Advisory Centre on World Trade Organization Law

Last updated

The Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) is an international organisation established in 2001 to provide legal advice on WTO law, support in WTO dispute settlement proceedings and training in WTO law to least developed countries, developing countries and customs territories, and countries with economies in transition.

Contents

The Centre, which is based in Geneva, has 37 Members: 11 developed country Members (Australia joined in 2011), and 27 Members entitled to the services of the ACWL (i.e. developing countries or developing customs territories or economies in transition as listed in Annex II to the Agreement Establishing the Centre). Least developed countries are entitled to the services of the ACWL without having to become Members thereof.

Agreement Establishing the Advisory Centre on WTO Law
Signed30 November 1999
LocationSeattle
Effective15 July 2001
Condition20 ratifications, including sufficient states that the annual contributions and the once off contributions exceed 6 million Euro
Signatories29
Parties42 [1]
DepositaryGovernment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
LanguagesEnglish, French and Spanish

The centre was established by the Agreement Establishing the Advisory Centre on WTO Law, which was concluded in 1999.

Institutional structure

The General Assembly, the Management Board and the Executive Director.

The General Assembly is made up of the ACWL Members and monitors the financial administration of the Centre, adopts its annual budget, and oversees its functioning.

The Management Board is composed of six people who act in their personal capacities: three are nominated by the developing and economy in transition Members, two by developed country ACWL Members, and one by the least developed countries. The Board takes the decisions for the efficient and effective operation of the Centre and reports to the General Assembly.

The Executive Director represents the Centre externally, appoints staff and manages the day-to-day operations of the ACWL. He/she is also ex officio a member of the Management Board.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Trade Organization</span> Intergovernmental trade organization

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade in cooperation with the United Nations System. The WTO is the world's largest international economic organization, with 164 member states representing over 98% of global trade and global GDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations System</span> Organisations comprising the UN

The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal bodies, the Specialized Agencies and related organizations. The UN System includes subsidiary bodies such as the separately administered funds and programmes, research and training institutes, and other subsidiary entities. Some of these organizations predate the founding of the United Nations in 1945 and were inherited after the dissolution of the League of Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Chamber of Commerce</span> Business organization

The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its over 45 million members in over 100 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welsh Government</span> Devolved government of Wales

The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and deputy ministers. It is led by the first minister, usually the leader of the largest party in the Senedd, who selects ministers and deputy ministers with the approval of the Senedd. The government is responsible for tabling policy in devolved areas for consideration by the Senedd and implementing policy that has been approved by it.

In international economic relations and international politics, most favoured nation (MFN) is a status or level of treatment accorded by one state to another in international trade. The term means the country which is the recipient of this treatment must nominally receive equal trade advantages as the "most favoured nation" by the country granting such treatment. In effect, a country that has been accorded MFN status may not be treated less advantageously than any other country with MFN status by the promising country.

The Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) is a preferential trade agreement between Australia and the United States modelled on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The AUSFTA was signed on 18 May 2004 and came into effect on 1 January 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Institute for Training and Research</span> Teaching institute of the United Nations

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is a dedicated training arm of the United Nations system. UNITAR provides training and capacity development activities to assist mainly developing countries with special attention to Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and other groups and communities who are most vulnerable, including those in conflict situations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian Economic Community</span> Regional economic organisation

The Eurasian Economic Community was a regional organisation between 2000 and 2014 which aimed for the economic integration of its member states. The organisation originated from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on 29 March 1996, with the treaty on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community signed on 10 October 2000 in Kazakhstan's capital Astana by Presidents Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan. Uzbekistan joined the community on 7 October 2005, but later withdrew on 16 October 2008.

