Overview of The WTO

 Objective of presentation

 WTO: The Beginnings

 Growth in Trade Underway

 A New Multilateral Organization

 The WTO: what is it?

 How does the WTO function?

 Principles of the Trading System

 Provisions for developing countries

 Progressing by packages

 The Round to end all rounds

 The WTO Agreement

 Liberalising trade in goods

 Textiles - back in the mainstream

 Agriculture: fairer markets for all

 Trade remedies

 Standards and procedures

 Administrative procedures

 Services: rules for growth and investment

 Services: the key rules

 Services: Better Access to Markets

 Intellectual Property: protection and enforcement of rights

 TRIPS: what does it cover?

 Settling Disputes: the heart of the system

 Meetings of Ministers

  Singapore Ministerial

 Geneva and Seattle Ministerials

 Doha Ministerial Meeting

 Cancun Ministerial Meeting

 Recent Developments

Textiles - back in the mainstream

Fighting the good fight

On a sectoral basis, liberalizing trade in textile and clothing has been a challenge facing the GATT for some years. Creating an Agreement to phase out quantitative restraints on textiles and clothing was one of the longest and hardest-fought issues in the GATT. However, as a result of the Uruguay Round, it is now a challenge facing the WTO. Trade in this sector is now going through fundamental change under a 10-year schedule to phase out quantitative restrictions.

Outside the system

This means that the system of discriminatory import quotas that has dominated textile trade since the early 1960s is being phased out. By 1974 until the end of the Uruguay Round, trade in textiles and clothing was governed by the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA). The MFA was a framework for bilateral agreements or unilateral actions that was a derogation from the rules of the GATT.

The MFA ... a derogation

The bilateral agreements came in the form of quotas limiting imports from developing countries into the markets of developed countries. Industries in developed countries were facing serious damage from rapidly increasing imports. The quotas were the most visible feature of the MFA. They conflicted with the GATT's general preference for customs tariffs instead of measures that restrict quantities. They were also exceptions to the GATT principle of treating all trading partners equally: in fact, they specified how much the importing country was going to accept from individual developing countries.

Back in the mainstream

By 2005, the sector is to be fully integrated into normal GATT rules. In particular, the quotas will come to an end. Importing countries will no longer be able to discriminate between exporters. The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing will itself no longer exist. In fact, it is the only WTO agreement that has self destruction built in.