In the years 2008 and 2009, the WTO witnessed increased economic uncertainty. Its main function is to ensure the smooth and free flow of global trade. The WTO administers agreements, handles trade disputes and monitors country-specific trade policies while training and cooperating with developing nations and other international organizations .
1. The WTO has not only enhanced the value and quantity of trade but has also helped in eradicated trade and non - trade barriers. WTO has also broadened the trade governance scope to trade in investment, services and intellectual property.
2. It has emerged as a greater institution than GATT and expanded the agenda by including developmental policies which further helped in settlement of disputes and improved monitoring by introducing the Trade Policy Review and the World Trade Report as well as increased transparency by removing green room negotiations.
3. WTO also encouraged sustainable trade developments. As trade expands in volume, in the numbers of products traded, and in the numbers of countries and companies trading, there is a greater a chance that disputes will arise. The WTO system helps resolve these disputes peacefully and constructively - in reality, a lot of international trade tension is reduced because countries can turn to organizations, in particular the WTO, to settle their trade disputes. The increasing number of disputes brought to GATT and its successor, the WTO, does not reflect increasing tension in the world, it rather reflects the closer economic ties throughout the world, the GATT/WTO’s expanding membership and the fact that countries have faith in the system to solve their differences.
4. The fact that there is a single set of rules applying to all members greatly simplifies the entire trade regime. The WTO cannot claim to make all countries equal. But it does reduce some inequalities, giving smaller countries more voice, and at the same time freeing the major powers from the complexity of having to negotiate trade agreements with each of their numerous trading partners.
5. WTO members are now reducing the subsidies and the trade barriers which give consumers more choices, and a broader range of qualities to choose from.
6. The system shields governments from narrow interests the GATT-WTO system which evolved in the second half of the 20th Century helps governments take a more balanced view of trade policy. Governments are better placed to defend themselves against lobbying from narrow interest groups by focusing on trade-offs that are made in the interests of everyone in the economy.
7. The World Trade Organization is the single most effective international agency. With the pending inclusion of China, governments that represent 85 percent of the world’s population and about 95 percent of world trade have chosen to bind themselves to the WTO’s rules and dispute settlement procedures.
8. The WTO has been so successful that numerous groups have petitioned to use the WTO to enforce a range of nontrade rules affecting labor, the enivronment, and competition policy.
9. The WTO is the world’s only international organization that supervises 95% of the world’s global trade.The WTO agreements include numerous provisions giving developing and least-developed countries special rights or extra leniency — “special and differential treatment”. Among these are provisions that allow developed countries to treat developing countries more favourably than other WTO members. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, which deals with trade in goods) has a special section (Part 4) on Trade and Development which includes provisions on the concept of non-reciprocity in trade negotiations between developed and developing countries — when developed countries grant trade concessions to developing countries they should not expect the developing countries to make matching offers in return.
10. Both GATT and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) allow developing countries some preferential treatment. Other measures concerning developing countries in the WTO agreements include:
i. extra time for developing countries to fulfil their commitments (in many of the WTO agreements).
ii. provisions designed to increase developing countries’ trading opportunities through greater market access (e.g. in textiles, services,technical barriers to trade)
iii. provisions requiring WTO members to safeguard the interests of developing countries when adopting some domestic or international measures (e.g. in anti-dumping, safeguards, technical barriers to trade)
iv. provisions for various means of helping developing countries (e.g. to deal with commitments on animal and plant health standards, technical standards, and in strengthening their domestic telecommunications sectors).
11. The least-developed countries receive extra attention in the WTO. All the WTO agreements recognize that they must benefit from the greatest possible flexibility, and better-off members must make extra efforts to lower import barriers on least-developed countries’ exports. Since the Uruguay Round agreements were signed in 1994, several decisions in favour of least-developed countries have been taken. In 2002, the WTO adopted a work programme for least-developed countries. It contains several broad elements: improved market access; more technical assistance; support for agencies working on the diversification of least-developed countries’ economies; help in following the work of the WTO; and a speedier membership process for least-developed countries negotiating to join the WTO.
