Negotiations held between representatives of 23 countries, including former Czecho-Slovak Republic, on mutual tariffs concessions with an aim to avoid crises in international trade, which indirectly led to outbreak of the World War II, commenced in Geneva during the first post-war year. Talks were successful and they concluded by approval of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereinafter called GATT) on October 30, 1947. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1948.

GATT focused especially on following aims:

• create conditions leading to decrease of customs tariffs and non-tariff commercial obstacles,
• watch and secure provision of most-favoured national clauses in relations between contracting parties - countries, which signed the agreement,
• 0evaluate situation in international trade and find out ways leading to removal of commercial barriers,
• solve disputes between contracting parties - countries,
• negotiate problems regarding commercial development in developing countries,
• provide training courses to officials of GATT-contracting parties - countries,
• publish specialised publications
• support free trade, free enterprising and competition,
• make effort in banning discrimination between GATT-member countries,
• create conditions regarding ban of quantitative import measures,
• secure freedom of transit through territories of the third countries.

Uruguayan Round of GATT Talks

Although, an extensive decrease of customs tariffs, excluding agricultural products, had been gradually reached within the framework of GATT activities in post-war period, overall non-tariff measures, such as import quotas and voluntary import amendments in international trade, increased and thwarted GATT activities in an extensive way.

As a consequence of this, the first round of negotiations concerning not only customs tariffs, but also other 15 problems including customs tariffs, non-tariffs measures, products from natural sources, tropic products, textile, agricultural products, services, multilateral commercial agreements and amendments, export subsidies, system of reaching agreement regarding disputes of GATT-contracting parties, began in Uruguayan town of Punta del Este in 1986.

Complexity of discussed problems required seven rounds of talks, which concluded December 15, 1993. Conclusion of agreements from the GATT Uruguayan Round meant a great victory of multilateral attitude towards solving the problems instead of unilateral attitude, what was expressed especially in the largest decrease of customs tariffs in trading in goods, in multilateral commercial relations.

Text of the agreement was finished at ministerial conference in Marrakesh (Morocco) on April 12-15, 1994. The agreement consists of more than 26,000 pages, including annexes. Participating countries signed a Final Act, in which they agreed on founding of the World Trade Organisation (hereinafter called WTO) as of January 1, 1995, among other issues.

Formation and entry into the WTO

As a consequence of WTO founding, contractual relation between individual country and the GATT changes on WTO membership and it is open for all countries and autonomous areas and territories. It can be acquired via:

• approval of member country memorandum on its commercial practices,
• negotiation on trade conditions,
• approval of membership by two thirds of GATT/WTO-existing members.

Currently, the WTO includes 131 countries and other countries wait for possibility of WTO-entry, because they do not fulfil all conditions. Among them are such important world economies as People's Republic of China, Russia, China-Taipei, Saudi Arabia.

WTO Authorities

Top authority responsible for approval of WTO decisions is a Ministerial Conference, which meets once in two years. The first and so far final session of the Ministerial Conference took place in 1996 in Singapore. It accepted among other issues very important document for Slovakia - Ministerial Declaration on Trade with Products of Information Technologies.

In the period between sessions of Ministerial Conference, General Council fulfils its obligations. WTO Secretary Office is a managing authority.

WTO organisation is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and headed by its Director General. Renato Ruggiero entered this post on May 1, 1995. (Director General is elected for a four-year period).

Director General has four deputies; WTO Secretary Office employs 450 people. WTO budget, including Secretary Office, is worth of about US$93 million; it includes contributions from WTO-member countries calculated on the basis of share of individual member country from overall trade exchange of all WTO-member countries together. Furthermore, International Trade Centre (ITC) established in 1964 in cooperation with UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) - focusing its activities especially on provision of help for developing countries in the field of export - is financed from the budget.

In addition to these activities, the WTO operates as a forum for regular re-evaluation of trade policy of WTO-member countries in order to avoid possible disputes between the countries.

• "Top four" - which are currently the USA, Japan, European Union and Canada - are re-assessed once in two years,
• other 16 the most-advanced WTO-member countries are re-assessed once in four years,
• other countries are re-assessed once in six years.

Developing countries' interval or re-assessment is even longer.

Commercial system of the Slovak Republic along with other countries was examined in 1995. Being dependent on international trade exchange, Slovakia has unambiguously profit from its membership in WTO especially in the field of open approach onto world markets. One more serious consequence of Slovakia's membership in WTO is facilitation of entry of foreign investments into our economy.

Slovakia in Relation to WTO Agreements

Implementation of the Agreement on Clothing and Textile requires an extraordinary attention. It includes an exception from its fulfilment during a 10-year transitory period regarding products non-integrated to GATT. In the course of this 10-year period, importing country is allowed to restrict import if it proves that import of textile or clothing products entered the country's market in a quantity seriously threatening domestic industry or there is such a risk. Slovakia utilised this possibility and included certain products to the GATT list in import volume of 19 per cent in 1990 and thus it has a right to use special protective measures. Remaining time to conclusion of the protective limit of our market is necessary to be utilised for restructuring of the aforementioned sector. So far, we are not very successful in this effort; although this sector (clothing and textile) created important part of export in the past.

Applying of the Agreement on Anti-Dumping Measures allows considerable possibilities for market protection. These must be exhausted in a five-year period since the date of their issuing and must be immediately finished if dumping does not exceed the limit of 2 per cent of the product's export price or 3 per cent of import of the country. Slovakia is experienced with fulfilment of the Agreement on Anti-Dumping Measures regarding dispute of Ironworks Podbrezova versus German partner in trade with seamless pipes, which ended with a compromise. Its economic impacts are still not known.

There is a different situation in connection with fulfilment of the Agreement on Agriculture.

On basis of the Agreement on Agriculture, the WTO contracting parties agreed to gradually decrease domestic support of production, export subsidies, tariff and non-tariff protection of agriculture (via decrease of tariffs, increase of its liability, opening market for tariff products) as of January 1, 1995, within a six-year implementation period.

The Agreement on Agriculture includes a regulation concerning a 9-year cessation of hostilities in order to avoid possible disputes in approximation of agriculture of member countries to GATT rules 1994.

Hungary lodged complaint on Slovakia regarding imposition of import duty on wheat, which was as a retaliatory measure from Slovakia released on October 13, 1998, in keeping with CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Agreement) rules.

WTO and Enterpreneurial Sphere

People from commercial environment are often sceptical regarding usefulness of strengthening of multilateral rules and institutional background by WTO founding. They argue that they are governments not them who are taking part in negotiations, as well as that sessions of WTO and its authorities are closed, therefore they are informed on their results only from newspapers. However, it is necessary to say that no government operates in an isolated way in relation to entrepreneurial and trade environment. Rather the opposite situation is in advanced economies where is a wide range of institutions entering into the governments' proceedings and discussing issues which are subjects of activities of WTO-member countries; including especially chambers of commerce and industry and other similar organisations offering documents and information for government's talks at various forums including formulations of possible complaints concerning international trade relations. Operation of these organisations is necessary to be improved.

Information regarding WTO activities belong to the most important issues, because WTO agreements are basis of commercial and economic legislation of the country. Due to insufficient knowledge of our entrepreneurs on WTO activities' rules, there is an opinion that this institution is kind of a bogy in terms of international trade; the WTO positives are not appreciated.

Slovak Trade FORUM