World Trade Organization and Its Critics

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The World Trade Organization and Its Critics Contents What is the WTO? 2 How the WTO is Organized 5 Decision Making Process 6 Non Effective System 7 Dominant Critics 8 Complaints 11 Goals 12 Structure 13 Positive Responses 14 Should the WTO be abolished? 16 Bibliography 19 THE WTO AND ITS CRITICS CASE STUDY What is the WTO? The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established and incorporated in January 1st 1995 at the amendment of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) in 1994 with the aim of regulating international trade. The creation of this organization clearly underscored the acceptance and commitment of trade liberalization by most of the international communities. Upon signing and ratifying the WTO…show more content…
It is the responsibility of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) and contributes to the stability of the global economy. The DSB (the General Council in another guise) is solely responsible for establishing panels of experts on cases and acceptance or rejection of results of an appeal and the findings of the panel. Generally the DSB approves panel decisions concerning trade disputes. In addition to the aforementioned, there is also a cornucopia of various special committees and working groups which deal with individual agreements and general operating issues. These committees are concerned with Trade and Environment, Trade and Development, Market Access, Agriculture, and Trade in Financial Service, while the working groups focus on Transparency in Government Procurement, State-Trading Enterprises, GATT rules, and so on. These mini-organizations (Trade Policy Review Body or the Dispute Settlement Body) vary across all sectors and report to the General Council or one of its subsidiaries. Decision Making Process The WTO continues the practice of decision making inter alia by consensus followed under GATT 1947. The WTO provides for the effective enforcement of its rules and agreements through the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) which contributes to its decision-making process. This is the core function of the WTO in settling member disputes and is a formal process which is based upon the principles of
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