This series of meetings and tariff reductions would continue and new GATT provisions would be added. The average tariff rate rose from about 22% when the GATT was signed in Geneva in 1947 to about 5% at the end of the Uruguay Round concluded in 1993, which also negotiated the creation of the WTO. namely quantitative barriers to trade such as trade controls and quotas. The agreement also provided for a system for settling trade disputes between nations, and the framework allowed for a series of multilateral negotiations on the elimination of tariff barriers. Gatt was considered a significant success in the post-war years. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), signed by 23 countries on October 30, 1947, was a legal agreement that minimized barriers to international trade by eliminating or reducing quotas, tariffs and subsidies while maintaining significant regulation. One of the most important achievements of GATT has been trade without discrimination. Each GATT signatory member should be treated like any other. This is called the most-favoured-nation principle and it has been adopted in the WTO. In practice, it follows that once a country has negotiated a tariff reduction with other countries (usually its main trading partners), the same reduction automatically applies to all GATT signatories.
There were fallback clauses that allowed countries to negotiate exemptions if their domestic producers were particularly harmed by tariff reductions. 1, 1948. Since that beginning, it has been refined, which eventually led to the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 1 January 1995, which absorbed and expanded it. At that time, 125 countries were signatories to their agreements, which covered about 90% of world trade. Gatt has introduced the most-favoured-nation principle into customs agreements between members. Most countries have adopted the most-favoured-nation principle in setting tariffs, which have largely replaced quotas. Tariffs (which are preferable to quotas but still a barrier to trade) have again been steadily reduced in successive rounds of negotiations. The Goods Council is responsible for GATT and is composed of representatives of all WTO member countries. Since October 2020, Swedish Ambassador Mikael Anzén has been President of the Council.
The Council has 10 committees dealing with issues such as market access, agriculture, subsidies and anti-dumping measures. ”The GATT`s Starting Point: Tariff Levels Circa 1947”, pages 13, 28. Accessed October 1, 2020. In 1964, GATT began work on reducing predatory pricing policy. These directives are called dumping. Over the years, countries have continued to address global problems, including by managing agricultural disputes and working to protect intellectual property. Gatt held eight rounds of meetings between April 1947 and December 1993. Each of the conferences has had significant successes and results. .