The phases of development of the special treatment of the third world countries can be studied in the form of four phases. The first phase starts from the forming of the GATT in 1948 till the beginning of the Tokyo Round in 1973. The second phase refers to the Tokyo Round itself, from 1973 to 1979. The third phase dates from the end of the Tokyo Round to the end of the Uruguay Round, that is from 1979 to 1995. The fourth phase starts from the end of the Uruguay Round until the present. The analysis that follows distinguishes five arguments that have been advanced for Special &Differential treatment. The five categories are stated as follows:
i. Special and differential treatment is an acquired political right.
ii. Developing countries ought to enjoy privileged access to the markets of their trading partners, particularly the developed countries.
iii. Developing countries ought to have the right to restrict imports to a greater degree than developed countries.
iv. Developing countries ought to be allowed additional freedom in order to subsidize exports.
v. Developing countries ought to be allowed flexibility in lieu of the application of certain WTO rules, or in order to postpone the application of rules as stated by WTO.
13. Though it is a multilateral institution, the GATT/WTO has adopted a bilateral approach to multilateral bargaining according to which reciprocal negotiations occur on a voluntary basis through time between pairs of countries or among small numbers of countries, with the results of these bilateral negotiations then multilateralized to the full GATT/WTO membership by a non-discrimination requirement that tariffs abide by the most-favored nation (MFN) principle.
14. MFN Treatment: Non- discrimination between countries – the Most Favoured Nation principle is one of the most fundamental principles of the WTO. It requires member states to accord the most favourable tariff and regulatory treatment given to the product of any one member and/or non member at the time of export or import of “like products” to all other WTO members. Under the Most Favoured Nation rule, should WTO member state A agree in negotiation with state B, which needs not to be a WTO member, to reduce the tariff on the same product X to five percent, this same tariff rate must apply to all other WTO members as well. In other words, if a country gives favourable treatment to one country regarding a particular issue, it must handle all members equally regarding the same issue.
MFN and national treatment are designed to secure fair conditions of trade. So too are those on dumping (exporting at below cost to gain market share) and subsidies. The issues are complex, and the rules try to establish what is fair or unfair, and how governments can respond, in particular by charging additional import duties calculated to compensate for damage caused by unfair trade.
15. The WTO agreements, which were the outcome of the 1986-94 Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, provide numerous opportunities for developing countries to make gains. Further liberalization through the Doha Agenda negotiations aims to improve the opportunities. Among the gains are export opportunities. They include:
i. fundamental reforms in agricultural trade.
ii. phasing out quotas on developing countries’ exports of textiles and clothing.
iii. reductions in customs duties on industrial products.
iv. expanding the number of products whose customs duty rates are “bound” under the WTO, making the rates difficult to raise.
v. phasing out bilateral agreements to restrict traded quantities of certain goods — these “grey area” measures (the so-called voluntary export restraints) are not really recognized under GATT-WTO.
16. In addition, liberalization under the WTO boosts global GDP and stimulates world demand for developing countries’ exports.
