Uruguay Round
URUGUAY ROUND
1. Agreement on trade in services :
In the Uruguay Round , for the first time, trade in services like banking, insurance, travel, labour movement, transportation etc. was brought under negotiations. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is te first multilateral agreement on trade in services and it has as its objective, the liberalization of trade in all services. All member nations are bound to open their services sector to domestic private and foreign competition.
2. Agreement to Manufactured goods:
The developed countries agreed t reduce tariffs on manufactured goods other than textiles , by 40% . The tariffs would now be brought down to an average of 3.8% form the earlier 6.3%.
3. Agreement on agriculture:
The objective of this agreement is to increase market orientation in agriculture in the member nations. The members are required to transform their non-tariff barriers like quotas into equivalent tariff measures. The tariffs resulting from such transformation and other tariffs on agricultural products are to be reduced on an average by 36% over a period of 6 years in case of developed countries , and 24 % over a period of 10 years in case of developing countries. No such commitments were necessary in case of least developed countries.
4. Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (Multi-Fibre Arrangement):
The Multi- Fibre Arrangement (MBA) is in force since n the 1973 Uruguay Round it was agreed that the import quotas on textiles and clothing in force under the MFA, would be phased out over a span of 10 years, by the end of transition period on January 1,2005.
5. Agreement on TRIPs (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) :
Intellectual Property Right (IPRs) seek to protect the interest of inventors and developers of products and processes from being copied by others. IPRs were the first given importance in the Paris Contention of Industrial Property (1883). References of IPRs were present in GATT. However , the Uruguay Round strengthened IPRs through the TRIPs agreement.
The main features of the TRIPs agreement are:
• Minimum standard of protection to be provided by each member.
• Domestic procedures must be put in place for enforcement of IPRs by each member nation.
• Dispute settlement between WTO members.
TRIPs agreements cover the following areas : copyright and related rights, trade marks including services marks , industrial designs, geographical indications, patents, layout designs of integrated circuits and protection of undisclosed information or trade secrets. A transition period of five years is available to all developing nations to give effect to the provisions of the TRIPs agreements.
6. Agreement on TRIMs (Trade Related Investment Measures) ;
This includes introduction of measures to be adopted by member countries to treat foreign investments on par with domestic investments and also removal of quantitative restrictions on imports. Some investment measures that discriminate against foreign investment were identified as being inconsistent with GATT. These are :
• Obligation on foreign investors to use local inputs.
• To produce for exports as a condition to obtain imported inputs