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International Trade and Finance

Notes • To facilitate the implementation, administration, and operation of trade agreements
• To provide a forum for further negotiations among member countries on matters covered by
the agreements as well as on new issues falling within its mandate
• Settlement of differences and disputes among its member countries
• To carry out periodic reviews of the trade policies of its member countries
• To assist developing countries in trade policy issues, through technical assistance and training
programmes
• To cooperate with other international organizations

Decision Making
A majority vote is also possible but it has never been used in the WTO and was extremely rare in the
WTO’s predecessor, GATT. The WTO’s agreements have been ratified in all members’ parliaments. Unlike
other international organizations, such as the World Bank and the IMF, in WTO, the power is not delegated
to the board of directors or the organization’s head.

WTO is a member-driven consensus-based organization. All major decisions in the
WTO are made by its members as a whole, either by ministers who meet at least
once every two years or by their ambassadors who meet regularly in Geneva.

Organizational Structure of the WTO

The organizational structure of WTO as summarized in Figure l, consists of the Ministerial Conference,
General Council, council for each broad area, and subsidiary bodies.
First level : The Ministerial Conference

The Ministerial Conference is the topmost decision-making body of the WTO, which has to meet at
least once every two years.
Second level : General Council
Day-to-day work in between the Ministerial Conferences is handled by the following three bodies:
• The General Council
• The Dispute Settlement Body
• The Trade Policy Review Body
In fact, all these three bodies consist of all WTO members and report to the Ministerial Conference,
although they meet under different terms of reference.
Third level : Councils for each broad area of trade
There are three more councils, each handling a different broad area of trade, reporting to the General
Council.
• The Council for Trade in Goods (Goods Council)
• The Council for Trade in Services (Services Council)
• The Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council)
Each of these councils consists of all WTO members and is responsible for the working of the WTO
agreements dealing with their respective areas of trade. These three also have subsidiary bodies. Six
other bodies, called committees, also report to the General Council, since their scope is smaller. They
cover issues, such as trade and development, the environment, regional trading arrangements, and
administrative issues. The Singapore Ministerial Conference in December 1996 decided to create new
working groups to look at investment and competition policy, transparency in government
procurement, and trade facilitation.

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