ในปี 2008 และ 2009 องค์การเห็นเพิ่มความไม่แน่นอนทางเศรษฐกิจ หน้าที่หลักคือให้กระแสเรียบ และฟรีของการค้าโลก องค์การข้อตกลงการบริหารจัดการ การจัดการกับข้อพิพาททางการค้า และการตรวจสอบนโยบายการค้าเฉพาะประเทศขณะฝึก และประสานงานกับการพัฒนาประเทศและองค์กรระหว่างประเทศอื่น ๆ1. องค์การไม่ได้เท่านั้นเพิ่มมูลค่า และปริมาณการค้าแต่มียังช่วย ในการค้ากำจัดให้หมด และไม่ ใช่ - อุปสรรคค้า องค์การยังได้ขยายขอบเขตการกำกับดูแลกิจการค้าการค้าการลงทุน บริการ และทรัพย์สินทางปัญญา2.ได้เกิดเป็นสถาบันมากขึ้นกว่าแกตต์ และขยายวาระการประชุม โดยรวมถึงนโยบายการพัฒนาที่ช่วยในการชำระเงินของข้อพิพาทเพิ่มเติม และปรับปรุงการตรวจสอบ โดยการแนะนำการทบทวนนโยบายการค้าและรายการทางการค้าโลก ตลอดจนเพิ่มความโปร่งใส โดยการเอาห้องพักเจรจา3. องค์การส่งเสริมให้พัฒนาอย่างยั่งยืนการค้า ค้าขยาย เสียง ในหมายเลขของสินค้าที่ซื้อขาย และตัวเลขของประเทศและบริษัทการค้า มีเป็นมีมากกว่าโอกาสที่ข้อพิพาทจะเกิดขึ้น ระบบองค์การช่วยแก้ปัญหาข้อพิพาทเหล่านี้สงบ และสร้างสรรค์- ในความเป็น จริง มากมายของความตึงเครียดทางการค้าระหว่างประเทศลดลงเนื่องจากประเทศสามารถเปิดองค์กร โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งองค์การ การพิพาททางการค้าของพวกเขา เพิ่มจำนวนข้อพิพาทนำแกตต์และสืบการ องค์การ สะท้อนให้เห็นถึงความตึงเครียดที่เพิ่มขึ้นในโลก มันค่อนข้างสะท้อนให้เห็นถึงความสัมพันธ์ทางเศรษฐกิจใกล้ชิดทั่วทั้งโลก แกตต์/องค์การของสมาชิกขยาย และความจริงที่ว่า ประเทศมีความเชื่อในระบบการแก้ไขความแตกต่างของพวกเขา4. ความจริงที่ว่า มีชุดของกฎที่ใช้กับสมาชิกทั้งหมดอย่างเดียวช่วยให้ง่ายระบอบการค้าทั้งหมด องค์การไม่สามารถเรียกร้องให้ทุกประเทศเท่า แต่ก็ลดบางความเหลื่อมล้ำทาง ให้ประเทศเล็กเสียงเพิ่มเติม และเวลาเดียวกันเพิ่มอำนาจสำคัญจากความซับซ้อนของการเจรจาข้อตกลงทางการค้ากับคู่ค้าจำนวนมากแต่ละพื้นที่5. องค์การสมาชิกตอนนี้กำลังลดการเงินอุดหนุนและอุปสรรคทางการค้าซึ่งทำให้ผู้บริโภคเพิ่มเติม และของคุณภาพให้เลือก6.โล่ระบบรัฐบาลจากระบบแคบสนใจองค์การแกตต์ซึ่งพัฒนาในสองศตวรรษครึ่งหนึ่งช่วยรัฐบาล จะดูสมดุลมากขึ้นของนโยบายทางค้า รัฐบาลดีอยู่เพื่อปกป้องตัวเองจากการวิ่งเต้นจากกลุ่มความสนใจแคบโดยมุ่งเน้นทางเลือกที่มีประโยชน์ของทุกคนในเศรษฐกิจ7. องค์การการค้าโลกเป็นหน่วยงานระหว่างประเทศมีประสิทธิภาพสูงสุดที่เดียว มีการรวมอยู่ระหว่างการพิจารณาของจีน รัฐบาลที่แสดงถึงร้อยละ 85 ของประชากรโลกประมาณร้อยละ 95 ของการค้าโลก ได้เลือกการผูกตัวเองกับขององค์การกฎและขั้นตอนการชำระเงินข้อโต้แย้ง8. องค์การได้ดังนั้นผลที่กลุ่มต่าง ๆ มีอัคบายานการบังคับช่วง nontrade กฎนโยบายแรงงาน enivronment และการแข่งขันที่ส่งผลกระทบต่อองค์การใช้9. The WTO is the world’s only international organization that supervises 95% of the world’s global trade.The WTO agreements include numerous provisions giving developing and least-developed countries special rights or extra leniency — “special and differential treatment”. Among these are provisions that allow developed countries to treat developing countries more favourably than other WTO members. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, which deals with trade in goods) has a special section (Part 4) on Trade and Development which includes provisions on the concept of non-reciprocity in trade negotiations between developed and developing countries — when developed countries grant trade concessions to developing countries they should not expect the developing countries to make matching offers in return.10. Both GATT and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) allow developing countries some preferential treatment. Other measures concerning developing countries in the WTO agreements include:i. extra time for developing countries to fulfil their commitments (in many of the WTO agreements).ii. provisions designed to increase developing countries’ trading opportunities through greater market access (e.g. in textiles, services,technical barriers to trade)iii. provisions requiring WTO members to safeguard the interests of developing countries when adopting some domestic or international measures (e.g. in anti-dumping, safeguards, technical barriers to trade)iv. provisions for various means of helping developing countries (e.g. to deal with commitments on animal and plant health standards, technical standards, and in strengthening their domestic telecommunications sectors).11. The least-developed countries receive extra attention in the WTO. All the WTO agreements recognize that they must benefit from the greatest possible flexibility, and better-off members must make extra efforts to lower import barriers on least-developed countries’ exports. Since the Uruguay Round agreements