WTO who is part of. World Trade Organization (WTO). Conditions of accession to the WTO

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Founded: January 1, 1995
Created: According to the results of the negotiations of the Uruguayan Round (1986-94)
Number of members: 164
State Secretariat: about 640 employees
Chapter: Robert Kovali di Azvved

Objectives and principles:

World Trade Organization (WTO), which is the succession of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) since 1947, began its activities from January 1, 1995, the WTO is designed to regulate the trade and political relations of the organization's participants based on the package of agreements of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trading negotiations (1986-1994). These documents are a legal basis for modern international trade.

The WTO Institution Agreement provides for the creation of a permanent forum of member countries to resolve the problems affecting their multilateral trade relations, and control over the implementation of agreements and agreements of the Uruguay Round. WTO functions in many ways as well as Gatt, but at the same time performs control over more wide spectrum trade agreements (including trade in services and issues of trade aspects of rights intellectual property) And has much greater powers in connection with the improvement of decision-making procedures and their implementation by members of the organization. An integral part of the WTO is a unique mechanism for resolving trade disputes.

Since 1947 Discussion global problems Liberalization and development prospects of world trade takes place in the framework of multilateral trade negotiations (MTP) under the auspices of GATT. To date, 8 rounds of MTP, including Uruguayan, and the ninth continues. The main goal of the WTO is to further liberalize world trade and ensure fair competition conditions.

Fundamental principles and rules GATT / WTO are:

mutual provision of the greatest favored regime (RNB) in trade;
mutual provision of national regime (HP) goods and services of foreign origin;
trade regulation is predominantly by tariff methods;
refusal to use quantitative and other restrictions;
transparency of trade policy;
resolution of trade disputes through consultations and negotiations, etc.

The most important functions WTO are:

control over the implementation of agreements and agreements of the package of documents of the Uruguayan Round;
conducting multilateral trade negotiations between interested member countries;
resolution of trade disputes;
monitoring the national trade policy of member countries;
technical assistance to developing States within the framework of the competence of the WTO;
cooperation with international specialized organizations.

General benefits from membership in the WTO You can summarize as follows:

obtaining more favorable access conditions for world markets of goods and services based on the predictability and stability of the development of trade relations with WTO member countries, including the transparency of their foreign economic policy;
elimination of discrimination in trade by accessing the WTO mechanism to resolve disputes to protect national Interests In case they are infringed with partners;
the possibility of implementing its current and strategic trade and economic interests by effective participation in MTP when developing new international trade rules.

For many 18 years, the Russian Federation has joined the World Trade Organization. In 2012, our country still entered this union. Such a grand event gave rise to many disputes between politicians and public figures. And in 2018 there were news of the possible exit of Russia from the organization. What could happen? Why and when Russia joined the WTO? We will try to figure it out in our article.

The role of the WTO on the World Arena

Before disassembling the question of why Russia joined the WTO, it is necessary to give brief description The organization itself. The World Trade Union (or Organization) was established on January 1, 1995. He was intended to liberalize interstate trade and regulating the political relations of its member countries. The WTO is formed on the basis of the GATT-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

The headquarters of the Trade Union is located in the capital of Switzerland. In total, 164 states are in the Union. WTO is responsible for the formation and implementation of new trading contracts. It monitors compliance with its members of all ratified norms. Member States of the Union have a relatively high level of customs and tariff protection. The basic principles of the organization is reciprocity, equality and transparency.

Russia's accession to the WTO

The starting date of the negotiations can be called 1986. Already then the leadership of the Soviet Union stated its intention to conclude an agreement with Gatt. The application was rejected at the USA. The states motivated this by the fact that the planned economy was carried out in the USSR. However, after 4 years Soviet Union Nevertheless received the observer status.

The USSR collapsed, a new state appeared - the Russian Federation. In 1993, the Constitution was adopted. At the same time, official negotiations on joining WTO began. They were incredibly long. Most of the problems for the Russian Federation created the European Union and the United States.