A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur when two countries agree to loosen trade restrictions between the two of them, generally to expand business opportunities. Multilateral trade agreements are agreements among three or more countries, and are the most difficult to negotiate and agree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Market access</span> Ability to sell goods and services across borders

In international trade, market access refers to a company's ability to enter a foreign market by selling its goods and services in another country. Market access is not the same as free trade, because market access is normally subject to conditions or requirements, whereas under ideal free trade conditions goods and services can circulate across borders without any barriers to trade. Expanding market access is therefore often a more achievable goal of trade negotiations than achieving free trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999</span> Meeting of the World Trade Organization

The WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 was the third Ministerial-level meeting of the World Trade Organization, convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington, USA, over the course of four days, from Tuesday, 30 November 1999 to Friday, 3 December 1999. Anti-globalization activists organized large-scale protests of the meeting, sometimes known as the Battle of Seattle. Direct action tactics forced the WTO Ministerial Conference to begin late on 30 November and contributed to the meeting ending without agreement on 3 December.

The original member states of theWorld Trade Organization are the parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) after ratifying the Uruguay Round Agreements, and the European Communities. They obtained this status at the entry into force on 1 January 1995 or upon their date of ratification. All other members have joined the organization as a result of negotiation, and membership consists of a balance of rights and obligations. The process of becoming a World Trade Organization (WTO) member is unique to each applicant country, and the terms of accession are dependent upon the country's stage of economic development and the current trade regime.

This is a timeline of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Dispute settlement or dispute settlement system (DSS) is regarded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the central pillar of the multilateral trading system, and as the organization's "unique contribution to the stability of the global economy". A dispute arises when one member country adopts a trade policy measure or takes some action that one or more fellow members consider to be a breach of WTO agreements or to be a failure to live up to obligations. By joining the WTO, member countries have agreed that if they believe fellow members are in violation of trade rules, they will use the multilateral system of settling disputes instead of taking action unilaterally — this entails abiding by agreed procedures—Dispute Settlement Understanding—and respecting judgments, primarily of the Dispute Settlement Board (DSB), the WTO organ responsible for adjudication of disputes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rules of origin</span> Rules to attribute a country of origin to a product

Rules of origin are the rules to attribute a country of origin to a product in order to determine its "economic nationality". The need to establish rules of origin stems from the fact that the implementation of trade policy measures, such as tariffs, quotas, trade remedies, in various cases, depends on the country of origin of the product at hand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Union Customs Union</span> EUs common customs area

The European Union Customs Union (EUCU), formally known as the Community Customs Union, is a customs union which consists of all the member states of the European Union (EU), Monaco, and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Some detached territories of EU states do not participate in the customs union, usually as a result of their geographic separation. In addition to the EUCU, the EU is in customs unions with Andorra, San Marino and Turkey, through separate bilateral agreements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Cape Verde</span>

The economy of Cape Verde is a service-oriented economy that is focused on commerce, trade, transport and public services. Cape Verde is a small archipelagic nation that lacks resources and has experienced severe droughts. Agriculture is made difficult by lack of rain and is restricted to only four islands for most of the year. Cape Verde's economy has been steadily growing since the late 1990s, and it is now officially considered a country of average development, being only the second African country to have achieved such transition, after Botswana in 1994. Cape Verde has significant cooperation with Portugal at every level of the economy, which has led it to link its currency first to the Portuguese escudo and, in 1999, to the euro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arancha González Laya</span> Spanish politician and foreign minister

María Aránzazu "Arancha" González Laya is a Spanish lawyer who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation in the Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez from 2020 to 2021. Currently, González is the dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at the elite French university Sciences Po.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Tembo</span> Zambian economist (born 1961)

Dorothy (Ng’ambi) Tembo is a Zambian economist and trade and development expert. She is the deputy executive director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Executive Order 13936</span> Executive order to normalize United States–Hong Kong relations

Executive Order 13936, entitled "The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization", is an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 14, 2020. On the same day Trump had signed into law Hong Kong Autonomy Act, one of the laws from which the order derives authority. The act and the executive order are the U.S. response to the imposition of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China on June 30, 2020, which was described as "an unusual and extraordinary threat [...] to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States" in the preamble.

References

  1. "Agreement Establishing the Advisory Centre on WTO Law, treaty data". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands) . Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.