World Trade Organization (WTO): Basics

• Bretton Woods (1944): IMF and IBRD; the proposed International Trade Organization (ITO) under the Havana Charter (1948) failed (US did not ratify). GATT 1947 was signed in Geneva by 23 countries on 30 October 1947 and applied provisionally from 1 January 1948.

• GATT rounds: Geneva (1947), Annecy (1949), Torquay (1951), Geneva (1956), Dillon (1960–61), Kennedy (1964–67) (anti-dumping), Tokyo (1973–79) (non-tariff barriers), Uruguay (1986–94) (launched at Punta del Este; concluded at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994). Doha Development Agenda (2001) – stalled.

• WTO: created by the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO; came into force on 1 January 1995; HQ Geneva; 166 members (Comoros and Timor-Leste joined in 2024). WTO has international legal personality (Art VIII). Director-General: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria) – first woman and first African; since March 2021; second term from September 2025. First WTO DG: Renato Ruggiero (Peter Sutherland was last GATT DG). India is an original member of the GATT and WTO.

• Ministerial Conference (highest body, meets at least every two years); General Council (also acts as the Dispute Settlement Body and Trade Policy Review Body); Councils for Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and TRIPS; committees; Secretariat headed by the DG.

• Decision-making (Art IX): by consensus; if not possible, by voting – each member one vote (majority of votes cast); three-fourths majority for authoritative interpretations and waivers; amendments depend on type of provision.

• Ministerial Conferences: MC1 Singapore (1996); MC3 Seattle (1999 – collapsed); MC4 Doha (2001); MC5 Cancún (2003); MC6 Hong Kong (2005); MC9 Bali (2013) – Trade Facilitation Agreement and the ‘Peace Clause’ on public stockholding; MC10 Nairobi (2015 – abolition of agricultural export subsidies); MC11 Buenos Aires (2017); MC12 Geneva (June 2022) – Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, TRIPS waiver decision on COVID-19 vaccines; MC13 Abu Dhabi (Feb–Mar 2024) – e-commerce customs duties moratorium extended; MC14 Yaoundé, Cameroon (March 2026) – verify outcomes.

Later agreements: Trade Facilitation Agreement (in force 22 February 2017); Fisheries Subsidies Agreement (adopted June 2022; entered into force 15 September 2025); Information Technology Agreement.

• Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN): GATT Art I; GATS Art II; TRIPS Art 4 – no discrimination among trading partners. Exceptions: customs unions/FTAs (Art XXIV), Enabling Clause (1979 – preferences for developing countries, GSP), GATS Art V.

• National Treatment: Art III – imported goods must be treated no less favourably than domestic goods once they have entered the market (Japan – Alcoholic Beverages).

• Tariff bindings: Art II – schedules of concessions; Art XI – general elimination of quantitative restrictions; Art X – transparency.

• Trade remedies: Anti-dumping (Art VI) – export price below normal value; countervailing duties (SCM); Safeguards (Art XIX) – emergency measures against import surges, temporary and non-discriminatory.

• General exceptions (Art XX): (a) public morals, (b) human, animal or plant life or health, (g) conservation of exhaustible natural resources (e.g., US – Gasoline, US – Shrimp/Turtle, EC – Asbestos (Art XX(b)), Brazil – Retreaded Tyres). Art XXI: security exceptions (Russia – Traffic in Transit, 2019). Art XII/XVIII: balance-of-payments and infant-industry measures for developing countries.

• Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) for developing and least-developed countries.

• Agreement on Agriculture (AoA): three pillars – market access, domestic support, export competition. Domestic support boxes: Amber (trade-distorting, subject to reduction; de minimis 5% for developed and 10% for developing countries), Blue (production-limiting programmes), Green (minimal distortion). India’s issues: public stockholding for food security (MSP), Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), the ‘Peace Clause’ (Bali 2013), cotton subsidies.

• TRIPS: minimum standards (Berne Convention copyright; patents 20 years – Art 33; trademarks; geographical indications; industrial designs; undisclosed information); compulsory licensing (Art 31); Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health (2001); Art 31bis (in force January 2017); India – Novartis v UOI (2013, s. 3(d) Patents Act), Natco–Bayer compulsory licence (2012).

• GATS – four modes of supply: Mode 1 cross-border; Mode 2 consumption abroad; Mode 3 commercial presence; Mode 4 movement of natural persons.

• SPS and TBT: health/technical standards; the SPS Agreement recognises Codex, OIE and IPPC standards (EC – Hormones).

• TRIMs: prohibits local-content and trade-balancing requirements.

• Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) – General Council members; administers the DSU.

• Stages: (1) Consultations (60 days) → (2) Panel (establishment is virtually automatic by negative/reverse consensus; 3 members; report ordinarily within six to nine months) → (3) Adoption of report by the DSB by negative consensus → (4) Appellate Body review (7 members, four-year terms; 60–90 days; only issues of law) → (5) Implementation within a reasonable period of time (Art 21.3(c) arbitration) → (6) Compensation or suspension of concessions/retaliation (Art 22; cross-retaliation permitted). Art 21.5: compliance panels. Art 25: arbitration as an alternative.

• Appellate Body crisis: the AB has been non-functional since 11 December 2019 because the USA has blocked appointments. Members use ‘appeal into the void’; the MPIA (Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement, April 2020 – an Art 25 arrangement among the EU, China, Canada, Japan and others) provides an alternative; reform talks continue.

• India-related disputes: India – Quantitative Restrictions (US, 1999), India – Solar Cells (DS456), India – Agricultural Products (avian influenza, DS430), EC – Tariff Preferences (India v EC, 2004 – Enabling Clause), India – ICT tariffs (EU/Japan/Chinese Taipei, 2023 panels; appeal into the void), US steel and aluminium measures (India’s retaliation notifications).

• Recent trend: unilateral tariff measures since 2025 (especially US tariffs), trade-and-security (Art XXI) controversies, WTO reform (dispute settlement, level playing field, e-commerce moratorium).