Phase 3 DB

Joel Negron
Colorado Technical University Online
MGM355-1503B-03
September 1, 2015
Professor: Rob Dunoskovic
World Trade Organization
At times, trade between countries need to have an oversight, in order for business to be
successful. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization
dealing with the rules of trade between nations (What is the WTO?, n.d.). The main focus of the
WTO is to help producers of goods or services to either export or import their products. The
WTO focuses on negotiations, between trading nations, and it is of consequence that the creation
of the WTO was born from negotiations. The WTO was established on January 1, 1995, and it is
based out of Geneva, Switzerland. The bulk of the WTO’s current work comes from the 1986–
94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round, and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (Who we are, n.d.). Trade barriers used to be the main reason
companies were scared to globalize, but since the introduction of the WTO, trade barriers have
been lowered so that countries can freely trade between each other.
Being a member of the WTO helps countries take advantage of any global trade agreements,
which have been signed. Also, all members of the WTO must provide the same treatment
between member states, in regards to trading goods and services. Trade tariffs and barriers are
lower between member countries of the WTO, thus help in fomenting trade. A large percent of
WTO member countries, are developing countries, and being a member provides them access to
markets of develop countries at lower tariffs.
Even though the advantages seem to be huge, there exist some critics of the WTO. Some critics
have mentioned that the WTO has often ignored the trouble of the developing world. The WTO
is viewed by a lot as to help the interest of developed countries, while taking advantage of the
less developed ones. For example, if a country is a developing one, and it was trying to expand
its economy to develop a new manufacturing industry, they may be unable to do it without some
tariff protection (Economics Essays: Advantages and disadvantages of WTO, n.d.).
Resolving disputes, is the duty of the Dispute Settlement Body (the General Council in another
guise), which consists of all WTO members (UNDERSTANDING THE WTO: SETTLING
DISPUTES, n.d.). Under the new WTO, countries settle disputes via a structured approach with
clearly distinct stages. The stages are; consultations, panel set up, panel informs involved
members, panel informs to WTO members, and dispute settlement body adopts report. The
entire process, is setup to take from 12 to 15 months in order to solve dispute. An appeals panel
can be formed, if the verdict by the panel is appealed.
An example of a dispute taken to the WTO, and resolved is the following;
On 4 November 2013, Denmark, in respect of the Faroe Islands, requested consultations with the
European Union with regard to the use of coercive economic measures by the European Union in
relation to Atlanto-Scandian herring and Northeast Atlantic mackerel (DISPUTE
SETTLEMENT: DISPUTE DS469, European Union — Measures on Atlanto-Scandian Herring,
n.d.).
The WTO set a panel of WTO members in order to solve this dispute, but before the panel could
meet the Denmark withdrew the dispute, since it reached an agreement, and settled the dispute.
At any time during the dispute process countries can settle between each other, and withdraw the
disputes, in fact this is the best approach the WTO moves toward. The only role the WTO
played in this case was as a mediator, and the final resolution was an acceptable one. Both
countries walked out with a dispute being solved peacefully.
References
Economics Essays: Advantages and disadvantages of WTO. (2007, June 17). Retrieved from
http://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/06/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-wto.html
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT: DISPUTE DS469, European Union — Measures on Atlanto-
Scandian Herring. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2015, from
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds469_e.htm
UNDERSTANDING THE WTO: SETTLING DISPUTES. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2015,
from https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/disp1_e.htm
What is the WTO? (n.d.). Retrieved September 1, 2015, from
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm
Who we are. (n.d.). Retrieved September 1, 2015, from
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/who_we_are_e.htm