave this association. After six months, membership will be considered complete. It is worth noting that in the history of the WTO there has not been a single statement with such a petition.

Functions and tasks of the WTO

The main functions of the WTO are as follows:

• monitoring the commercial policies of participating states;
• monitoring compliance with all contractual terms and relations concluded under the auspices of the WTO;
• organization of negotiations between WTO member countries;
• providing participating countries with information aids within the framework of the WTO program;
• maintaining diplomatic ties with other countries and commonwealths to develop trade relations;
• resolution of controversial issues.

Based on the listed functions of the WTO, we can safely say that the main task of the World Trade Organization is to organize the interaction of member countries among themselves, as a result of which – controversial issues that may arise at the stage of interaction between several parties.

The legal basis of all documents issued by the WTO consists of sixty agreements that prescribe the three basic principles of the WTO in various forms and sections.

WTO structure

Since already in 2015 there were 162 participating countries, the countries are united by one single criterion - trade, and these are countries with different national languages, religions, economic levels, etc.

Therefore, it is so important that all decisions are made purely in order to achieve material well-being, without any targeting.

In order to make this or that decision, large meetings are held in which all participants try to reach a common denominator. The method of open (or closed) voting is also permitted, by means of determining the majority. But this method has never been used in the history of the WTO.

Members of the Ministerial Conference have the greatest number of rights in the World Trade Organization, while members of this structural unit are required to convene meetings at least once every two years.

1. This conference was first held in 1996 in Singapore (country: Singapore). The agenda of the meeting was the approval of the intended goals and objectives, as well as confirmation of the basic principles of the WTO.
2. The second time the conference was held in 1998 in Geneva and was dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of GATT (the community on the basis of which the World Trade Organization was organized).
3. The third conference took place in 1999 in Seattle (country - USA) and was called upon to formulate new goals to determine a new direction for trade, but these negotiations remained fruitless.

The next link in the WTO structure, after the Ministerial Conference, is the General Council, which deals with the daily work of preparing standard documents and solving current problems.

The General Council is composed of ambassadors and heads of delegations of the participating countries, and the frequency of meetings of this structural unit is several times a year. In turn, the General Council is subordinate to several substructures, between which the main functions of the WTO are divided:

• Commodity Trading Council. Its main function is to ensure that WTO principles are respected at every level of trade among member countries. The described principles must also be observed in all documents concluded under the auspices of the WTO;
• Council for Trade in Services. This control unit monitors compliance with the GATS rules that were prescribed in the relevant agreement. The Council for Trade in Services is divided into two main departments: the Committee on Trade in Financial Services and the Working Group on Professional Services. The staff of this council is expanding every year, and the requirements for WTO member countries are becoming more stringent;
• Council on Trade Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. In this WTO Council, the greatest number of disputes and conflicts arise, since it is intellectual property that becomes the most controversial object. As throughout the world, in the WTO rules the issue of intellectual property rights is not fully disclosed, and new disputes arise every time.

If we talk about which division of the World Trade Organization works directly with all statements from member countries and the population, then this is the WTO Secretariat. This division employs several hundred people. The director general is appointed as the head of the secretariat

The responsibility of the secretariat is that it organizes all the technical aspects that accompany important meetings and conferences, as well as the Ministerial Conference.

Technical support is also provided to countries at the development stage. In addition, specialists from this department analyze the global economy, as well as hold conferences with the media.

Russia in the WTO

In 1995, the authorities of the Russian Federation made an official demand for the right to join the World Trade Organization.

The most difficult stage was the negotiations with the United States, China and the EU countries. However, after Russia supported European countries in defending the positions of the Kyoto Protocol, the United States remained the only dissenting WTO member.

Negotiations with this country continued for six years. However, after numerous meetings and reforms carried out in the agricultural sector of the Russian economy, a protocol on Russia’s accession to the WTO was signed on November 20, 2006.

The signing took place within the framework of a session of the Asia-Pacific Forum in Hanoi (country: Vietnam).

But despite all the work done since 1995, the official entry of the Russian Federation into the WTO was constantly postponed for various reasons, the main one of which was the unstable economic situation of the participating countries, which could become even worse after the accession of the Russian market, the assessment of which was extremely low and not stable.

