History of multilateral trading system and the WTO

WTO Agreements

The Organization, its structure and decision-making

• WTO in a nutshell
• Structure
• Decision-making

Membership and accessions

• The numbers
• The WTO accession process
• Benefits from accession

Functions of the WTO

• Administering WTO agreements
• Trade negotiations
• Dispute Settlement
• Monitoring trade policies
• Technical assistance
• Cooperation with IOs
• The Tobacco dispute

Basic principles of the WTO, exceptions and transparency

• Basic principles
• Tariffs
• Quantitative restrictions
• Tariff-Rate Quotas
• Exceptions
• Transparency

Accession to the WTO

• Reasons for acceding
• Objectives

Commission

• Establishment and composition
• Working groups
• Meetings of the Commission

Application and chronology of the accession process

Working Party

• Establishment and composition
• Documentation submitted

Negotiations

• Multilateral and plurilateral process
• Bilateral process

Legislation

• Procedure for adoption of legislation
• Adopted laws
• Draft laws under discussion

Industry

• Competition policy
• State-Trading Enterprises

Agriculture

Customs

• Customs procedures
• Customs clearance and customs fees
• Customs duties and rules of origin
• VAT
• Excise tax
• Licenses and permissions
• Customs valuation

Trade remedies

• Anti-dumping
• Countervailing measures
• Safeguards
• Injury
• The procedure

Technical barriers to trade

• Technical regulations
• Standards
• Conformity assessment

Sanitary and Phytosanitary

• Veterinary
• Phytosanitary
• Food safety

Intellectual Property

• Trademarks and geographical indications
• Patents
• Copyright and related rights
• Enforcement

Services

• Banking
• Insurance
• Transport
• ICT
• Tourism
• Construction
• Migration

Regional trade agreements

• Preferential trade and the WTO
• Bilateral trade agreements
• Regional trade agreements

Technical Assistance and Capacity Building projects

• Ongoing assistance
• Completed projects