HUIHI

1. WORLD TRADE
ORGANISATION & WORLD
TRADE AGREEMENTS
RELATED TO FOOD
SUBMITTED BY :
ANJUM AYOUB

2. WHAT IS WTO ?
 The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global
international organization dealing with the rules of trade
between nations
 At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated & signed
by the bulk of the world’s trading nations & ratified in their
parliaments
 The goal is to help producers of goods & services,
exporters & importers conduct their business.

3. HISTORY OF WTO & ITS ESTABLISHMENT
 1944 - Bretten Wood conference established World bank,
International Monetary Fund & International Trade Organization
 1947 - General Agreement on Trade & Tariffs (GATT) was
established
 1947–1993 - Contracting parties of GATT held 8 rounds of trade
negotiations-reduction of tariff barriers
 1986-1993 - Uruguay round held - resulted in conversion of
GATT to WTO.
 1991 - Dunkel Draft issued by DG of GATT included issues on
Agreement on application of Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures
(SPS)
 1994 - Marrakech round on Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)
 1995 - Establishment of WTO
 2 specific WTO agreements – SPS & TBT- food safety & animal
& plant health & safety

4.  The GATT had been organizing international trade negotiation to
define the regulation for & strengthening multilateral trading
system over the years
 The latest round of international trade regulation was conducted
under auspices of GATT from 1986 to 1993
 It was on 15 December that the latest round of international trade
negotiation among 117 countries was conducted at Uruguay
 The agreement so conducted were signed on April 16,1994 by
123 countries. The agreement has come to known as a Uruguay
round or the GATT 94
 One of the agreements during the Uruguay round was regarding
renaming of GATT as World Trade Organization (WTO)
 The GATT 1994 is being implemented with effect from 1st of
January 1995, when the very first agreement regarding the
establishment of WTO was established
 Thus WTO held its last round of international trade negotiation at
Doha in July 2006
 At present 151 countries are member of WTO

5. OBJECTIVES OF WTO
 To ensure the conduct of international trade on
non-discrimination basis
 To raise standard of living & income, ensuring full
employment
 To ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably
& freely as possible
 To expand production & trade
 To expand & utilize world resources to the best
 Protecting environment
 Ensuring better share for developing countries
 To enhance competitiveness among all trading
partners so as to benefit consumers & help in
global integration

6. FUNCTIONS OF WTO
 Oversees the implementation, administration &
operation of the covered WTO trade agreements
 Provides a forum for the trade negotiations
 Handling trade disputes
 Monitoring national trade policy review mechanism
 Technical assistance training for developing
countries
 With a view to achieve greater coherence in global
economic policy making, Co-operation with other
international organization (like help from World Bank
& the IMF - International Monetary Fund )

7. WORLD TRADE AGREEMENTS
RELATED TO FOOD
AoA - Agreement on Agriculture
SPS Agreement - Agreement on the Application
of Sanitary & Phytosanitary Measures
TBT Agreement - Agreement on Technical
Barrier to Trade
TRIPS Agreement - Agreement on Trade Related
Intellectual Property Rights
All agreements increased both the scope & the specificity of disciplines on the
application of safety & quality regulations

8. AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE
 came into effect with the establishment of WTO at
the beginning of 1995
 has three central concepts or "pillars“ :
 domestic support
 market access
 export subsidies

9. SPS AGREEMENT
 Agreement on the Application of Sanitary &
Phytosanitary Measures
 It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of
GATT & entered into force with the establishment
of the WTO at the beginning of 1995
 Under the SPS agreement, the WTO sets
constraints on members' policies relating to :
1. food safety (bacterial contaminants, pesticides,
inspection & labelling)
2. animal & plant health (imported pests &
diseases)

10.  Concerns with measures applied to protect human, animal
& plant health.
 Allows countries to set their own standards
 Should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between
countries
 Encouraged to use international standards, guidelines &
recommendations
 Allow use of different standards/methods of Inspection
 To protect animal or plant life or health from risks arising
from pest, disease, disease-carrying organisms or disease-
causing organisms
 To protect human or animal life or health from risks arising
from additives, pesticide residues, contaminants, toxins or
disease causing organisms
 To protect human life or health from risks arising from
diseases carried by animals, plants or pests

11.  Agreement covers all relevant laws, regulations; testing,
inspection, certification & approval procedures; & packaging &
labelling requirements directly related to food safety
 Member States are asked to apply only those measures for
protection that are based on scientific principles, only to the
extent necessary & not in a manner which may constitute a
disguised restriction on international trade
 The Agreement encourages use of international standards,
guidelines or recommendations where they exist & identifies
those from Codex (relating to food additives, veterinary drugs &
pesticide residues, contaminants, methods of analysis &
sampling, & codes & guidelines of hygienic practices), to be
consistent with provisions of SPS
 Thus, the Codex standards serve as a benchmark for
comparison of national sanitary & phytosanitary measures
 While it is not compulsory for Member States to apply Codex
Standards, it is in their best interests to harmonize their national
food standards with those elaborated by Codex

12. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
 HARMONIZATION – encourages the adoption of
measures that conform to international standards,
guidelines, and / or recommendations of international
agencies.
 EQUIVALENCE – mutual recognition of different but
equivalent measures to achieve international standards
 NON-DISCRIMINATION – treating imports no differently
than domestic produce.
 TRANSPARENCY – notifying trading partners of changes
in their SPS measures, especially when the measures
differ from international standards.
 REGIONALIZATION – allows continued exports from
disease-free areas of affected countries

13. TBT AGREEMENT
 Agreement on Technical Barrier to Trade is an international
treaty of the WTO
 It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of GATT &
entered into force with the establishment of the WTO at the
end of 1994
 TBT refers to technical regulations & conformity
assessment procedures & applies to all commodities & not
just food
 Tries to ensure that regulations, standards, testing &
certification procedures do not create unnecessary
obstacles to trade
 Discourages any methods that would give domestically
produced goods an unfair advantage
 encourages use of international standards eg. BIS –
National Enquiry Point in India

14. TRIPS AGREEMENT
 Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
 Include provisions protecting the use of geographical
indicators which are frequently used to differentiate
agricultural products in the marketplace
 Set out rules for the use of standards & labelling in the
regulation of other quality attributes including nutritional,
sensory, functional & process characteristics

15. REFERENCES
 Agriculture in WTO – The role product attributes in the
agricultural negotiations : Commissioned Paper Number 17;
The International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium ;
May 2001
 Assuring Food Safety & Quality : Guidelines For
Strengthening National Food Control Systems ; Joint
FAO/WHO Publication
 World Trade Organisation (Wikipedia)
 www.google.com

16. THANKYOU