World Trade Organization

World Trade Organization / OMC

Formation	2018
Type	International trade organization
Purpose	Reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade
Headquarters	Luthernburg, Kuthernburg
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	Kuthernburg Nacata MBE Kasmiyland Crania Lessau Latianburg East Cerdani Chianski Asendavia Realm Of Yor Isles Realm Of Oan Isles Fortuna Stratarin Celannica Talusi Duelland Norgsveldet Eyjaria
Official languages	Codexian, Staynish, Kuthern,
Director-General of the World Trade Organization	Virginia de Herrera
Budget	311.6 Million SHD
Staff	1,211
Website	Www.OMC.Gov

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that is concerned with the regulation of international trade between nations. The WTO officially commenced on 28 January 2018, signed by 18 nations. It is the largest international economic organization in the world.

The WTO deals with regulation of trade in goods, services and intellectual property between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments. The WTO prohibits discrimination between trading partners, but provides exceptions for environmental protection, national security, and other important goals. Trade-related disputes are resolved by independent judges at the WTO through a dispute resolution process.

The WTO's current Director-General is Virginia de Herrera, who leads a staff of over 1200 people in Luthernburg, Kuthernburg. A trade facilitation agreement, part of the Marg Package of decisions, was agreed by all members on 8 March 2018, the first comprehensive agreement in the organization's history.

Studies show that the WTO boosted trade, and that barriers to trade would be higher in the absence of the WTO.

Operational Abilities

Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most important:

• It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements
• It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes.

Additionally, it is WTO's duty to review and propagate the national trade policies, and to ensure the coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policy-making. Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training.

1. The WTO shall facilitate the implementation, administration and operation and further the objectives of this Agreement and of the Multilateral Trade Agreements, and shall also provide the framework for the implementation, administration and operation of the multilateral Trade Agreements.
2. The WTO shall provide the forum for negotiations among its members concerning their multilateral trade relations in matters dealt with under the Agreement in the Annexes to this Agreement.
3. The WTO shall administer the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes.
4. The WTO shall administer Trade Policy Review Mechanism.

The above four listings are the additional functions of the World Trade Organization. As globalization proceeds in today's society, the necessity of an International Organization to manage the trading systems has been of vital importance. As the trade volume increases, issues such as protectionism, trade barriers, subsidies, violation of intellectual property arise due to the differences in the trading rules of every nation. The World Trade Organization serves as the mediator between the nations when such problems arise. WTO could be referred to as the product of globalization and also as one of the most important organizations in today's globalized society.

The WTO is also a centre of economic research and analysis: regular assessments of the global trade picture in its annual publications and research reports on specific topics are produced by the organization. Finally, the WTO will cooperate closely with the World Bank once formed later this year.

WTO Trade Rules

The WTO establishes a framework for trade policies; it does not define or specify outcomes. That is, it is concerned with setting the rules of the trade policy games. Five principles are of particular importance in understanding the WTO:

1. Non-discrimination. It has two major components: the most favored nation rule, and the national treatment policy. Both are embedded in the main WTO rules on goods, services, and intellectual property, but their precise scope and nature differ across these areas. The MFN rule requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members, i.e. a WTO member has to grant the most favorable conditions under which it allows trade in a certain product type to all other WTO members. "Grant someone a special favor and you have to do the same for all other WTO members.
2. Reciprocity. It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule, and a desire to obtain better access to foreign markets. A related point is that for a nation to negotiate, it is necessary that the gain from doing so be greater than the gain available from unilateral liberalization; reciprocal concessions intend to ensure that such gains will materialize.
3. Binding and enforceable commitments. The tariff commitments made by WTO members in a multilateral trade negotiation and on accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions. These schedules establish "ceiling bindings": a country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of trade. If satisfaction is not obtained, the complaining country may invoke the WTO dispute settlement procedures.
4. Transparency. The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions allowing for the review of administrative decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO. These internal transparency requirements are supplemented and facilitated by periodic country-specific reports (trade policy reviews) through the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). The WTO system tries also to improve predictability and stability, discouraging the use of quotas and other measures used to set limits on quantities of imports.
5. Safety values. In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade. The WTO's agreements permit members to take measures to protect not only the environment but also public health, animal health and plant health.

Membership Program

The process of becoming a WTO member is unique to each applicant country, and the terms of accession are dependent upon the country's stage of economic development and current trade regime. The process takes about five years, on average, but it can last longer if the country is less than fully committed to the process or if political issues interfere. Political ties rather than issue-area functional gains determine who joins" and shows how geopolitical alignment shapes the demand and supply sides of membership democracy and foreign policy similarity encourage states to join.

Global Impact

Studies show that the WTO boosted trade. Research shows that in the absence of the WTO, the average country would face an increase in tariffs on their exports by 38 percentage points. The dispute settlement mechanism in the WTO is one way in which trade is increased.