UNDERSTANDING THE WTO: BASICS

The Uruguay Round

It took seven and a half years, almost twice the original schedule. By the end, 123 countries were taking part. It covered almost all trade, from toothbrushes to pleasure boats, from banking to telecommunications, from the genes of wild rice to AIDS treatments. It was quite simply the largest trade negotiation ever, and most probably the largest negotiation of any kind in history.
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Understanding the WTO Basics

What is the WTO? Principles of the trading system The case for open trade The GATT years The Uruguay Round

Agreements Settling disputes Cross-cutting and new issues

The Doha agenda

At times it seemed doomed to fail. But in the end, the Uruguay Round brought about the biggest reform of the worlds trading system since GATT was created at the end of the Second World War. And yet, despite The 1986 agenda its troubled progress, the Uruguay Round The 15 original Uruguay Round did see some early results. Within only two subjects years, participants had agreed on a package of cuts in import duties on Tariffs tropical products which are mainly Non-tariff barriers Natural resource products exported by developing countries. They Textiles and clothing had also revised the rules for settling Agriculture disputes, with some measures Tropical products implemented on the spot. And they called GATT articles Tokyo Round codes for regular reports on GATT members Anti-dumping trade policies, a move considered Subsidies important for making trade regimes Intellectual property transparent around the world. Investment measures
Dispute settlement The GATT system Services

Developing countries The organization

Abbreviations

A round to end all rounds? back to top Key dates

The seeds of the Uruguay Round were sown in November 1982 at a ministerial meeting of GATT members in Geneva. Although the ministers intended to launch a major new negotiation, the conference stalled on agriculture and was widely regarded as a failure. In fact, the work programme that the ministers agreed formed the basis for what was to become the Uruguay Round negotiating agenda. Nevertheless, it took four more years of exploring, clarifying issues and painstaking consensus-building, before ministers agreed to launch the new round. They did so in September 1986, in Punta del Este, Uruguay. They eventually accepted a
Sep 8 Punta del 6 Este: launch Dec 8 Montreal: ministerial 8 mid-term review Apr 8 Geneva: 9 Dec 9 Brussels: 0 mid-term review completed closing ministerial meeting ends in deadlock first draft of Final Act completed

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More introductory information > The WTO in Brief > 10 benefits > 10 misunderstandings

Dec 9 Geneva: 1

Nov 9 Washingto US and EC 2 n: achieve Blair House

negotiating agenda that covered virtually every outstanding trade policy issue. The talks were going to extend the trading system into several new areas, notably trade in services and intellectual property, and to reform trade in the sensitive sectors of agriculture and textiles. All the original GATT articles were up for review. It was the biggest negotiating mandate on trade ever agreed, and the ministers gave themselves four years to complete it. Two years later, in December 1988, ministers met again in Montreal, Canada, for what was supposed to be an assessment of progress at the rounds halfway point. The purpose was to clarify the agenda for the remaining two years, but the talks ended in a deadlock that was not resolved until officials met more quietly in Geneva the following April. Despite the difficulty, during the Montreal meeting, ministers did agree a package of early results. These included some concessions on market access for tropical products aimed at assisting developing countries as well as a streamlined dispute settlement system, and the Trade Policy Review Mechanism which provided for the first comprehensive, systematic and regular reviews of national trade policies and practices of GATT members. The round was supposed to end when ministers met once more in Brussels, in December 1990. But they disagreed on how to reform agricultural trade and decided to extend the talks. The Uruguay Round entered its bleakest period. Despite the poor political outlook, a considerable amount of technical work continued, leading to the first draft of a final legal agreement. This draft Final Act was compiled by the then GATT director-general, Arthur Dunkel, who chaired the negotiations at officials level. It was put on the table in Geneva in December 1991. The text fulfilled every part of the Punta del Este mandate, with one exception it did not contain the participating countries lists of commitments for cutting import duties

breakthrou gh on agriculture Jul 93 Tokyo: Quad achieve market access breakthrou gh at G7 summit most negotiation s end (some market access talks remain)

