World Trade Organisation WTO

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) deals with the rules for trade between nations. It forms the legal framework of the multilateral trading system.

The organisation, whose headquarters are located in Geneva, was founded in 1995 as the result of seven years of negotiations within the so-called Uruguay Round. During these negotiations, the WTO was created as the institutional framework for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which has existed since 1948. Additional agreements on further aspects of trade have been integrated into the WTO.

The organisational structure of the WTO provides a platform for member countries to engage in roundtable discussions of their trade issues and to find common rules. Thisformat supports the WTO in pursuing three main objectives:

Creating and maintaining a system of rules for international trade to improve transparency and predictability
Reducing barriers to trade
Founding a forum to settle trade disputes

The WTO works towards these three objectives in several ways:

WTO members meet in various committees and working groups to discuss specific aspects of WTO regulations. The Agriculture Committee handles topics in agriculture, although some fall under the remit of other committees. These include geographical indications, food safety and animal–plant health measures, and import licences.
In order to draw up trade rules, members participate in rounds of negotiations on the basis of a mandate set by ministers. The results of negotiations are approved at the ministerial conference that takes place every two years.
Member governments that believe another member government has violated an agreement can initiate a dispute settlement procedure and request that a panel be established. The dispute settlement system is comprised of two bodies.

The WTO is particularly important for Switzerland: as a small country, Switzerland has a strong interest in a well-functioning multilateral organisation where every country's vote has equal weight and value, thus creating dependable regulations upon which everyone can rely. In the WTO's multilateral trading system, such negotiated rules of the game carry more weight than pure market power.