The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a universal international organization that includes members from 164 countries that have acceded to the WTO on the basis of the package of the Uruguay Round Agreements. The WTO was established on January 1, 1995.
Founding documents of the WTO: Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS), Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS ), Agreement on Rules and Procedures Governing Dispute Resolution
The goals of the WTO are the liberalization of world trade, ensuring free competition in the world market, and regulating multilateral trade relations. The WTO includes a universal dispute resolution mechanism.
The WTO principles include most favored nation treatment in trade, national treatment, tariff regulation of trade, prohibition of the use of quantitative restrictions, predominantly pre-trial settlement of disputes through consultations and negotiations.
The structure of the WTO: The highest governing body - the Ministerial Conference, meets at least once every two years. The General Council meets 8-10 times a year to address current WTO issues. The executive body is the WTO Secretariat in Geneva. The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) is the judicial organ of the WTO.
The procedure for resolving disputes in the WTO:
The WTO member states have the right to apply to the SDO if the rights of this state are violated or if it has any other legitimate interest.
Dispute resolution begins with a bilateral consultation between the party who took the measure and the party who considers the measure to be illegal. After that, an arbitration group is created at the request of any disputing party. The panel usually consists of three to five experts who are authoritative experts on the issues at issue. The parties submit factual evidence and their position to the Arbitration Group, which in turn assesses the circumstances regarding the subject of the dispute.
The Panel then adopts a report in which it sets out its reasons for each claim. The parties to the dispute have the opportunity to reconsider the decision or recommendations by applying to the WTO appellate body.
The average period for consideration of a dispute in the WTO is from 1 to 3 years (with the possibility of appeal).
Well-known cases: Japan - Alcoholic drinks, EU - bananas, USA - gasoline.