The question of when Russia joins the WTO, was complicated by the most Russian authority. 208 people out of 446 voted accepted against the participation of the Russian Federation in the International Trade Union. The law, however, has yet been ratified. He approved the Federation Council and President. In early 2012, Russia was filed a number of conditions, subject to which the country would be able to enter the Union.

Conditions of accession to the WTO

Full text The requirements put forward by members of the WTO to Russia can be found on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. Most of the changes affected customs duties. Two list of liabilities were presented - on goods and services. Russia is temporarily limited to the adoption of foreign persons from WTO members to the domestic market.

Two important principles entered into force. The first is "about national mode." It means that tax, procedural and private law rules are equivalent to both Russians and foreign persons. The second principle is "On the Favorable Nation". If Russia provides a favorable regime for some persons of one WTO member state, then such a regime will automatically affect all other persons of any other membership member.

When did Russia entered the WTO? July 21, 2012 russian president He signed the Federal Law "On Russia's accession to the Marrakesh Agreement on the establishment of the World Trade Union."

Why did Russia entered the WTO?

"The country has configured to meet the West towards the West, and it will reflect, first of all, on the quality of the life of Russians themselves." It was these speeches that could be heard from domestic media when Russia joined the WTO. The authorities also began to assure the people in the importance of the events that occurred. Was it all true? Opinions on this issue are returned. You can independently form a conclusion for yourself, looking at the main goals that Russia wished to achieve in the WTO

The primary task of the state upon joining the trade union was the modernization of relations with the West in the form of the opening of domestic markets and lower tariffs. The goals of Russia in the WTO are as follows:

participation in the formation of rules of interstate trade with regard to national interests;
improving the image of Russia on the world arena;
access to the interstate mechanism for resolving trade conflicts;
obtaining best conditions access of domestic products to the global market;
expanding the possibilities of Russian investors in WTO member states.

Pursuing the marked goals, the Russian authorities developed an important principle for themselves: the country's rights and obligations should contribute to economic growth, but not vice versa.

Russia in the WTO: Main advantages

What positive moments should have followed Russia's accession to the WTO? The first indisputable advantage that immediately comes to mind is the improvement of the country's image on the world arena. It is unlikely that someone dares to ignore the fact that Russia is a country for many incomprehensible and in many ways even dangerous. This is not the European state, but also the eastern elements in it is not so much. Russian authorities should try very well to show how our country can be useful on the world stage. Long-awaited WTO access is an unambiguous improvement in the image for Russian Federation.

When Russia joined the WTO, the Russian media was not tired without tired of the speedy decline in prices for most of the products. Allegedly the cost of goods falls in a couple of years after joining the trade union. Prices really fell. But the slide was insignificant and it was not touched by all the goods. Free access to the established trading schemes brought its fruits, which was, undoubtedly, a big advantage for Russia of that time. However, it was necessary to rejoice for a short time. Two years later, the US and the European Union applied the first package of sanctions against our country.

Growth of economics

Russia joined the WTO per year of optimal economic development. 2012 was marked by the presidential elections and new reforms. Numerous sanctions have not yet contracted the economic and political state of affairs in the country. Thanks to the Union with the WTO, competition has increased competition. The result was the modernization of the domestic economy.

The credit rate was lowered - both for a simple population and for small and large businesses. Some domestic manufacturers were able to enter the global market. It made them pay attention to the quality of the products produced. The consequence of this was the increase in competition.

Some import duties were significantly reduced. Medicines, clothing, IT products and other goods have become more accessible to the population. Finally, the principle of transparency of the WTO trade legislation allowed us to build complex and qualitative relations between the parties.

So why did Russia join the WTO? Looking at the listed advantages, it becomes not difficult to answer this question. The country could survive a real economic rise. Unfortunately, this did not happen because of the Ukrainian conflict, in which Russia intervened. Sanctions were imposed on the country, and some deputies seriously thought about the exit from the WTO. In his bill, they led the list of flaws that Russia gives membership in the Commerce Union.

