Government procurement accounts for an average of 15 per cent or more of a country’s GDP. The WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement covers government purchasing of goods, services and construction work valued at US$ 1.7 trillion annually. This brochure, produced to mark the WTO’s 20th...

WTO members have notified over 25,000 draft regulatory measures to the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee over the past 20 years, covering imports ranging from food to medical devices. Over 470 of these measures have undergone detailed scrutiny by WTO members in the TBT Committee. But...

The establishment of the WTO’s TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Agreement in 1995 changed the face of international intellectual property (IP) law and policy-making. TRIPS negotiators recognized that shortcomings and inconsistencies in IP protection can distort...

The creation of the WTO in 1995 marked a crucial step in the history of multilateral trade, helping to open up fresh avenues of dialogue on how trade interacts with the environment and how to ensure that trade and environmental policies work hand in hand. This brochure, produced to mark the...

Agricultural products worth over US$ 1,765 billion were traded in 2013. WTO rules help to ensure that these products are traded safely and that health protection measures are not used as an excuse for protecting domestic producers. This brochure, produced to mark the WTO’s 20th anniversary,...

Over 14,700 participants from developing countries benefited from WTO training courses and distance learning programmes in 2014. This training has been instrumental in helping government officials gain a greater understanding of the multilateral trading system and in helping developing countries...

The Trade Facilitation Agreement is the first multilateral trade agreement to be concluded since the WTO was established 20 years ago. Once it enters into force, the Agreement is expected to reduce total trade costs by more than 14 per cent for low-income countries and more than 13 per cent for...