Dec 9 Geneva: 3

Apr 9 Marrakesh agreement 4 : s signed Jan 9 Geneva: 5 WTO created, agreement s take effect

and opening their services markets. The draft became the basis for the final agreement. Over the following two years, the negotiations lurched between impending failure, to predictions of imminent success. Several deadlines came and went. New points of major conflict emerged to join agriculture: services, market access, anti-dumping rules, and the proposed creation of a new institution. Differences between the United States and European Union became central to hopes for a final, successful conclusion. In November 1992, the US and EU settled most of their differences on agriculture in a deal known informally as the Blair House accord. By July 1993 the Quad (US, EU, Japan and Canada) announced significant progress in negotiations on tariffs and related subjects (market access). It took until 15 December 1993 for every issue to be finally resolved and for negotiations on market access for goods and services to be concluded (although some final touches were completed in talks on market access a few weeks later). On 15 April 1994, the deal was signed by ministers from most of the 123 participating governments at a meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco. The delay had some merits. It allowed some negotiations to progress further than would have been possible in 1990: for example some aspects of services and intellectual property, and the creation of the WTO itself. But the task had been immense, and negotiation-fatigue was felt in trade bureaucracies around the world. The difficulty of reaching agreement on a complete package containing almost the entire range of current trade issues led some to conclude that a negotiation on this scale would never again be possible. Yet, the Uruguay Round agreements contain timetables for new negotiations on a number of topics. And by 1996, some countries were openly calling for a new round early in the next century. The response was mixed; but the Marrakesh

agreement did already include commitments to reopen negotiations on agriculture and services at the turn of the century. These began in early 2000 and were incorporated into the Doha Development Agenda in late 2001.

What happened to GATT? back to top

The WTO replaced GATT as an international organization, but the General Agreement still exists as the WTOs umbrella treaty for trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. Trade lawyers distinguish between GATT 1994, the updated parts of GATT, and GATT 1947, the original agreement which is still the heart of GATT 1994. Confusing? For most of us, its enough to refer simply to GATT.

The post-Uruguay Round built-in agenda back to top

Many of the Uruguay Round agreements set timetables for future work. Part of this built-in agenda started almost immediately. In some areas, it included new or further negotiations. In other areas, it included assessments or reviews of the situation at specified times. Some negotiations were quickly completed, notably in basic telecommunications, financial services. (Member governments also swiftly agreed a deal for freer trade in information technology products, an issue outside the built-in agenda.) The agenda originally built into the Uruguay Round agreements has seen additions and modifications. A number of items are now part of the Doha Agenda, some of them updated. There were well over 30 items in the original built-in agenda. This is a selection

of highlights: 1996 Maritime services: market access negotiations to end (30 June 1996, suspended to 2000, now part of Doha Development Agenda) Services and environment: deadline for working party report (ministerial conference, December 1996) Government procurement of services: negotiations start

1997

Basic telecoms: negotiations end (15 February) Financial services: negotiations end (30 December) Intellectual property, creating a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wines: negotiations start, now part of Doha Development Agenda

1998 Textiles and clothing: new phase begins 1 January Services (emergency safeguards): results of negotiations on emergency safeguards to take effect (by 1 January 1998, deadline now March 2004) Rules of origin: Work programme on harmonization of rules of origin to be completed (20 July 1998) Government procurement: further negotiations start, for improving rules and procedures (by end of 1998) Dispute settlement: full review of rules and procedures (to start by end of 1998)

1999 Intellectual property: certain

exceptions to patentability and protection of plant varieties: review starts 2000 Agriculture: negotiations start, now part of Doha Development Agenda Services: new round of negotiations start, now part of Doha Development Agenda Tariff bindings: review of definition of principle supplier having negotiating rights under GATT Art 28 on modifying bindings Intellectual property: first of twoyearly reviews of the implementation of the agreement

2002 2005 Textiles and clothing: full integration into GATT and agreement expires 1 January Textiles and clothing: new phase begins 1 January

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