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WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)

Introduction

The emergence of World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, as a result of Uruguay Round of negotiations of GATT, marks a watershed in the history of international trade. GATT, the predecessor of WTO, was established by 23 countries in 1948, which liberalized the trade and created an environment that enabled the evolution of WTO is much wider as compared to GATT. It encompasses areas like textile, agriculture, services and intellectual property etc. that were excluded in the GATT.

The main guiding principles of WTO are: non-discrimination among the members in stipulation of favours regarding market access and tariff reductions provision of national treatment to foreign investors, imported goods and services stability and predictability of international trade patterns to promote confidence of investors and businesses by bounding the tariffs and market access for services; and promotion of economic development by encouraging reforms in the less developed and transition economies.

To ensure that trade is as fair as possible and as free as practical WTO has a large number of agreements that are the result of negotiations among member states. The current sets of agreements are the outcome of 1986-94 Uruguay Round negotiations. Through these agreements WTO members operate a non-discriminatory trading system that spells out their rights and obligations. Important agreements are of goods, agriculture, textile and clothing, subsidies and countervailing measures, antidumping, safeguard measures, TRIMs, customs valuation, dispute settlement, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, GATS and TRIPs.

These agreements resulted in considerable reduction in tariffs in member countries and increased market access for developing and developed countries.

Read more: MGT601 - SME Management - Lecture Handout 39

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QUALITY CONTROL – II

This lecture is dealing with the quality standardization under WTO.

Quality Control Programs in Developing Countries

• Establish Strong National Leadership & Q.C Society.
• Create Govt. & Commercial Compulsion for Reasonable levels of Quality.
• Establish a Media For Exchange.
• Establish an Extensive Program for Training.
• National Standardization Efforts.
• Public Awareness.

International Quality Standards

If each country had its own set of standards, companies in selling in international markets would have difficulty in quality documentation standards in the countries where they did business.

ISO 9000

It is set of standard governing documentation quality program. Proving to a qualified external examiner that they have completed with the entire requirement certifies companies. Once certified, companies are listed in a directory so that potential customers can see which companies have been certified and to what level. Compliance with ISO 9000 standards says nothing about the actual quality of a product. Rather, it indicates to customers that companies can provide documentation to support whatever claims they make about quality.

Five Documents of ISO 9000

ISO 9000 actually consists of five documents;

1. ISO 9000
2. ISO 9001
3. ISO 9002
4. ISO 9003
5. ISO 9004



Read more: MGT601 - SME Management - Lecture Handout 31