World trade organization

World Trade Organization (Всемирная торговая организация) is the successor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It was established on 1 January, 1995, and is the legal (законодательный) and institutional (институционный) basis of the world trading system.

The essential functions of the WTO are:

• execution of trade agreements;
• acting as a forum for multilateral trade negotiations;
• seeking to resolve trade disputes;
• overseeing (осуществлять надзор) national trade policies;
• cooperating with other international institutions involved in global economic policy-making.

Members are to grant to the products of other members no less favourable treatment (не менееблагоприятный режим) than to the products of any other country. Tariffs or customs duties are legal in the WTO.

The WTO Agreement on agriculture is designed to provide increased fairness (справедливость) in farm trade. The WTO Agreement on intellectual property will improve conditions of competition. WTO encourages industrialized countries to assist trade of developing nations.

The WTO authorities are:

• the Ministerial Conference (министерская конференция) (было проведено 7конференций)
• the General Council (Генеральный Совет)

There are three Councils in WTO:

• for Trade in Goods (Cовет по товарной торговле)
• for Trade in Services (Cовет по торговле услугами)
• for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Cовет по вопросам торговых аспектов прав интеллектуальной собственности)

There are four Committees in WTO:

• on Trade and Development
• on Balance of Payments
• on Trade and Environment
• on Budget, Finance and Administration

The Secretariat is located in Geneva.

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* General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (Генеральное соглашение по тарифам и торговле, заключено в 1947 году, после войны, с целью восстановления экономики. Основная цель – снижение тарифов в торговле)