In June 2009, the Russian Federation made a very unusual decision. In the person of Prime Minister V.V. Putin. A statement was announced that negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO had been terminated. The initiator of stopping the consideration of the issue of accession of the Russian Federation was the Russian authorities themselves. However, they also decided to begin negotiations on Russia’s accession to the WTO as part of a single Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

By that time, the Georgian authorities had become anti-supporters of Russia.

In October 2011, with the assistance of the Swiss authorities, an agreement was formulated between Russia and Georgia to resolve controversial issues, which ensured the support of the Russian Federation even from this opponent. The official date of accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization is August 22, 2012, with the assignment of a permanent serial number - 156.

This was not a simple story of Russia's accession to the WTO.

However, one cannot help but notice that WTO membership did not help in resolving trade sanctions against the Russian Federation.

world Trade organisation- a multilateral interstate organization operating since January 1, 1995. It emerged as the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as a result of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations of 1986-1994, held under the auspices of the GATT. The Uruguay Round ended on April 15, 1994 with the Marrakech Protocol (Final Act), which opened for signature the Agreement establishing the WTO.

As of January 1, 2006, 150 states became members of the WTO. 30 states, including Russia, have observer status and are in the process of joining the WTO. The WTO headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland (154 Rue de Lausanne, CH-1211). The WTO is not part of the UN system of institutions, but, having the status of a legal entity, enjoys all the privileges of special UN agencies. Official languages ​​are English, French and Spanish. WTO Internet address – www.wto.org

The Organization's budget and the amount of contributions of individual member countries are based on traditional practices and rules of GATT 1947 (a country's share in the WTO budget is equal to its share in international trade).

The agreement consists of a preamble, in general form repeating the GATT preamble, 16 articles and four annexes containing the legal instruments of the WTO. The agreement provides for the creation of a single multilateral structure for the implementation of 56 legal instruments that make up the WTO legal system. Article II of the Agreement establishes that the legal documents named in Annexes 1, 2, 3 are integral parts of the Agreement; their provisions create rights and obligations for all WTO members. Countries that have joined the WTO must accept them without any exceptions or exceptions and are obliged to bring their national legislation into compliance with the norms of these documents. Annex 4 contains the Civil Aircraft Trade Agreement and the Government Procurement Agreement, which create obligations only for signatory countries.

The functions of the WTO are defined in Article III of the Agreement as promoting the implementation and application of WTO legal instruments; organizing negotiations between its members on issues of multilateral trade relations; ensuring the functioning of the mechanism for periodic review of the trade policies of WTO members and the implementation of the Agreement on Rules and Procedures for Dispute Resolution.

Currently, newly acceding states, including Russia, are following the following path. Article XII of the Agreement states that any state or separate customs territory having full autonomy in the conduct of its foreign trade may accede to the WTO on terms to be agreed upon between that state and the WTO. The decision on accession is made by the Ministerial Conference with a two-thirds vote of WTO members. However, according to GATT tradition, decisions are made by consensus.

The acceding country notifies the Director General of the WTO of its intention to join the WTO and submits to the WTO a Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime (goods and services). After this, the issue of accession conditions is considered by the Working Group, which is created by the WTO General Council. The working group is studying the country's foreign trade regime, its legislation and practice. A significant part of the work in the Group is transferred to informal meetings and consultations, during which the conditions for the country’s accession to the WTO are gradually developed. At the same time, bilateral negotiations are underway on the issue of reducing trade barriers, which should result in a list of concessions and obligations of the acceding country in these areas. The outcome of the meetings of the Working Group is the report of the Group to the General Council (Conference) of the WTO, containing a summary of the discussion, conclusions of the Working Group, as well as draft decisions of the General Council (Conference) of the WTO and the protocol on accession. The report of the Working Group, the decision and the protocol on accession must be approved by the General Council (Conference) of the WTO. The decision on the accession of a country comes into force 30 days after its adoption by the acceding country.

The legal framework of the WTO is multilateral agreements covering trade in goods, services and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. The legal framework of the WTO can be outlined by a list of documents attached to the Agreement, constituting its integral part and creating rights and obligations for the governments of WTO member countries.

Annexes 1, 2, and 3 include:

Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods - GATT 1994, together with mutual understandings, decisions, and agreements interpreting and developing the GATT Articles: (Understandings regarding the interpretation of Articles II, XVII, XXIV, XXVIII); Agreement on the Application of Article VI (Anti-Dumping Code); Agreement on the Application of Article VII (Customs Value); agreements on subsidies and countervailing measures, on safeguard measures, on import licensing procedures, on rules of origin, on technical barriers to trade, on the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, on pre-shipment inspection, on agriculture, on textiles and clothing; Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures - TRIMS Agreement;

General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS);

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights - TRIPS Agreement;

Mutual understanding regarding dispute resolution rules and procedures;

Trade Policy Review Mechanism.

