The Tenth Anniversary of the WTO

Abstract

The World Trade Organization (WTO) came into being on January 1, 1995, as the result of the Uruguay Round Trade Negotiation (UR) which was the eighth trade negotiation under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade1 (GATT). This year (2005) celebrates the Tenth Anniversary of the WTO and it is time to reflect on its accomplishments as well as the problems with which it is confronted.

Generally the WTO has faced many difficulties in the area of international trade negotiation and, so far, it has not been successful in creating new agreements nor in establishing a new regime. In contrast to this, the dispute settlement party of the WTO has been highly successful. Since its establishment, many dispute cases have been raised before the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) and resolved. Although there are a handful of cases in which there was difficulty in implementing the recommendations of the DSB, disputes were, on the whole, successfully settled and the DSB has established a set of important principles which regulate international trade.

Thus, the questions which need to be addressed are: "What are difficulties in international negotiations that the WTO has had to face?" and "What are accomplishments of the dispute settlement procedures?"