were signed in 1994, several decisions in favour of least-developed countries have been taken. In 2002, the WTO adopted a work programme for least-developed countries. It contains several broad elements: improved market access; more technical assistance; support for agencies working on the diversification of least-developed countries’ economies; help in following the work of the WTO; and a speedier membership process for least-developed countries negotiating to join the WTO.The phases of development of the special treatment of the third world countries can be studied in the form of four phases. The first phase starts from the forming of the GATT in 1948 till the beginning of the Tokyo Round in 1973. The second phase refers to the Tokyo Round itself, from 1973 to 1979. The third phase dates from the end of the Tokyo Round to the end of the Uruguay Round, that is from 1979 to 1995. The fourth phase starts from the end of the Uruguay Round until the present. The analysis that follows distinguishes five arguments that have been advanced for Special &Differential treatment. The five categories are stated as follows:i. Special and differential treatment is an acquired political right.ii. Developing countries ought to enjoy privileged access to the markets of their trading partners, particularly the developed countries.iii. Developing countries ought to have the right to restrict imports to a greater degree than developed countries.iv. Developing countries ought to be allowed additional freedom in order to subsidize exports.v. Developing countries ought to be allowed flexibility in lieu of the application of certain WTO rules, or in order to postpone the application of rules as stated by WTO.13. Though it is a multilateral institution, the GATT/WTO has adopted a bilateral approach to multilateral bargaining according to which reciprocal negotiations occur on a voluntary basis through time between pairs of countries or among small numbers of countries, with the results of these bilateral negotiations then multilateralized to the full GATT/WTO membership by a non-discrimination requirement that tariffs abide by the most-favored nation (MFN) principle.
14. MFN Treatment: Non- discrimination between countries – the Most Favoured Nation principle is one of the most fundamental principles of the WTO. It requires member states to accord the most favourable tariff and regulatory treatment given to the product of any one member and/or non member at the time of export or import of “like products” to all other WTO members. Under the Most Favoured Nation rule, should WTO member state A agree in negotiation with state B, which needs not to be a WTO member, to reduce the tariff on the same product X to five percent, this same tariff rate must apply to all other WTO members as well. In other words, if a country gives favourable treatment to one country regarding a particular issue, it must handle all members equally regarding the same issue.
MFN and national treatment are designed to secure fair conditions of trade. So too are those on dumping (exporting at below cost to gain market share) and subsidies. The issues are complex, and the rules try to establish what is fair or unfair, and how governments can respond, in particular by charging additional import duties calculated to compensate for damage caused by unfair trade.
15. The WTO agreements, which were the outcome of the 1986-94 Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, provide numerous opportunities for developing countries to make gains. Further liberalization through the Doha Agenda negotiations aims to improve the opportunities. Among the gains are export opportunities. They include:
i. fundamental reforms in agricultural trade.
ii. phasing out quotas on developing countries’ exports of textiles and clothing.
iii. reductions in customs duties on industrial products.
iv. expanding the number of products whose customs duty rates are “bound” under the WTO, making the rates difficult to raise.
v. phasing out bilateral agreements to restrict traded quantities of certain goods — these “grey area” measures (the so-called voluntary export restraints) are not really recognized under GATT-WTO.
16. In addition, liberalization under the WTO boosts global GDP and stimulates world demand for developing countries’ exports.
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