General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

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The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (typically abbreviated GATT) was negotiated during the UN
Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the
International Trade Organization (ITO). GATT was signed in 1947 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by
the World Trade Organization in 1995. The original GATT text (GATT 1947) is still in effect under the WTO
framework, subject to the modifications of GATT 1994.[1]

Contents
1 Rounds
1.1 Annecy Round - 1949
1.2 Torquay Round - 1951
1.3 Geneva Round - 1955-1956
1.4 Dillon Round - 1960-1962
1.5 Kennedy Round - 1964-1967
1.6 Tokyo Round - 1973-1979
1.7 Uruguay Round - 1986-1994
2 GATT and the World Trade Organization
3 References
4 External links

Rounds
GATT held a total of 8 rounds,

GATT and WTO trade rounds[2]

Subjects
Name Start Duration Countries Achievements
covered
Signing of GATT, 45,000
Geneva April 1947 7 months 23 Tariffs tariff concessions affecting
$10 billion of trade
Countries exchanged some
Annecy April 1949 5 months 13 Tariffs
5,000 tariff concessions
Countries exchanged some
September 8,700 tariff concessions,
Torquay 8 months 38 Tariffs cutting the 1948 tariff levels
1950
by 25%

Tariffs,
Geneva
January 1956 5 months 26 admission of $2.5 billion in tariff reductions
II
Japan
 Dillon September 11 months 26 Tariffs Tariff concessions worth $4.9
1960 billion of world trade
Tariffs, Anti- Tariff concessions worth $40
Kennedy May 1964 37 months 62
dumping billion of world trade
Tariffs, non-
tariff Tariff reductions worth more
September
Tokyo 74 months 102 measures, than $300 billion dollars
1973
"framework" achieved
agreements
Tariffs, non-
tariff The round led to the creation
measures, of WTO, and extended the
rules, range of trade negotiations,
services, leading to major reductions in
intellectual tariffs (about 40%) and
September
Uruguay 87 months 123 property, agricultural subsidies, an
1986
dispute agreement to allow full access
settlement, for textiles and clothing from
textiles, developing countries, and an
agriculture, extension of intellectual
creation of property rights.
WTO, etc
Tariffs, non-
tariff
measures,
agriculture,
labor
November The round is not yet
Doha ? 141 standards,
2001 concluded.
environment,
competition,
investment,
transparency,
patents etc

Annecy Round - 1949

The second round took place in 1949 in Annecy, France. 13 countries took part in the round. The main focus of
the talks was more tariff reductions, around 5000 in total.

Torquay Round - 1951

The third round occurred in Torquay, England in 1950. Thirty-eight countries took part in the round. 8,700 tariff
concessions were made totaling the remaining amount of tariffs to ¾ of the tariffs which were in effect in 1948. The
contemporaneous rejection by the U.S. of the Havana Charter signified the establishment of the GATT as a
governing world body.[3]

Geneva Round - 1955-1956

The fourth round returned to Geneva in 1955 and lasted until May 1956. Twenty-six countries took part in the
round. $2.5 billion in tariffs were eliminated or reduced.
Dillon Round - 1960-1962

The fifth round occurred once more in Geneva and lasted from 1960-1962. The talks were named after U.S.
Treasury Secretary and former Under Secretary of State, Douglas Dillon, who first proposed the talks. Twenty-six
countries took part in the round. Along with reducing over $4.9 billion in tariffs, it also yielded discussion relating to
the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC).

Kennedy Round - 1964-1967

Kennedy Round took place from 1964-1967.

Tokyo Round - 1973-1979

Reduced tariffs and established new regulations aimed at controlling the proliferation of non-tariff barriers and
voluntary export restrictions. 102 countries took part in the round. Concessions were made on $190 billion worth.

Uruguay Round - 1986-1994

The Uruguay Round began in 1986. It was the most ambitious round to date, hoping to expand the competence of
the GATT to important new areas such as services, capital, intellectual property, textiles, and agriculture. 123
countries took part in the round.

