The
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (typically abbreviated GATT) was
negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the
outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the
International Trade Organization (ITO). GATT was formed in 1949 and
lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization
in 1995. The original GATT text (GATT 1947) is still in effect under the
WTO framework, subject to the modifications of GATT 1994.
Rounds
GATT held a total of 8 rounds,
Name Start Duration Countries Subjects covered Achievements
Geneva April 1947 7 months 23 Tariffs Signing of GATT, 45,000 tariff concessions affecting $10 billion of trade
Annecy April 1949 5 months 13 Tariffs Countries exchanged some 5,000 tariff concessions
Torquay
September 1950 8 months 38 Tariffs Countries exchanged some 8,700
tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%
Geneva II January 1956 5 months 26 Tariffs, admission of Japan $2.5 billion in tariff reductions
Dillon September 1960 11 months 26 Tariffs Tariff concessions worth $4.9 billion of world trade
Kennedy May 1964 37 months 62 Tariffs, Anti-dumping Tariff concessions worth $40 billion of world trade
Tokyo
September 1973 74 months 102 Tariffs, non-tariff measures, "framework"
agreements Tariff reductions worth more than $300 billion dollars
achieved
Uruguay
September 1986 87 months 123 Tariffs, non-tariff measures, rules,
services, intellectual property, dispute settlement, textiles,
agriculture, creation of WTO, etc The round led to the creation of WTO,
and extended the range of trade negotiations, leading to major
reductions in tariffs (about 40%) and agricultural subsidies, an
agreement to allow full access for textiles and clothing from developing
countries, and an extension of intellectual property rights.
Doha
November 2001 ? 141 Tariffs, non-tariff measures, agriculture, labor
standards, environment, competition, investment, transparency, patents
etc The round is not yet concluded.
Annecy Round - 1949
The
second round took place in 1949 in Annecy, France. 13 countries took
part in the round. The main focus of the talks was more tariff
reductions, around 5000 in total.
Torquay Round - 1951
The
third round occurred in Torquay, England in 1950. Thirty-eight
countries took part in the round. 8,700 tariff concessions were made
totaling the remaining amount of tariffs to ¾ of the tariffs which were
in effect in 1948. The contemporaneous rejection by the U.S. of the
Havana Charter signified the establishment of the GATT as a governing
world body.
Geneva Round - 1955-1956
The
fourth round returned to Geneva in 1955 and lasted until May 1956.
Twenty-six countries took part in the round. $2.5 billion in tariffs
were eliminated or reduced.
Dillon Round - 1960-1962
The
fifth round occurred once more in Geneva and lasted from 1960-1962. The
talks were named after U.S. Treasury Secretary and former Under
Secretary of State, Douglas Dillon, who first proposed the talks.
Twenty-six countries took part in the round. Along with reducing over
$4.9 billion in tariffs, it also yielded discussion relating to the
creation of the European Economic Community (EEC).
Kennedy Round - 1964-1967
Kennedy Round took place from 1964-1967.
Tokyo Round - 1973-1979
Reduced
tariffs and established new regulations aimed at controlling the
proliferation of non-tariff barriers and voluntary export restrictions.
102 countries took part in the round. Concessions were made on $190
billion worth.
Uruguay Round - 1986-1994
The
Uruguay Round began in 1986. It was the most ambitious round to date,
hoping to expand the competence of the GATT to important new areas such
as services, capital, intellectual property, textiles, and agriculture.
123 countries took part in the round.
Agriculture
was essentially exempted from previous agreements as it was given
special status in the areas of import quotas and export subsidies, with
only mild caveats. However, by the time of the Uruguay round, many
countries considered the exception of agriculture to be sufficiently
glaring that they refused to sign a new deal without some movement on
agricultural products. These fourteen countries came to be known as the
"Cairns Group", and included mostly small and medium sized agricultural
exporters such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and New Zealand.
The
Agreement on Agriculture of the Uruguay Round continues to be the most
substantial trade liberalization agreement in agricultural products in
the history of trade negotiations. The goals of the agreement were to
improve market access for agricultural products, reduce domestic support
of agriculture in the form of price-distorting subsidies and quotas,
eliminate over time export subsidies on agricultural products and to
harmonize to the extent possible sanitary and phytosanitary measures
between member countries.
GATT and the World Trade Organization
Main article: Uruguay Round
In
1993, the GATT was updated (GATT 1994) to include new obligations upon
its signatories. One of the most significant changes was the creation of
the World Trade Organization (WTO). The 75 existing GATT members and
the European Communities became the founding members of the WTO on 1
January 1995. The other 52 GATT members rejoined the WTO in the
following two years (the last being Congo in 1997). Since the founding
of the WTO, 21 new non-GATT members have joined and 29 are currently
negotiating membership. There are a total of 153 member countries in the
WTO.
Of
the original GATT members, Syria[4][5] and the SFR Yugoslavia has not
rejoined the WTO. Since FR Yugoslavia, (renamed to Serbia and Montenegro
and with membership negotiations later split in two), is not recognised
as a direct SFRY successor state; therefore, its application is
considered a new (non-GATT) one. The General Council of WTO, on 4 May
2010, agreed to establish a working party to examine the request of
Syria for WTO membership. The contracting parties who founded the WTO
ended official agreement of the "GATT 1947" terms on 31 December 1995.
Serbia and Montenegro are in the decision stage of the negotiations and
are expected to become the newest members of the WTO in 2012 or in near
future.
Whereas
GATT was a set of rules agreed upon by nations, the WTO is an
institutional body. The WTO expanded its scope from traded goods to
trade within the service sector and intellectual property rights.
Although it was designed to serve multilateral agreements, during
several rounds of GATT negotiations (particularly the Tokyo Round)
plurilateral agreements created selective trading and caused
fragmentation among members. WTO arrangements are generally a
multilateral agreement settlement mechanism of GATT.
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