Institutional Aspects of the World Trade Organization’s Functioning

Globalisation is a process that is undoubtedly one of the most important features of the modern economy. It is accompanied by the liberalisation of international exchanges. The institutional foundations favouring the removal of protectionist barriers were already established in 1947 with the signing of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). However, economic development and increasing competition made the GATT norms an insufficient guarantor of increasing freedom in trans-local markets. Consequently, the participants in the GATT Uruguay Round decided to establish the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The original mandate of the 1986 Uruguay Round did not provide for the establishment of an international organisation; the parties only wanted to streamline existing regulations. The initiative to create a new body came from Canada in 1990 and was supported by the European Communities. The key rationale was the desire to develop an institutional framework that would be directed towards liberalising international flows in general [Croome, 1999]. The establishment of the WTO marked the end of nearly 50 years of effort, as the UN had already passed a resolution in 1946 to convene a conference to establish a specialised agency called the International Trade Organization. However, the growing conflict between the US and the USSR as well as the protectionist attitude of the US Congress buried the idea. The initiatives of the 1960s and 1970s also failed to gain wider acceptance [Hoekman, Kostecki, 2001]. All the more reason to consider the establishment of the WTO as the greatest achievement of the Uruguay Round. Knowledge of the WTO’s institutions and decision-making rules thus becomes a prerequisite for understanding the tasks facing the organisation. In this way, one can better embrace the globalisation processes that the WTO undoubtedly fosters and patronises.