The WTO and its coverage

The coming into being of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 1995 has been described as “a watershed moment for the institutions of world economic relations” and the international agreement that gave birth to this international organization has been viewed as “the most important event in recent world economic history.” The creation of the WTO lay in a trade negotiating round, namely the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (UR), that, in turn, has been described as “the largest and most complex negotiation concerning international economics in history” or even as “the largest and most complex negotiation ever.” None of these remarks may appear to be an overstatement if seen in the light of the WTO legal and institutional framework, which consists of about 30,000 pages of rules and concessions.

The Uruguay Round was launched in 1986 by the Contracting Parties of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the rather modest predecessor of the WTO, and, after eight years of negotiations by more than 120 nations, culminated in the signing of the Final Act embodying the results of the UR negotiations on April 15, 1994. The Final Act comprises the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO Agreement) and various Ministerial Decisions and Declarations. Set out in the WTO Agreement are the purposes and objectives of the WTO and its institutional framework.