The WTO legal instruments also include 23 declarations and ministerial decisions related to the above documents, and an agreement on obligations in the field of financial services. An integral part of the WTO legal documents are national protocols on access to markets for goods and services, which emerged as a result of the Uruguay Round, and which fix tariff conditions for access to markets of individual countries, as well as obligations for access to markets for services. Multilateral agreements included in the WTO contain legal rules that must guide governments in mutual trade in goods and services. As such, they replace more than 30,000 bilateral agreements and create the legal basis for modern international trade. Their main principles are most favored nation treatment, national treatment and transparency in the use of regulatory measures.

The organizational structure of the WTO was formed on the basis of the development of the principles laid down in the GATT and improved over about 50 years. Article XVI of the Agreement states that the WTO shall be guided by the decisions, procedures and customary practices followed by the contracting parties and bodies of the GATT. However, the Agreement notes that the GATT included in the WTO (GATT 1994) is legally different from the GATT dated September 30, 1947 (GATT 1947). The main body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which meets once every two years. This Conference has all the rights of the WTO and can carry out all its functions and make decisions. During breaks between conferences, its functions are performed by the General Council. The Council can act as a Dispute Settlement Body and a Trade Policy Review Body. In these cases, the Council has separate chairmen and its own legal procedures. In addition, there is a Council for Trade in Goods to monitor the implementation of multilateral agreements on trade in goods, a Council for Trade in Services to monitor implementation of the GATS, and an Intellectual Property Council to monitor the implementation of this agreement. Committees on trade and development have also been organized; on budgetary, financial and administrative issues. In addition, committees formed within the framework of the above-mentioned individual multilateral agreements regularly operate within the WTO bodies. There is a WTO Secretariat headed by the Director General, who is given the authority to appoint other employees of the Secretariat and determine the terms of reference and functions. Currently, the total number of Secretariat employees exceeds 600 people. Within the WTO, the system of decision-making by consensus adopted in GATT 1947 continues to operate. In cases where consensus cannot be reached, a decision may be made by vote, with each WTO member country having one vote. However, the voting system in the WTO is used extremely rarely. Articles IX and X of the Agreement define the procedural aspects of voting.

The agreement provides for various ways to join the WTO. In accordance with the Final Act of the Uruguay Round, the acceding countries were divided into several groups. GATT parties became members of the WTO by adopting the Agreement, multilateral trade agreements, as well as the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Countries participating in the Uruguay Round that are not members of the GATT, in order to become members of the WTO, had to complete negotiations on accession to GATT 1947, provide a list of their tariff concessions under the GATT and specific obligations under the GATS. Developing countries that accepted the provisions of the GATT on the so-called de facto basis were in approximately the same position. These conditions were fulfilled by 132 states that formed the WTO. They were called the original members of the WTO. Currently, any state joins on the basis of Article XII of the Agreement.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international body that oversees global trade. The organization, which is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), in force since 1947, began its activities on January 1, 1995.

The main goal of the WTO is to liberalize world trade and ensure fair competition conditions.

The WTO headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

Head of the WTO (Director General) - Roberto Carvalho di Azevedo.

What functions does the WTO perform?

The most important functions of the WTO are:

• monitoring the implementation of agreements and understandings of the Uruguay Round package of documents;
• conducting multilateral trade negotiations between interested member countries;
• resolution of trade disputes;
• monitoring national trade policies of member countries;
• cooperation with international specialized organizations.

What advantages does WTO membership provide?

• obtaining more favorable conditions for access to world markets for goods and services;
• access to the WTO dispute resolution mechanism, which ensures the protection of national interests if they are infringed by partners.

How can you become a member of the WTO?

The procedure for joining the WTO consists of several stages. This process takes on average 5-7 years.

At the first stage, within the framework of special working groups, a detailed consideration of the economic mechanism and trade and political regime of the acceding country takes place for their compliance with the norms and rules of the WTO.

After this, consultations and negotiations begin on the terms of membership of the applicant country in this organization. These consultations are usually carried out at a bilateral level with all interested member countries of the working group. During negotiations, participants discuss the concessions that the acceding country will be willing to make in order to provide WTO members with access to its markets. In turn, the acceding country usually receives the rights that all other WTO members have.

