INTRODUCTION

The WTO is a government-to-government organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and consists of 164 member nations. The WTO was shaped on 1 formed 1995 as an outcome of the Uruguay round of multilateral trade talks. The agreement representing a multilateral try by nations to cut back tariffs and thereby promote international trade. At the time it had been created, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was intended solely to be provisional. It had been originally hoped that an international Trade Organization (ITO) would be created to superintend and facilitate the expansion of international trade, but an ITO never materialized. The GATT was enforced through a Protocol of conditional application that lasted nearly fifty years. However, the signatory nations to the GATT met periodically at “rounds” of discussions to continue negotiations regarding the regulation and promotion of international trade. Through those years the provisions of the GATT, together with the number of its signatories, enhanced dramatically.

The WTO accomplishes its work by negotiating commercialism rules between nations. The WTO is the sole world organization that deals with the commercialism rule between nations. The Organization provides a similar right to each small and large country. Thus, if trade disputes occur between member nations, these may be brought before the WTO.

The WTO is a global organization that regulates, promotes, and facilitates trade between nations.  The WTO grew out of the GATT, created in 1947 and adopted by 23 nations in 1948. At the eighth round of negotiations, the Uruguay round (1986–1994), 123 country participants in agreement to switch the GATT with a way more expansive set of provisions that will represent and be administered by the WTO. Starting in 1995, the WTO substantially enlarged on the terms of the GATT and enclosed provisions relating to services and intellectual property rights subjects that were previously not enclosed within the GATT.

If there’s a trade dispute between member nations, the WTO provides a forum where member nations can work out trade issues and settle trade disputes. The target is to first negotiate a resolution to the dispute. If a resolution cannot be achieved, the dispute will ultimately result in trade sanctions that are allowed by the WTO. These trade sanctions cannot be punitive. They need to not exceed the loss that was given within the formal dispute document. Its objective is to develop liberalized trade and liberalized trade is not trade.

The chief guiding principle of the WTO is the most favoured nation principle. Though the name implies favourable or advantageous treatment for a country, the principle really implies that there shall be no favoured nation. The most effective treatment a member nation accords another member nation in terms of trade and access to markets should be applied to any or all member nations. Moving toward freer trade could be a clear and targeted goal of the WTO. In its current state, the WTO’s main functions are to administer WTO trade agreements, provide a forum for trade negotiations, handle trade disputes, monitor national trade policies, offer technical help and training for developing countries, and collaborate with different international organizations.

The most recent round of WTO negotiations, the Doha round, began in Nov 2001, however, ended with no clear path forward, leaving many unresolved problems after the 10th Ministerial Conference in 2015. Efforts to make on current WTO agreements outside of the Doha agenda continue. Whereas WTO members have created some progress, no major deliverables were declared at the last Ministerial in 2017.

STRUCTURE OF WTO

The World Trade Organization Agreement establishes the structure of the WTO in Article IV. The Ministerial Conference is the WTO’s highest decision-making body. As the highest authority among the WTO, the Ministerial Conference is charged with making selections on all matters underneath any of the multilateral agreements. After the Ministerial Conference comes to the General Council. The General Council consists of an equivalent member as the Ministerial Conference and provides overall supervising of the WTO between conferences of the Ministerial Conference. Additionally, to its oversight duties, the general Council could meet under different terms of reference as the Dispute Settlement Body and as the national trading policy Review Body.

The Secretariat of the WTO has to perform various administrative duties. Though the duties it carries out for the international organization are incredibly necessary. Depending on the share of world trade, the member state Secretariat is funded. In spite of the very fact that one state could also be answerable for a greater proportion of the funding than others, the Director-General and therefore the Secretariat employees are prohibited by the WTO Agreement from seeking or accepting instructions from an individual government of authority outside the WTO.

There are 2 General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade, one signed in 1947 and one signed in 1994. The distinction between General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 and 1994 is that GATT 1994 totally incorporates GATT 1947, as corrected, amended, or modified in the instruments which were entered before the WTO agreement took place. This implies that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994’s scope of application is broader as a result of it includes agreements and legal terms drafted following the ratification of GATT 1947. Rather than revising the GATT to replicate changes in its existing articles, and amending it with the foremost recent legal instruments, the WTO’s Member States set to adopt it with certain qualifications.