Russia in the WTO: Basic Disadvantages

The possibility of unemployment in the domestic market is the first and main disadvantage. Russian enterprises can simply not withstand competition with foreign manufacturers. The situation can exacerbate in the so-called "factory" cities - where most of the population is involved in production.

Import duties have been lowered. This led to the fact that a number of goods became unprofitable in Russia. These are agricultural products, and most importantly - auto industry. Thus, the customs duty on the import of supported cars fell 4 times. Power is already actively struggling with this phenomenon. She diligently, although not very successfully promotes the "import substitution" policy.

In addition to imported, export duties can be lowered. Because of this, the budget of the country may be at a loss. However, the increase in public debt can not be afraid: the government has created many other problems.

The consequences of Russia's accession to the WTO

Experts are confident that the entry into the trade union will entail a decline in the duty to many products. So, by 2019, the duty on cars should fall from 30 to 15 percent. Alcohol cheaper chefed after the car industry, appliances, Clothing and more.

It is expected that Russia's participation in the WTO will give an additional $ 2 billion a year. The Russian economy will grow at the expense of foreign investment. The external environment will change. Competition will go up, the tariff barriers will decrease, the state will reduce a number of protectionist measures.

Criticism of Russia's participation in the WTO

The question of whether Russia entered into the WTO, worried many political scientists and economists. Experts were worried that losses from entering into the union would be much higher than the possible benefit. Back in 2006, experts calculated that the benefits of domestic enterprises after joining the WTO will be $ 23 billion, and losses - $ 90 billion. However, everything came out somewhat differently. Russia entered the union on preferential terms, which allowed her during the first three years not to change the customs policy.

In 2012, Vladimir Putin did not face the Criton of the WTO. He stated that modernization russian economy It will simply be impossible if the government decides to ignore the issue of joining the Union. When Russia joined the WTO (the date and year are indicated above), members of the Communist Party faction were the main critics of this step.

The question of the exit of Russia from the WTO

Deputies from the Communist Party faction have already developed a bill aimed at the systematic yield of the Russian Federation from the World Trade Union. The document says that in which year Russia joined the WTO and what followed it. 900 billion rubles for five years of membership were lost, and by 2020 the amount of damage will be 12-14 trillion rubles

What threatens the exit of Russia from the WTO? Unfortunately, no one knows. According to the International Agreement, the right to exit is available, but no one applied it. Russia can create a precedent. With a lot of probability, he will entail the imposition of harsh sanctions on the guilty side.

World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization established in order to liberalize international trade and regulating the trade and political relations of Member States. WTO is the successor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in force since 1947.

The WTO goals are the liberalization of world trade through its regulation mainly by tariff methods with a consistent reduction in import duties, as well as eliminating various non-tariff barriers, quantitative restrictions.

WTO functions are monitoring the implementation of trade agreements concluded between the WTO members, the organization and provision of trade negotiations among WTO members, monitoring the trade policy of the WTO members, the resolution of trade disputes between members of the organization.

The fundamental principles of the WTO are:

Mutual provision of the greatest favored regime (RNB) in trade;

Mutual provision of national regime (HP) goods and services of foreign origin;

Trade regulation is predominantly by tariff methods;

Refusal to use quantitative and other restrictions;

Transparency of trade policy;

Resolution of trade disputes by consulting and negotiations, etc.

WTO members, according to May 2012, are 155 states. In 2007, Vietnam, the Kingdom of Tonga and Cape Verde entered the organization; In 2008 - Ukraine. In April and May 2012, Montenegro and Samoa became members of the WTO, respectively.

Status and states in the WTO have more than 30 states and more than 60 international organizations, including the UN, IMF and the World Bank.

Among the observer countries - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc.

The overwhelming majority of observer countries are located at various stages of accession to the WTO.

Procedure to the WTO consists of several stages. This process takes an average of 5-7 years.

