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...

Over the past 20 years, global trade in goods has nearly quadrupled, reaching US$ 19 trillion in 2013 compared with US$ 5 trillion in 1996. This represents an annual growth rate of 7.6 per cent on average. Over the same period, there has been a 15 per cent reduction in average tariffs applied by...

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...

Over the past 20 years, trade in services has become the most dynamic segment of world trade, growing more quickly than trade in goods. Developing countries and transition economies have played an increasingly important role in this area, increasing their share in exports of world services from...

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 the past 20 years, nearly 500 disputes have been brought to the WTO. About half of these were resolved during bilateral discussions while the other half proceeded to a panel process, which in recent years generally takes about 14 months. Appeals are considered by the WTO’s Appellate Body...

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...

Since the WTO was established in 1995, 33 economies have joined the organization. This has resulted in over 20,000 pages of legal documents defining their specific terms of membership. These accessions have brought the WTO’s total membership to 161 economies, comprising more than 7 billion...