To join the world organization, interested parties should undergo the method of accession. Article XII of the agreement lists the essential necessities that have got to be fulfilled by a state so as to be eligible to start the accession method. Specifically, a party that desires to accede to the WTO should be either a State or a separate customs territory possessing full autonomy within the conduct of its external commercial relations. With that WTO Agreement, it sets the procedural and substantive necessities that needed to be fulfilled.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION METHOD OF WTO

Since the establishment of the WTO, almost 5 hundred disputes have arisen between World Trade Organization Members. This range could seem comparatively small in comparison to the number of cases brought before the courts of an individual country; however, the number is offset by the intricate nature of a trade dispute. A single case can last multiple years, and a report by the Dispute Settlement Body can be well over 300 pages long. Another reason why there are not more formal disputes is that the WTO encourages its members to resolve trade disputes on their own through consultations.

The Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) provides in Article 3 that the DSB’s job is to preserve the rights and obligations of Members beneath the lined agreements. Article 3 of the DSU additionally stipulates that the goal of the dispute settlement method is to succeed in a positive and reciprocally agreeable resolution for the parties concerned. If a mutually agreeable resolution is not attainable, the DSB’s objective shifts to that of forcing the infringing Member to adapt to its obligations. Thus, the role of the DSB is to encourage the amicable resolution of disputes within the starting stage and to secure the preservation of a Member’s rights if it cannot lead to any peaceful resolution.

The WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism is regarded as one of the main successes of the Uruguay Round, but critics contend that it is not an effective tool for developing countries. The two main aspects of this critique are that developing countries do not have the resources to effectively utilize the dispute settlement mechanism; and that the dispute settlement rules are inherently unfair toward developing countries. In terms of resources, the argument is that one cannot expect a developing country to have the necessary resources to put on a strong enough case before the WTO, and therefore, the developing country may not have a chance to win. As for the unfair rules, the argument is that the size and power of a developed country’s market effectively shield it from any harm that may come from the adverse resolution of a dispute.

COVID-19 AND WTO REACTIONS

As countries across the globe to cope with COVID-19, several WTO activities were discontinued and national trading policy challenges have been also seen emerging. Experts have emphasized trade policies as playing a major role in two respects. First in helping respond to COVID-19 and second, in assisting in the recovery. The WTO also committed to working with other organizations to reduce the mishappening to cross-border trade and global supply chains in particular those central to combating the virus. The WTO has also sought to inform members of the impact of the pandemic, and called on members to abide by notification obligations on trade-related measures taken in response.

In early 2020, the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) was rescheduled to 2021 due to the COVID-19pandemic. The biennial meeting, which usually involves active U.S. participation, was widely anticipated as an action-forcing event for the international organization. At the previous ministerial in December 2017, no major deliverables were announced, leaving the stakes high for MC12. Several members committed to making progress on issues related to ongoing talks, such as fisheries subsidies and e-commerce, while other areas remain stalled amid disagreements.

In its June 2020 forecast, the WTO estimated a plunge in international trade growth for 2020, with recovery looking on the period of the pandemic and countries’ policy decisions. The World Trade Organization has committed to figuring with other international organizations to reduce disruptions to trade and global offer chains and encouraged WTO members to advise trade measures taken in response to COVID-19, which have surged since the start of 2020, inflicting concern for several. Some members have referred to as on the WTO to deal with the foreign policy challenges arising from COVID-19 through new rules.

Meanwhile, WTO members still explore aspects of reform and future negotiations. Potential reforms concern the administration of the organization, its procedures and practices, and try to deal with the inability of WTO members to conclude new agreements. Proposed reforms to dispute settlement also conceive to improve the working of the Dispute settlement system.

CONCLUSION

From these excerpts, we can gather some of the main goals and purposes of the World Trade Organization, particularly that each one its Member States relish the advantages of international trade, and that there be as very little disparity as possible between the advantages bestowed on a developed country, and those bestowed on a developing country. When a trade dispute arises among the WTO system, the primary step that an affected Member should take is to start consultations with the infringing Member. The WTO desires to avoid frivolous disputes that would and should be taken care of during a different forum.

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