General Agreement on Tarriffs & Trade and World Trade Organization
The GATT is one third of the Bretton Woods system that was created after World War II to ensure a stable trade and economic world environment. (The IMF and the World Bank are the other two bodies created by the Bretton Woods system.) The GATT has completed 8 rounds of multilateral trade negotiations (including the Uruguay Round). The GATT is a multilateral agreement, and the text can be located at 55 U.N.T.S. 194, T.I.A.S. 1700. The Final Act from the Uruguay Round was concluded on December 15, 1993 and produced the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement and its annexes. GATT 1947 and GATT 1994 are two distinct agreements. GATT 1994 incorporates the GATT 1947 provisions (except for the Protocol on Provisional Application).
Sources for the text of GATT and WTO Agreements
WTO website
Trade and Related Agreements Database (TARA)
The Trade Compliance Center of the International Trade Administration. Contains text of, and information about, agreements between the United States and its trading partners.
The GATT Digital Library has the treaties and many other GATT-related documents
Implementing Legislation
Uruguay Round Agreements Act , Pub. L. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809 (1994), 19 USC § 3501. For complete classification of this Act to the U.S. Code, see "Short Title" note in the Code [KF 62 1994 .A2 1994].
Sources for Commentary and Background Information on the GATT and the WTO
The Oxford Handbook on the World Trade Organization (Amrita Narlikar, Martin Daunton and Robert M. Stern eds., 2012) TC Wilson Library HF1385 .N368 2012
Andrew T. Guzman & Joost H.B. Pauwelyn, International Trade Law (2009) Law Library K3943 .G896 2009
American Law Institute, Legal and Economic Principles of World Trade Law: The Genesis of the GATT, the Economics of Trade Agreements, Border Instruments, and National Treatment: Report to ALI (2012) General Collection and Reserve K4610. A945x 2012
s = general agreement on tariffs and trade s = uruguay round s = doha round |
s = tariff--law and legislation s = foreign trade regulation s = world trade organization |
k = GATT k = uruguay round k = general agreement and tariffs and trade |