See also: OMC (homonymy), WTO

The World Trade organization ( OMC , or World Trade Organization , WTO ) is presented in the form of only a International organization which deals with the rules governing the Commerce between the Pays. In the middle of the organization the Agreements of OMC are, negotiated and signed (with Marrakech) by the major part of the commercial powers of the world and ratified by their Parlement S. the goal is to help, by the reduction of obstacles to the Libre-échange, the producing S of Marchandise S and service S, the Exportateur S and the Importateur S to undertake their activities.

The head office of OMC is with Geneva. May 26th, 2005, the French Pascal Lamy obtains the general position of director of the organization, thus succeeding the Inhabitant of Thailand Supachai Panitchpakdi. Its four years mandate took effect on September 1st, 2005.

Since 2001, the cycle of negotiation carried out by OMC is the Cycle of Doha.

Members and observers

OMC gathers observers and members. The observers can be State S in the course of adhesion, of the international organizations (the IMF, the World Bank, etc),…

History

OMC was born on January 1st 1995, but the commercial system that it represents has almost a half-century more. In 1947, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT: General Agreement one Tariffs and Trade ) laid down the rules of the system, whose fiftieth birthday was commemorated during the second ministerial meeting of OMC, which was held with Geneva in May 1998.

The General agreement quickly gave rise to a International organization semi-official, existing in fact and semi-officially so called GATT, which evolved/moved with the passing of years through several cycles (or rounds ) of negotiation.

The Sommet of Cancun of 2003 was marked by an alliance of Third World country against the projects of liberalization of the services which were on the table of the Négociation S. This alliance aimed at obtaining on behalf of the rich countries a modification of their agricultural policies and succeeded, vis-a-vis the refusal of those, with the failure of the negotiations.

Managing director

  1. Peter Sutherland (1993 - 1995)

  2. Renato Ruggiero (1995 - 1999)
  3. Mike Moore (1999 - 2002)
  4. Supachai Panitchpakdi (September 1st 2002 - August 31st 2005)
  5. Pascal Lamy (September 1st 2005 -…)

Summits of OMC

has this first meeting, it was decided to create three new work groups. One on the trade and the investment, one on the interaction of the trade and the policy of competition and one on the transparency of the government contracts. These subjects are generally indicated under the name of “Questions of Singapore”. the E-business is added to the work program of OMC.
  • 1999 : 3rd ministerial conference - Seattle (the United States)
This meeting was concluded on a failure, the delegations of a hundred and thirty five Member States separating without launching the cycle of the “millenium”. The countries of the South form for the first time a block of negotiation. Launching of a programme of negotiations over three years, including the services in particular. The question of the access of the poorest countries to the drugs was in the center of the discussions, which allows their rallying the principle of the opening of a new cycle.
  • 2003 : 5 {{E}} ministerial conference - Cancún (Mexico).
No position final is adopted, second failure in four years, mainly because of the opposition between great powers and G22 on the agricultural file .
  • 2005 : 6 {{E}} ministerial conference - Hong-Kong.
Agreement on the suppression from here with 2013 of the Subsidy S with agricultural exports.

multilateral Negotiation cycles commercial

See the article multilateral Negotiation cycles commercial

Field of application

OMC is occupied:

  • of the trade of the goods (GATT 1947/1995/dumping medical subsidies measurements etc),
  • of the services (via telecommunication offered on the spot/thanks to the Investment/displacement but without investment)
  • and of the Intellectual property (ADPIC Agreement of right on the intellectual property related to the trade).

There exist agreements known as " plurilatéraux" in more specific fields and which relate to only one limited number of countries. It acts: civil aircraft (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bomber, etc) and the Government contracts.

The Dairy products and the Bovine meat are two politically significant fields and which do not have Pu still to be regulated by OMC.

Operation

It is before a whole framework of Négociation. OMC is primarily a place where the Gouvernement S members go to try to solve the commercial problems which exist between them. The first stage consists in discussing. OMC is the fruit of negotiations requiring of the important means to be able to be followed effectively by the members of the organization (Juriste S, experts, etc).

OMC obtained a “judicial power”, the Organe of settlement of the disputes (ORD), auprès whose the countries which are estimated injured can carry felt sorry for. Within the organization exist various agreements concerning the whole of the fields related to the Commerce:

  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), always into force but called from now on “GATT 1994”.
  • General agreement on the trade of the services (AGCS, in English GATS).
  • Agreement on agriculture.
  • Agreement to the medical and plant health measures (in English SPS).
  • Agreement on the aspects of the intellectual property laws related to trade (ADPIC, in English TRIPS).
  • Agreement to the measures concerning the investment and related to the trade (in English Trims).
  • Agreement on the technical obstacles related to the trade (in English TBT).

The work currently undertaken by OMC rises in major part of the negotiations which were held of 1986 with 1994, named the Cycle of Uruguay, and of former negotiations which took place within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). OMC currently accommodates news negotiations, within the framework of the Programme of Doha for the development launched in 2001.

When the countries ran up against obstacles with the trade and wanted to reduce them, the negotiations contributed to liberalize the trade. But OMC does not only get busy to liberalize the trade, and in certain circumstances, its rules can support the maintenance of obstacles to the trade - for example to protect the Consommateur S or to prevent the propagation of a Maladie. That however did not prevent the ORD from penalizing the European Union to have refused to import American Bœuf with the hormones.