At the first stage, within the framework of special working groups, a detailed consideration of the multilateral level of the economic mechanism and the trade and political regime of the joining country for their compliance with the standards and rules of the WTO is occurring. After that, consultations and negotiations on the conditions of membership of the applicant country in this organization are beginning. These consultations and negotiations are usually held at a bilateral level with all interested member countries of the Working Group.

First of all, negotiations concern "commercially significant" concessions that the acceding country will be ready to provide members of the WTO on access to its markets.

In turn, a joining country, as a rule, receives the rights that all other members of the WTO have, which will practically mean the termination of its discrimination in foreign markets.

In accordance with the established procedure, the results of all negotiations on the liberalization of market access to markets and the conditions of joining are issued by the following official documents:

The report of the Working Group, where the entire package of rights and obligations is settled, which the Country Country will take on the results of the negotiations;

List of tariff assignments in the field of goods and the level of support for agriculture;

A list of specific obligations for services and list of withdrawals from the RNB (the most favorable mode);

Protocol on accession, legally executing the agreements reached at the two- and multilateral levels.

One of the main conditions for the joining of new countries to the WTO is to bring their national legislation and the practice of regulating foreign economic activity in accordance with the provisions of the Pool Round Agreement Package.

At the final stage of joining, the national legislative body of the candidate country has the entire package of documents agreed upon under the Working Group and approved by the General Council. After that, these obligations become part of the legal package of WTO documents and national legislation, and the candidate country itself receives the status of a WTO member.

The highest governing body of the WTO - Ministerial Conference. It is convened at least once every two years, as a rule, at the level of ministers of trade or foreign affairs. The conference elects the WTO head.

Current management of the organization and monitoring of the implementation of adopted agreements is carried out by the General Council. Its functions also include the resolution of trade disputes between the WTO member countries and monitoring their trade policy. The General Council controls the activities of the Board of Trade, the Council for Trade in Services, the Council for Intellectual Property.

Members of the General Council are ambassadors or heads of representative offices of WTO member countries.

The executive body of the organization is the WTO Secretariat.

The WTO operates workers and expert groups and specialized committees, which include establishing and monitoring compliance with competition rules, monitoring the action of regional trade agreements and investment climate in participating countries, receiving new members.

The WTO practices decision-making based on consensus, although the de jure provides voting. Interpretation of the provisions of goods agreements, services, as well as exemption from adopted obligations, 3/4 of the votes are accepted. Amendments that do not affect the rights and obligations of participants, as well as the adoption of new members require 2/3 of the votes (in practice, as a rule, by consensus).

WTO working languages \u200b\u200bare English, French and Spanish.

The WTO Director General from September 1, 2005 - Pascal Lami.

The headquarters of the organization is located in Geneva.

Material prepared on the basis of open sources information

world Trade organisation - Multilateral interstate organization operating from January 1, 1995. It originated as the successor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as a result of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations of 1986-1994, held under the auspices of Gatt. The Uruguay Round ended on April 15, 1994 by the Marrakesh Protocol (final act), which has discovered the Agreement on the establishment of the WTO.

As of January 1, 2006, 150 states became members of the WTO. 30 states, including Russia, have observer status and are in the stage of accession to the WTO. WTO headquarters is located in the city of Geneva, Switzerland (Ryu de Lausanne, 154, CH-1211). WTO is not included in the UN Institution system, but, having the status legal entity, enjoys all the privileges of UN special institutions. Official languages \u200b\u200b- English, French and Spanish. WTO address in the Internet - www.wto.org.

The budget of the organization and the amount of contributions of individual participating countries are based on the traditional practice and rules of the GATT-1947 (the country's share in the WTO budget is equal to its share in international trade).

