In: Economics
How are policies and regulations established in the WTO?
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is an international organization consisting of 162 members that fixes the deals with the rules of trade among the nations. With Russia’s accession in August 2012, the WTO encompasses all major countries trading economies. The WTO works together to ensure smooth flow of international trade, predictably, and freely, and provides countries with a constructive, clear and fair outlet for dealing with disputes among nations over trade issues. The WTO was established in 1995, succeeding the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that was established in 1947
It is fundamentally important that established policies and regulations are transparent, non-discriminatory, reciprocity, values safety; and binding and enforceable commitments. In the WTO, this is done in two ways: governments must inform the WTO and fellow-members of certain measures, policies or laws through regular updates on “notifications”; and the WTO regularly conducts the reviews of individual nation's trade policies - the trade policy reviews. Such reviews are part of the Uruguay Round agreement, however these start several years before the round ended - they were an early result of the negotiations. The motive is to achieve "fair competition"; members should use environmental protection ways as a means of disguising protectionist policies