The
structure of the WTO is dominated by its highest authority, the Ministerial
Conference, composed of representatives of all WTO members, which is required
to meet at least every two years and which can take decisions on all matters
under any of the multilateral trade agreements.
The
day-to-day work of the WTO, however, falls to a number of subsidiary bodies;
principally the General Council, also composed of all WTO members, which is
required to report to the Ministerial Conference. As well as conducting its
regular work on behalf of the Ministerial Conference, the General Council
convenes in two particular forms - as the Dispute Settlement Body, to oversee
the dispute settlement procedures and as the Trade Policy Review Body to conduct
regular reviews of the trade policies of individual WTO members.
The
General Council delegates responsibility to three other major bodies - namely
the Councils for Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property. The Council for Goods oversees the implementation and
functioning of all the agreements (Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement) covering
trade in goods, though many such agreements have their own specific overseeing
bodies. The latter two Councils have responsibility for their respective WTO
agreements (Annexes 1B and 1C) and may establish their own subsidiary bodies as
necessary.
Three
other bodies are established by the Ministerial Conference and report to the
General Council. The Committee on Trade and Development is concerned with
issues relating to the developing countries and, especially, to the
"least-developed" among them. The Committee on Balance of Payments is
responsible for consultations between WTO members and countries which take
trade-restrictive measures, under Articles XII and XVIII of GATT, in order to
cope with balance-of-payments difficulties. Finally, issues relating to WTO's
financing and budget are dealt with by a Committee on Budget.
Each
of the four plurilateral agreements of the WTO - those on civil aircraft,
government procurement, dairy products and bovine meat - establish their own
management bodies which are required to report to the General Council.
Representation in the WTO and
economic groupings
The
work of the WTO is undertaken by representatives of member governments but its
roots lie in the everyday activity of industry and commerce. Trade policies and
negotiating positions are formulated in capitals, usually with a substantial
advisory input from private firms, business organizations, farmers as well as
consumer and other interest groups. Most countries have a diplomatic mission in
Geneva, sometimes headed by a special Ambassador to the WTO, whose officials
attend meetings of the many negotiating and administrative bodies at WTO
headquarters. Sometimes expert representatives are sent directly from capitals
to put forward their governments' views on specific questions.
As a
result of regional economic integration - in the form of customs unions and
free trade areas - and looser political and geographic arrangements, some
groups of countries act together in the WTO with a single spokesperson in
meetings and negotiations.
The
largest and most comprehensive grouping is the European Union and its 15 member
states. The EU is a customs union with a single external trade policy and
tariff. While the member states coordinate their position in Brussels and
Geneva, the European Commission alone speaks for the EU at almost all WTO
meetings. The EU is a WTO member in its own right as are each of its member
states.
A
lesser degree of economic integration has so far been achieved by the countries
which are GATT members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) -
Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam.
Nevertheless, they have many common trade interests and are frequently able to
coordinate positions and to speak with a single voice.
Among
other groupings which occasionally present unified statements is the Latin
American Economic System (SELA) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group
(ACP). More recent efforts at regional economic integration - for instance,
NAFTA (Canada, US and Mexico) and MERCOSUR (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and
Uruguay) - have not yet reached the point where their constituents frequently
have a single spokesperson on WTO issues.
A
well-known alliance in the Uruguay Round - bringing together a similarity of
trade interests rather than a regional identity - was the Cairns Group which
comprised, and still comprises, agricultural exporting nations from developed,
developing and East European countries.