The agreement consists of a preamble, in a general form of a repeating preamble of GATT, 16 articles and four applications containing legal instruments of the WTO. The agreement provides for the creation of a single multilateral structure for the implementation of 56 legal instruments that make up the WTO legal system. Article II of Agreement establishes that legal documents named in Appendices 1, 2, 3 are inalienable parts of the agreement, their provisions create rights and obligations for all WTO members. Countries that joined the WTO should take them without any seizures and exceptions and are obliged to bring their national legislation in line with the norms of these documents. Appendix 4 contains an agreement on trade in civil aviation equipment and a government procurement agreement, creating obligations only for the countries of their signatories.

WTO functions are defined in Article III of Agreement as promoting the implementation and application of WTO legal instruments; organization of negotiations between its members on issues of multilateral trade relations; Ensuring the functioning of a mechanism for a periodic review of the trade policy of members of the WTO and the implementation of the arrangement on the rules and procedures for resolving disputes.

Currently, newly joining states, including Russia, go to the following way. The article XII agreement states that any state or a separate customs territory with full autonomy in conducting its foreign trade can join the WTO on the conditions that will be agreed between this state and the WTO. The decision on joining is adopted by the Ministerial Conference by two thirds of the votes of members of the WTO. However, according to the tradition of the GATT, the decision is made by consensus.

Joining the country notifies the Director General of the WTO about its intention to join the WTO, reports to the WTO a memorandum of foreign trade regime (goods and services). After that, the question of joining conditions is considering a working group that the WTO General Council creates. The Working Party studies the country's foreign trade regime, its legislation and application practice. A significant part of the work in the group is transferred to informal meetings and consultations, during which the conditions of the country's accession to the WTO are gradually developed. At the same time, bilateral negotiations are underway on the issue of reducing trade barriers, the result of which should be a list of concessions and obligations of the acceding country in these areas. The result of the meeting of the Working Group is the report of the Group to the General Council (conference) of the WTO summary Discussions, conclusions of the working group, as well as projects for the decision of the General Council (Conference) of the WTO and the Protocol on Accession. The report of the Working Group, the decision and the report on accession should be approved by the General Council (conference) of the WTO. The decision on the accession of the country comes into force 30 days after its adoption by the acceding country.

The legal framework of the WTO is multilateral agreements covering the sphere of trade in goods, services and trade aspects of intellectual property rights. The WTO legal framework can be contacted by the list of documents attached to the agreement constituting its integral part and creating rights and obligations for the Government of the WTO member countries.

In Appendix 1, 2, and 3 include:

Multilateral agreements on the trade in goods - GATT-1994 together with mutual understanding, decisions, and agreements interpreting and developing GATT articles: (agreements regarding the interpretation of articles II, XVII, XXIV, XXVIII); Agreement on the application of article VI (Anti-Dumping Code); Agreement on the application of article VII (customs value); Agreements on subsidies and compensation measures, protective measures, on import licensing procedures, according to the rules of origin, on technical barriers to trade, on the use of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, on pre-shipment inspection, agriculture, on textile products and clothing; Agreement on Investment Measures related to Trade - TRIMS Agreement;

General Agreement on Commerce Services (GATS);

Agreement on commercial aspects of intellectual property rights - TRIPS agreement;

Understanding against rules and dispute settlement procedures;

Mechanism of the Review Policy.

The WTO Legal Documents also includes 23 declarations and solutions of ministers related to the above documents, and an agreement on the obligations in the field of financial services. Part of WTO legal documents are national protocols on access to the markets of goods and services that appeared as a result of the Uruguay Round, and which record the tariff conditions of access to the markets of individual countries, as well as obligations to access the services markets. Multilateral agreements included in the WTO contain legal norms that governments in mutual trade in goods and services should be guided. In this capacity, they replace more than 30,000 bilateral agreements and create the legal basis of modern international trade. Their basic principles are the most favored mode, national regime and publicity in the use of regulatory measures.