Agriculture was essentially exempted from previous agreements as it was given special status in the areas of import
quotas and export subsidies, with only mild caveats. However, by the time of the Uruguay round, many countries
considered the exception of agriculture to be sufficiently glaring that they refused to sign a new deal without some
movement on agricultural products. These fourteen countries came to be known as the "Cairns Group", and
included mostly small and medium sized agricultural exporters such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and
New Zealand.

The Agreement on Agriculture of the Uruguay Round continues to be the most substantial trade liberalization
agreement in agricultural products in the history of trade negotiations. The goals of the agreement were to improve
market access for agricultural products, reduce domestic support of agriculture in the form of price-distorting
subsidies and quotas, eliminate over time export subsidies on agricultural products and to harmonize to the extent
possible sanitary and phytosanitary measures between member countries.

GATT and the World Trade Organization

Main article: Uruguay Round

In 1993, the GATT was updated (GATT 1994) to include new obligations upon its signatories. One of the most
significant changes was the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The 75 existing GATT members and
the European Communities became the founding members of the WTO on 1 January 1995. The other 52 GATT
members rejoined the WTO in the following two years (the last being Congo in 1997). Since the founding of the
WTO, 21 new non-GATT members have joined and 29 are currently negotiating membership. There are a total of
153 member countries in the WTO.

Of the original GATT members, Syria[4][5] and the SFR Yugoslavia has not rejoined the WTO. Since FR
Yugoslavia, (renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and with membership negotiations later split in two), is not
recognised as a direct SFRY successor state; therefore, its application is considered a new (non-GATT) one. The
General Council of WTO, on 4 May 2010, agreed to establish a working party to examine the request of Syria for
WTO membership.[6][7] The contracting parties who founded the WTO ended official agreement of the "GATT
1947" terms on 31 December 1995. Serbia and Montenegro are in the decision stage of the negotiations and are
expected to become the newest members of the WTO in 2012 or in near future.

Whereas GATT was a set of rules agreed upon by nations, the WTO is an institutional body. The WTO expanded
its scope from traded goods to trade within the service sector and intellectual property rights. Although it was
designed to serve multilateral agreements, during several rounds of GATT negotiations (particularly the Tokyo
Round) plurilateral agreements created selective trading and caused fragmentation among members. WTO
arrangements are generally a multilateral agreement settlement mechanism of GATT.[8]

References
1. ^ World Trade Organization: WTO legal texts (http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/legal_e.htm#GATT94) ;
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/06-gatt_e.htm)
2. ^ a)The GATT years: from Havana to Marrakesh
(http://www.wto.org/English/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact4_e.htm) , World Trade Organization
b)Timeline: World Trade Organization – A chronology of key events
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/2430089.stm) , BBC News
c)Brakman-Garretsen-Marrewijk-Witteloostuijn, Nations and Firms in the Global Economy, Chapter 10: Trade and
Capital Restriction (http://people.few.eur.nl/vanmarrewijk/global/figures%20tables/ch10%20final%20tables.pdf)
3. ^ Michael Hudson, Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance, 2nd ed. (London
and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2003), 258.
4. ^ http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min96_e/chrono.htm
5. ^ http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm
6. ^ http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_syrian_arab_republic_e.htm
7. ^ http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news10_e/gc_04may10_e.htm
8. ^ What is the WTO? (Official WTO site) (http://www.wto.org/English/thewto_e/whatis_e/eol/e/default.htm)

External links
GATT Turns 60 (http://www.freetrade.org/node/608)
All GATT Panel Reports (http://www.worldtradelaw.net/reports/gattpanels/)
GATT Digital Library 1947-1994 at Stanford University (http://gatt.stanford.edu/page/home)
The WTO and Global Trade at PBS (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/wto/)
BBCnews World/Europe country profile
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/2430089.stm)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Agreement_on_Tariffs_and_Trade"
Categories: World Trade Organization | International trade | General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade | Treaties
concluded in 1947

This page was last modified on 29 March 2011 at 11:52.

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