When did Russia become a member of the WTO?

Negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO lasted 18 years. The Russian Federation became a full member of the organization on August 22, 2012. The most difficult negotiations were with the United States and the European Union. In particular, for a long time it was not possible to resolve issues with Washington on access to the Russian market for American pork and on the protection of intellectual property rights, with the EU on export duties on timber, on agriculture, and on the conditions for the industrial assembly of cars in the Russian Federation.

There are different views on the multilateral trading system and on the WTO as a forum in which countries can resolve their differences on trade issues. Criticism of the WTO, however, is often based on misconceptions about how the organization works. The most common criticisms will be discussed below.

“The WTO dictates public policy to member governments”

This is not true. The WTO does not tell governments how to conduct their trade policies - the organization is run by its members. WTO agreements are adopted through negotiations between member governments by consensus and ratified by parliaments.

The enforcement mechanism can be used only in the event of a member’s withdrawal from fulfilling its obligations, a trade dispute arising and its submission to the WTO. The Dispute Resolution Body, composed of all member countries, then decides on it by approving the findings of the Dispute Resolution Panel or the outcome of the appeal. This decision is narrow in nature and represents a judgment as to whether the government has violated any WTO agreement. If a WTO member that has violated obligations does not intend to correct the situation, it may face retaliatory actions that will be sanctioned by the WTO.

The Secretariat does not make decisions, but rather provides administrative and technical support to the WTO and its members.

Thus, the WTO does not dictate policy to its members; on the contrary, its members shape the organization's policies.

“Membership in the WTO leads to the loss of sovereignty of participants”

This is wrong. In reality, the WTO is no different from other international organizations, which do not involve the delegation of any part of national sovereignty to supranational international bodies. This is what distinguishes it from integration-type organizations such as the European Union. In addition, the obligations of countries also arise from other international agreements of an economic nature, most of which contain certain restrictions for the governments that have signed them.

The terms of reference of the WTO are much narrower than the public perception of it. Thus, the WTO does not regulate property relations, macroeconomic, structural, antimonopoly policies, exchange rate policies, budgetary relations, investment regimes (with the exception of investments in service sectors, as well as trade measures related to investments); it does not interfere in defense and security matters.

The terms of participation in any trade agreement, including the World Trade Organization, do not prevent a state from exercising its sovereign right to withdraw from the agreement when it deems it necessary.

“Participation in the WTO means complete liberalization of market access and free trade at any cost.”

This is not true. Despite the fact that one of the principles of the WTO system is for countries to reduce their trade barriers and ensure freer trade, the participating countries agree with each other on how much these barriers should be reduced. Their negotiating position depends on how willing they are to lower barriers and what they want in return from other members. Thus, when joining the WTO, new members can maintain the required level of tariff protection for the market of goods and services.

Subsequently, WTO members retain the ability to apply restrictive measures against imports, for example, in cases where such imports cause serious harm to national producers of goods or lead to a disruption of the normal balance of payments. Special provisions are also provided for developing countries. All such restrictions are imposed on the basis of clearly defined rules established by the WTO.

Thus, despite the fact that free trade is one of the main goals of the WTO, ensuring fair trade based on the principles of non-discrimination and transparency is given no less importance.

“Pursuing commercial interests in the WTO is becoming a higher priority than development.”

Free trade promotes economic growth and supports development. This fact underlies the WTO trading system.

At the same time, whether developing countries benefit sufficiently from the WTO system is a matter of ongoing debate.

The WTO agreements include many important provisions that take into account the interests of developing countries. Thus, they are provided with a longer period of time to make changes necessary in accordance with WTO rules. Special treatment is provided for least developed countries, including exceptions to many provisions of the agreements. The need to address development issues can also be used to justify actions that are typically prohibited by WTO agreements, such as government subsidies.

“Commercial interests in the WTO take precedence over environmental protection”

This is wrong; Many provisions place particular emphasis on environmental issues.

The preamble of the Marrakesh Agreement, which established the World Trade Organization, provides for the optimal use of the world's resources, support for development and protection of the environment, among other objectives.

In so-called umbrella provisions, such as Article 20 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, countries are allowed to take actions to protect human, animal or plant life and health; States also have the ability to conserve dwindling natural resources.