The WTO organizational structure has developed on the basis of the development of the principles laid out in Gatt and improved about 50 years. Article XVI Agreement suggests that the WTO should be guided by decisions, procedures and ordinary practices who followed the Contracting Parties and the GATT bodies. However, the agreement notes that GATT included in the WTO (GATT 1994), in the right plan, is excellent from Gatt dated September 30, 1947 (GATT-1947). The main part of the WTO is a ministerial conference, which is gathering once every two years. This conference has all the WTO rights, can carry out all its functions and make decisions. In the interruptions between the conferences, its functions performs the General Council. The Council may act as a dispute resolution authority and a trade policy review authority. In these cases, the Council has individual chairmen and their legal procedures. In addition, the goods trade council operates to monitor the implementation of multilateral trade in goods trade, the Council for Trading in Services to follow the implementation of the GATS and the Intellectual Property Council that monitors the action of this agreement. Committees and development committees are also organized; on budget, financial and administrative issues. In addition, the WTO bodies regularly operate committees formed within the framework of the above-mentioned multilateral agreements. The WTO Secretariat is operating led by the Director General, who has given the authority to appoint other secretariat staff and determine the circle of their maintenance and functions. Currently, the total number of employees of the secretariat exceeds 600 people. Within the framework of the WTO, the decision-making system by consensus continues to operate in the GATT-1947. In cases where the consensus cannot be achieved, the decision can be accepted by the vote, and each WTO member country has one voice. However, the voting system in the WTO is extremely rare. Articles of the IX and X of the Agreement determine the procedural parties to the voting.

The agreement provides for various ways to join the WTO. In accordance with the final act of the Uruguay Round, the joining countries were divided into several groups. The GATT participants became members of the WTO, adopting an agreement, multilateral trade agreements, as well as the General Agreement on Commerce Services and the Agreement on Trade Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The member countries of the Uruguay Round are not members of the GATT to become members of the WTO, should have completed the negotiations on accession to GATT 1947, to provide a list of their tariff concessions for GATT and specific GATS obligations. Around the same position there were developing countries that made the provisions of the GATT on the so-called actual basis. These conditions performed 132 states formed WTO. They received the name of the initial members of the WTO. Currently, any state is joined on the basis of an agreement of the XII Agreement.

World Trade Organization (WTO) - international Organcarrying out supervisory functions in the field of world trade. The organization, which is the proposed by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which began its activities since 1947, began its activities from January 1, 1995.

The main goal of the WTO is the liberalization of world trade and ensuring fair competition conditions.

WTO headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

WTO head ( cEO) — Robert Carvalue di Azievned.

What functions perform the WTO?

The most important WTO functions are:

control over the implementation of agreements and agreements of the package of documents of the Uruguayan Round;
conducting multilateral trade negotiations between interested member countries;
resolution of trade disputes;
monitoring the national trade policy of member countries;
cooperation with international specialized organizations.

What advantages give membership in the WTO?

The main advantages of membership in the WTO:

obtaining more favorable conditions for accessing world markets of goods and services;
access to the WTO mechanism for resolving disputes to protect national interests in case they are infringed by partners.

How can I become a member of the WTO?

The joining procedure to the WTO consists of several stages. This process takes an average of 5-7 years.

At the first stage, within the framework of special working groups, a detailed consideration of the economic mechanism and the trading and political regime of the joining country for compliance with the standards and rules of the WTO is occurring.

After that, consultations and negotiations on the conditions of membership of the applicant country in this organization are beginning. These consultations are usually carried out at a bilateral level with all interested member countries of the Working Group. During the negotiations, their participants discuss concessions to which the country joining will be ready to go to provide access to its markets. In turn, the joining country, as a rule, receives the rights that all other members of the WTO have.

When Russia became a member of the WTO?

Negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO lasted 18 years. Full member of the organization of the Russian Federation has become from August 22, 2012. The most difficult were negotiations with the United States and the European Union. In particular, with Washington for a long time It was not possible to solve questions about access to the Russian market of American pork and to protect the rights of intellectual property, with the EU - on export duties on the forest, in agriculture, under the conditions of industrial assembly of cars in the territory of the Russian Federation.