World Trade Organisation The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers manage their business.

Members 152 countries are members of the WTO including the USA and UK

Objectives to increase the clarity and understanding of countries’ trade policies and practices, through regular monitoring to improve the quality of public and intergovernmental debate on the issues to enable a multilateral assessment of the effects of policies on the world trading system. Over a period of time, all WTO members are to come under scrutiny. The frequency of the reviews depends on the country’s size: The four biggest traders — the European Union, the United States, Japan and China (the “Quad”) — are examined approximately once every two years. The next 16 countries (in terms of their share of world trade) are reviewed every four years. The remaining countries are reviewed every six years, with the possibility of a longer interim period for the least-developed countries.

Implementing their goal Governments have to inform the WTO and fellow-members of specific measures, policies or laws through regular “notifications”; and the WTO conducts regular reviews of individual countries’ trade policies — the trade policy reviews. These reviews are part of the Uruguay Round agreement, but they began several years before the round ended — they were an early result of the negotiations.

Areas of operation The WTO were involved in the Banana War. They implemented the no-less Byzantine rules (devised in Uruguay round) The European banana regime conflicted with the WTO rules They were accused of only caring about the interests of the super powers e.g. USA

Coverage in the media 20 June 2008 Five courses were offered to participants from developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs) covering: an introduction to the WTO (279 participants) agriculture in the WTO (100 participants) technical barriers to trade in the WTO (149 participants) sanitary measures (87 participants) trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (ends 27 June 2008)

Media coverage continued 15 June 2008 Lamy: “The WTO recognizes the importance of non-trade concerns” Director-General Pascal Lamy, in a lecture to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law on 15 June 2008, said that while focusing on international trade, the WTO “recognizes the importance of non-trade concerns”. He also explained how the WTO works with the UN in addressing world problems, in particular those relating to trade issues.

Negatives The World Trade Organization is the most powerful legislative and judicial body in the world. By promoting the "free trade" agenda of multinational corporations above the interests of local communities, working families, and the environment, the WTO has systematically undermined democracy around the world.