1. Amendment procedure
Amendment proposal by one Member or a specialised Council;
decision adopted by the Ministerial Conference or the General Council by consensus or by two thirds majority;
ratification by the Members.
Only one amendment so far: art. 31-bis was added to the TRIPS Agreement.

2. Amendment (II) Amendments take effect:
1) in the cases provided for by Art. X.2: upon acceptance by all Members;
“Amendments to the provisions of this Article and
to the provisions of the following Articles shall take effect
only upon acceptance by all Members:
Article IX of this Agreement;
Articles I and II of GATT 1994;
Article II:1 of GATS;
Article 4 of the Agreement on TRIPS”.

3. Amendment (III)
2) in other cases and if they can alter the rights and obligations of the Members  only in respect of those Members that have accepted it upon acceptance by two thirds.
If the Ministerial Conference so decides by three fourths majority, Members that haven’t accepted the amendment shall be free to withdraw from the WTO or to remain Members with the consent of the Ministerial Conference;

4. Amendment (IV)
3) in other cases and if they don’t alter the rights and obligations of the Members  for all Members upon acceptance by two thirds of the Members.

5. Amendment (V) Special rules for GATS and TRIPS;
DSU  decision by consensus; the amendments will take effect for all Members upon approval by the Ministerial Conference;
TPRM  the amendments will take effect for all Members upon approval by the Ministerial Conference.

6. Participation in the WTO
Members  specific problem in the WTO: developing countries  active participation of few Members (green room meetings: Quad and G-4)  marginalisation of developing countries (inclusiveness vs. efficiency).
More transparency is needed about consultations by a select group of Members and about their results; value of technical assistance to developing countries.
Bargaining rule.

7. Participation in the WTO (II)
Legitimacy chain: involvement of NGOs (organisation of symposia for NGOs; informal arrangements to receive information from NGOs; WTO Secretariat responds to requests for general information; chairpersons of WTO bodies take part to NGOs meetings); no direct involvement in the work of the WTO; attendance to plenary sessions (and not working sessions) of the Ministerial Conference; access to documents.

8. Participation in the WTO (III)
NGOs’ involvement
Pros:
enhancement of decision-making process;
increase of the legitimacy;
consideration of transnational interests;
democratization;

9. Participation in the WTO (IV)
Cons:
difficulty in decision-making process;
no democratic legitimation for NGOs;
opposition of developing countries;
consensus.

10. Participation in the WTO (V)
External transparency  government-to-government system; the national government has the responsibility for the dialogue with domestic civil society and for the enhancement of national interests under the multilateral trading system.
Some Members pledge for an extensive involvement of NGOs even in the decision-making process (US, EC  participation to WTO bodies meetings).