Conflicts

A procedure makes it possible to regulate the conflicts between the Member States. It before is very based on the negotiation.

Procedure of payment of the conflicts

In the event of disagreement between two Member States, the plaintiff part can require to start consultations with the other part, with an aim of finding a settlement amicable with the conflict. This request must be notified with the ORD (Body of settlement of the disputes). The other Member States, which testify to a substantial commercial interest to follow these consultations, can obtain the authorization to take part in it in the capacity as third party. In the absence of friendly solution, the plaintiff part can require of the ORD to establish a " group spécial". The special group in general consists of three people, proposed by the secretariat of OMC. It has the role of examining, in the light of the relevant provisions of the agreements of OMC, the question carried in front of the ORD and of making observations suitable to help the ORD to make recommendations. The other Member States which show the existence of a substantial commercial interest can go third party and make presentations written to the panel. The special group establishes itself the calendar of its work and chooses to call or not upon experts. It must return, in theory, his report/ratio within six month as from the date of training of the panel. This time can be prolonged but does not have to exceed nine months. An out-of-court settlement is still possible during work of the special group

The ORD can meet to adopt the report/ratio of the special group as soon as possible 20 days (and at the latest 60 days) after its distribution with the Member States in the three official languages of OMC (English, French and Spanish), unless a Member State, part of the disagreement, do not notify with the ORD its will to appeal or that the ORD decides by consensus not to adopt the report/ratio.

The Body of call must rule on the report/ratio of the special group in the 60 days of the notification of the decision to appeal, and at the latest in the 90 days of this date in the event of difficulties. The call is limited to the points of law and interpretations of right the data by the report/ratio of the panel. The ORD must adopt the report/ratio of the Body of call in the 30 days of its distribution with the Member States. It ensures the monitoring of the implementation of the decisions and recommendations which it expressed in the light of the two reports/ratios referred to above. The part concerned must, in theory, conform immediately to these decisions and these recommendations. It will be able nevertheless to have a reasonable delay fixed by friendly agreement between the parts or an arbitration. In this last case, this time should not normally exceed 15 month as from the date of adoption of the report/ratio of the special group or the Body of call.

In the event of dissension between the parts about to know if the part concerned conformed well to the recommendations of the ORD, the question can be carried in front of a special group which then has 90 days to slice this disagreement.

In addition, in 20 days according to expiry of reasonable delay aimed above, part plaintiff, which estimates that the measures of conformity taken by the other part are incompatible with the recommendations of the ORD, can require of the ORD to suspend the concessions and other rights of which profits the other part within the framework from the agreements of OMC. If the Member State concerned disputes the level of suspension of concession authorized by the ORD, it can ask an arbitration to check the adequacy of the level of suspension of the concessions on the level of cancellation or reduction of the advantages.

Principal conflicts

Example of conflict

  • the American law on the “foreign dirty corporations” is a law which allows the companies the United States to use Tax shelters when those carry out sales abroad to decrease to them Imposition with the the United States. After a complaint on behalf of the European Union in 1998 at OMC, the ORD estimated that they were subsidies disguised with the Exportation and condemned the the United States to cancel this Législation before November 1st 2000. This judgment confirmed on several occasions not having been respected by the the United States, OMC authorized, the May 7th 2003, the European Union to apply sanctions with respect to those to height of an amount of 4 billion dollar S. These sanctions take the form of a progressive increase in the taxes on 1600 products (Agricultural produce, textiles and industrial products) starting from March 1st 2004. The surtax is at the beginning of 5% and will increase automatically by 1% per month up to a provisional ceiling of 17% on March 1st 2005.

Some dispute the democratic character of OMC while advancing that its operating process supports the rich countries able to carry out face of tens of simultaneous files. Decisions being caught while following the principle of “Silence gives consent”, the small countries which do not lay out that of only one representative to manage all the files would be thus most of the time agreeing in spite of them.

OMC would make trade a supreme value which would be the source of a Conflit of rights with international Norme S as regards Human rights, of environmental social protection and, protection of the Santé, health protection etc…

The altermondialists are based on these aspects to show OMC to promote the Néolibéralisme and a discriminatory Mondialisation. They put in debate the need for giving the Commerce so that they consider its right place by obliging OMC with better coordinating its decisions with other aspects of the International law via its fastening to UNO.

On the contrary, certain economists, like Joseph E. Stiglitz, see in OMC an organization developing the principles of the commercial Mercantilisme and denaturing deeply those of the Libre-échange.

Agreements

There exists more than 60 agreements defining the operating rules of OMC.

The principal agreement is the Master agreement instituting OMC.

Three important agreements respectively define the rules of the trade in the field of the goods, the field of the services, and finally in the field of the Intellectual property:

Two other agreements define the procedure of settlement of the disputes and the examination of the marketing policy of the governments.

Many complementary agreements and appendices contain more precise regulations for certain sectors or certain questions.

List Member States (151 to date)

list classified alphabetically with between brackets, the date of entry in OMC:

See too

Random links:James Joyce | Phelsuma minuthi | Thomas Lubanga | Narcosis with nitrogen | The Community of communes the Moselle and Madon

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