Oxford LibGuides: Trade law: GATT & WTO

GATT & WTO

GATT sought to facilitate economic recovery after WW2 by reducing if not eliminating tariffs, subsides and quotas.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947(adopted 30 October 1947, entered into force 1 January 1948) 55 UNTS 187.

Geneva Tariff Conference, 1947
Annecy Tariff Conference, 1949
Torquay Tariff Conference, 1950-51
Geneva Tariff Conference, 1955-56
Dillon Round, 1960-61
Kennedy Round, 1963-67
Tokyo Round, 1973-79
Uruguay Round, 1986-94

In 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO) inherited its role. (Marrakesh Agreement)

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (adopted 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1995) 1867 UNTS 190.

Meetings of the member states negotiated further developments in multilateral trade

Doha Round, 2001-2011

All open access and available to anyone with access to the internet

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947
This site reproduces the text of the GATT 1947, annexed to the Final Act Adopted at the Conclusion of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment (excluding the Protocol of Provisional Application), as rectified, amended or modified by the terms of legal instruments which have entered into force before the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreemen
GATT Official Documents research gate.
Open access on official WTO site.
Currently only documents belonging to the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations are available in this GATT search module. The cataloguing of other GATT documents is in progress and will be added progressively. There are also other GATT documents here which are uncatalogued and not yet quality controlled*
GATT documents
Free resource. Part of the WTO's official website.In 2006 the General Council decided to make public all official documents issued under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Many of these documents did not exist electronically, and have to be scanned to create a digital archive. "This is a work in progress — cataloguing is not completed ..."
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
WTO: World Trade Organization
Extensive official website with lots of material freely available including Legal Texts of agreements and decisions. Some direct links to important sections are below
WTO Documents Online
Open access.
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Recent documents provides access to the latest documents posted.

Commonly-consulted offers a selection of searches which enable the easy retrieval of regularly requested documents.

Documents for meetings displays a list of formal and informal meetings of WTO bodies and their associated documents.

By topic offers the possibility of searching for WTO documents by broad subject category.

The Notifications interface allows for the searching of notification documents by notifying members and WTO legal requirements, using the Central Registry of Notifications database. The Advanced search provides additional search criteria, such as symbol, requirement topic and classification. Full-text search capabilities for searching within the document text itself are also available in the Advanced search.
WTO Dispute Settlement: Find the Dispute
Section of official WTO website "This page is designed to help you find and follow disputes meeting criteria that you specify. Use one or more of the drop-down menus below to specify search criteria, then click “search”. You will be presented with a list of disputes matching your criteria.
You can then create email alerts to notify you when new documents are circulated for these disputes.

You can also save your search. It will then appear in myWTO disputes, where you can view the search results, or edit or delete the search"
WTO Stats portal
The WTO Stats portal contains statistical indicators related to WTO issues. Available time series cover merchandise trade and trade in services statistics (annual, quarterly and monthly), market access indicators (bound, applied & preferential tariffs), non-tariff information as well as other indicators.
Open access
Data retrieval functionalities include data selection, display and export, including available metadata.
WTO Publications
Electronic downloads are usually free.

The Oxford Handbook on the World Trade Organization by Amrita Narlikar; Martin Daunton; Robert M. Stern
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link.
ISBN: 9780199586103
Publication Date: 2012
A lending copy is available in the SSL if preferred HF1385.OXF 2012
The Development of World Trade Organization Law : examining change in international law by Gregory Messenger
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link.
ISBN: 019871646X
Publication Date: 2016
Print copy is at Internat 590 M584.3a if preferred
Supplying Compliance with Trade Rules: Explaining the EU's Responses to Adverse WTO Rulings by Alasdair R. Young
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link.
ISBN: 9780192845610
Publication Date: 2021

Handbook of WTO/GATT Dispute Settlement Online
Remote access requires Oxford SSO.
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"Created by experts with international trade law practitioners in mind, the Handbook of WTO/GATT Dispute Settlement Online offers instant access to a vast legal research database that includes:

Updated summaries of 300+ WTO/GATT panel, Appellate Body, or arbitrator reports.
Nine comprehensive indexes cross-referencing the reports by key word, article, country, subject, panelist, member, and more.
Easy citation lists to track adoption status of reports."

Subject search to try in SOLO

World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization -- Rules and practice

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