“WTO members can, should, and are already taking action to protect endangered species and other environmental protections,” says the report on a decision taken in one of the WTO disputes involving shrimp imports and marine protection. turtles.

Particular attention is paid to environmental protection in WTO agreements relating to product standards, food safety, protection of intellectual property rights, etc. Subsidies are allowed to protect the environment.

It is important, however, that measures taken to protect the environment are not unfair or discriminatory. You cannot be lenient towards your own producers and at the same time be strict towards foreign goods and services, just as you cannot discriminate against different trading partners. This point is stipulated in the provision on dispute resolution.

The rules of the WTO system can help countries allocate scarce resources more efficiently. For example, cuts to industrial and agricultural subsidies currently being negotiated would reduce wasteful overproduction and conserve natural resources.

The establishment of international norms and rules for environmental protection is the task of specialized international agencies and conventions, and not directly of the World Trade Organization. However, until now, WTO documents and international agreements on environmental protection have not come into conflict with each other; on the contrary, there are partial overlaps in them (for example, in agreements on import restrictions, etc.)

“Commercial interests take precedence over human health and safety issues.”

This is wrong. Key provisions in WTO agreements, such as Article 20 of the GATT, allow governments to take action to protect human, animal or plant life and health. A number of agreements address issues of food standards, quality and safety of food and other products of animal and plant origin. Their purpose is to protect the rights of governments to ensure the safety of their citizens.

But these actions are regulated in certain ways to prevent the use of safety rules and regulations as a justification for protecting domestic producers and discrimination against foreign goods and services, “disguised” protectionism. To achieve this, the measures applied must be based on scientific facts or internationally accepted standards, such as the Codex Alimentarius, which sets the recommended level of food safety standards within the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Governments, however, may set their own standards, provided that they are compatible with international requirements and are not arbitrary or discriminatory.

“The WTO puts people out of work and widens the gap between rich and poor”

This accusation is inaccurate; it oversimplifies the facts. By promoting economic growth, trade is a powerful lever for creating jobs and reducing poverty. However, the situation is almost always complicated by the fact that a certain period of adaptation is required to solve the problems of job losses. Protectionism as an alternative is not the solution.

The greatest employment benefit from free trade is the country that lowers its own trade barriers. Countries that export to this country also benefit, especially export industries, where the situation is more stable and wages are higher.

As trade barriers are lowered, producers who were previously protected face greater competition, and their ability to adapt effectively becomes vital. Countries with more effective adaptation policies adapt better than those that miss new opportunities offered by trade and economic development in general.

The problem of producers adapting to existence in conditions of free trade is solved in the WTO in several ways.

Thus, liberalization under the WTO is negotiated, and when countries feel that certain changes to existing protections are unacceptable, they may continue to resist demands for opening up relevant sectors of their markets.

In addition, the liberalization of markets in accordance with the agreements already reached is carried out gradually, which gives countries time to make the necessary adaptation. The agreements also allow countries to take restrictive measures against imports that are particularly harmful to the domestic economy, but to do so under strictly defined rules.

Protectionism as an alternative to trade to preserve jobs is ineffective because it raises production costs and encourages low productivity. Thus, according to OECD calculations, levying a 30% tariff on imports from developing countries would actually reduce the wages of unskilled workers in the importing country by 1% and the wages of skilled workers by 5%, that is, the use of protectionist measures lowers the level of wages in the importing country. country.

In addition, there are many factors unrelated to the WTO that influence changes in wage levels. Thus, the fact that in developed countries the gap between the wages of skilled and unskilled workers is increasing cannot be explained by trade liberalization. Most of the changes in wages in developed countries are explained by skill-related technological changes, but imports from low-wage countries account for only 10-20% of these changes, according to the OECD.

In addition, analyzing solely the import of goods distorts the picture. In developed countries, 70% of economic activity is services, where foreign competition affects jobs differently: if, for example, a telecommunications company sets up business in a country, it will mostly hire local staff.

Finally, although living standards for 1.5 billion people are still extremely low, trade liberalization since World War II has lifted some 3 billion people out of poverty.

“Small countries are powerless in the WTO”

This is not true. In the WTO trading system, everyone adheres to the same rules, which increases the negotiating power of small countries. Thus, under the dispute resolution procedure, developing countries have successfully challenged actions taken by industrialized states at the WTO. Without this system, these countries would be powerless in their actions against more powerful trading partners.

Both developing and developed countries must make concessions during negotiations. Thus, the Uruguay Round (1986-94) became possible only because industrialized countries agreed to reform trade in textiles and agriculture, both of which were vital to developing countries.

“The WTO is a powerful lobbying tool”

This is not true. This view is associated with a misconception about membership in the World Trade Organization. Businesses, non-governmental organizations and other lobbying groups do not participate in the work of the WTO, except for special events such as seminars and symposia, and can only influence WTO decisions through their governments.

Conversely, a government can use WTO membership to resist lobbying by narrow interest groups. During negotiations, it is easier for him to resist pressure from lobbyists, citing arguments indicating that there is a need to adopt a common package of measures in the interests of the country as a whole.

“Weaker countries have no choice, they are forced to join the WTO”

This is wrong. To be or not to be in the WTO is a voluntary choice of any country, and therefore, at the moment, negotiations are being conducted by both large and small states. The reasons that more and more countries want to join this system are more positive than negative; they are embedded in core WTO principles such as non-discrimination and transparency. By joining the WTO, even a small country automatically enjoys all the guaranteed benefits of membership.

An alternative to accession would be to negotiate bilateral agreements with each trading partner, but this would require governments to spend more money, a major problem for smaller countries. Moreover, their bargaining power in bilateral negotiations is weaker than it would be in the WTO, where small countries form alliances with other states with which they share common interests.

By joining the WTO, a country undertakes, without requiring reciprocity, to reduce customs tariffs, thereby making its contribution to the process of trade liberalization. The form of these obligations is a list of tariff concessions, consisting of duty rate levels that the participating country undertakes not to exceed. This requirement is the same for all new members, and countries upon accession also agree to comply with it voluntarily.

“The WTO is an undemocratic organization”

This is not true. Decisions in the WTO are usually made by consensus, which is even more democratic than decision-making by majority vote. Accepted agreements are ratified in the parliaments of the participating countries.

Although not every country has the same bargaining power, the rule of consensus means that every member of the organization has a voice and a decision is made only when there are no dissenters.

Thus, the WTO mechanism provides equal opportunities for the governments of all member countries.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Founded: January 1, 1995
Created: based on the results of the Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94)
Number of members: 164
Secretariat staff: about 640 employees
Chapter: Roberto Covalho di Azvevedo

Goals and principles:

The World Trade Organization (WTO), which is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), in force since 1947, began its activities on January 1, 1995. The WTO is designed to regulate the trade and political relations of the Organization's members on the basis of a package of Agreements of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations (1986-1994). These documents are the legal basis of modern international trade.

The agreement establishing the WTO provides for the creation of a permanent forum of member countries to resolve problems affecting their multilateral trade relations and monitor the implementation of agreements and agreements of the Uruguay Round. The WTO functions in much the same way as the GATT, but oversees a wider range of trade agreements (including trade in services and trade-related intellectual property rights issues) and has much greater powers to improve decision-making and implementation by members organizations. An integral part of the WTO is its unique mechanism for resolving trade disputes.

Since 1947, discussions of global problems of liberalization and prospects for the development of world trade have taken place within the framework of multilateral trade negotiations (MTP) under the auspices of the GATT. To date, 8 rounds of ICC have been held, including the Uruguay one, and the ninth is ongoing. The main goal of the WTO is to further liberalize world trade and ensure fair competition conditions.

Fundamental principles and rules GATT/WTO are:

• reciprocal provision of most favored nation (MFN) treatment in trade;
• mutual provision of national treatment (NR) to goods and services of foreign origin;
• regulation of trade primarily by tariff methods;
• refusal to use quantitative and other restrictions;
• trade policy transparency;
• resolution of trade disputes through consultations and negotiations, etc.

The most important functions WTO are:

• monitoring the implementation of agreements and arrangements of the Uruguay Round package of documents;
• conducting multilateral trade negotiations between interested member countries;
• resolution of trade disputes;
• monitoring national trade policies of member countries;
• technical assistance to developing countries within the competence of the WTO;
• cooperation with international specialized organizations.

Are common benefits of WTO membership can be summarized as follows:

• obtaining more favorable conditions for access to world markets for goods and services based on the predictability and stability of the development of trade relations with WTO member countries, including the transparency of their foreign economic policies;
• eliminating discrimination in trade through access to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, which ensures the protection of national interests if they are infringed by partners;
• the opportunity to realize their current and strategic trade and economic interests through effective participation in the ICC in the development of new rules of international trade.