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22-650: The WTI was established in 1995 in connection with the Uruguay Round . However, only in 1999 it was set up as an inter-university research institution and training centre of the University of Bern , the University of Fribourg , and the University of Neuchâtel within the framework of world trade law with the support of the World Trade Organisation . Since 2009, the WTI is one of the strategic “Centres of Excellence” within

44-509: A background in law, economics, international relations or political science. The WTI has over 600 alumni who work for a mix of public sector organisations (international organisations, diplomatic services, trade and economics ministries), non-governmental organisations, universities, and the private sector (law firms and industry). The WTI is a sponsor of the John H. Jackson Moot Court , the Model WTO at

66-531: A combined LL.M. and DAS program in International Trade and Investment Law (TRAIL+), an MAS program in international trade regulation (Master of International Law and Economics or MILE), and certificate and diploma programs in international law and economics. The MILE was established in 1999 and is the flagship program of the World Trade Institute. It is designed for students and professionals with

88-421: A common tax, tariff and trade regime, e.g. as defined by a free trade pact . Investment policy favoring local investors over global ones is typically discouraged in such pacts, and the idea of a separate investment policy rapidly becomes a fiction or fantasy, as real decisions reflect the real need for nations to compete for investment, even from their own local investors. A strong and centralized system of

110-585: A phased reduction of tariffs. The agreement also imposes rules and disciplines on agricultural export subsidies, domestic subsidies, and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures through the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures . Groups such as Oxfam have criticized the Uruguay Round for paying insufficient attention to the needs of developing countries . One aspect of this criticism

132-459: Is made between GATT 1994, the updated parts of GATT, and GATT 1947, the original agreement which is still the heart of GATT 1994). The GATT 1994 is not, however, the only legally binding agreement included in the Final Act; a long list of about 60 agreements, annexes, decisions and understandings was adopted. In fact, the agreements fall into a simple structure with six main parts: The agreements for

154-596: Is that figures very close to rich country industries—such as former Cargill executive Dan Amstutz —had a major role in the drafting of Uruguay Round language on agriculture and other matters. As with the WTO in general, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Health Gap and Global Trade Watch also criticize what was negotiated in the Round on intellectual property and industrial tariffs as setting up too many constraints on policy-making and human needs. An article asserts that

176-698: The Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research ), and NCCR RNA and Disease. Together with the European University Institute (EUI) , the WTI organizes the annual World Trade Forum. Its research and impact assessments on the negotiation, structure, enforcement, and effects of international economic agreements feature in public policy debates. Notable faculty include Manfred Elsig , Joseph Francois , Peter Van den Bossche , Thomas Cottier, Michael Hahn . Visiting professors include Felix Addor, Arthur E. Appleton, Thomas Bernauer and Luca Rubini. Some of

198-504: The University of Bern , with a global profile in both research and education. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) played an important role in the transformation of the WTI into a Swiss university centre of excellence through the SNSF funded National Competence Centre for Research (NCCR) on global economic governance. Other NCCR-based centers at the University of Bern include NCCR PlanetS (focused on exoplanet studies), NCCR Climate (now

220-586: The University of St.Gallen , and a member of UNCTAD 's Virtual Institute. Uruguay Round The Uruguay Round was the 8th round of multilateral trade negotiations (MTN) conducted within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), spanning from 1986 to 1993 and embracing 123 countries as "contracting parties". The Round led to the creation of the World Trade Organization , with GATT remaining as an integral part of

242-515: The World Trade Organization , which came into being upon its entry into force on 1 January 1995, to replace the GATT system. It is widely regarded as the most profound institutional reform of the world trading system since the GATT's establishment. The position of Developing Countries (GATT) was detailed in the book: Brazil in the Uruguay Round of the GATT: The Evolution of Brazil’s Position in

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264-649: The Uruguay Round, with Emphasis on the Issue of Services . In this book, the polemics about the issue of services are described, as well as the opposition of Developing Countries to the so called "New Issues". The 20 agreements were signed in Marrakesh —the Marrakesh Agreement —in April 1994. The GATT still exists as the WTO's umbrella treaty for trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations (a distinction

286-456: The WTO agreements. The broad mandate of the Round had been to extend GATT trade rules to areas previously exempted as too difficult to liberalize ( agriculture , textiles ) and increasingly important new areas previously not included (trade in services , intellectual property , investment policy trade distortions). The Round came into effect in 1995 with deadlines ending in 2000 (2004 in the case of developing country contracting parties) under

308-423: The administrative direction of the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO). The Doha Development Round was the next trade round, beginning in 2001 and still unresolved after missing its official deadline of 2005. The main objectives of the Uruguay Round were: They also wanted to draft a code to deal with copyright violation and other forms of intellectual property rights. A set of updated documents

330-502: The developing countries’ lack of experience in WTO negotiations and lack of knowledge of how the developing economies would be affected by what the industrial countries wanted in the WTO new areas; the intensified mercantilist attitude of the GATT/WTO’s major power, the US; the structure of the WTO that made the GATT tradition of decision by consensus ineffective, so that a country would not preserve

352-596: The eighth GATT round (known as the Uruguay Round) was launched in September 1986, in Punta del Este , Uruguay . It was the biggest negotiating mandate on trade ever agreed: the talks were going to extend the trading system into several new areas, notably trade in services and intellectual property, and to reform trade in the sensitive sectors of agriculture and textiles; all the original GATT articles were up for review. The round

374-441: The new global rules, made by many in the anti-globalization movement , is that guarantees are often available to foreign investors that are not available to local small investors, and that capital flight is encouraged by such free trade pacts. Investment policy in many nations is tied to immigration policy, either due to a desire to prevent human capital flight by forcing investors to keep local assets in local investments, or by

396-605: The professors are part of the editorial board of the World Trade Review , an academic peer-reviewed journal in the field of economic law, which was created as an initiative of the WTO. Degrees earned at the WTI are awarded by the University of Bern, and are regulated under Swiss law governing higher education. Degree programs include a PhD program (offered through the Graduate School of Economic Globalisation and Integration),

418-465: The status quo, were the reasons for this imbalance. [REDACTED] World portal Investment policy Within public finance , an investment policy is any government regulation or law that encourages or discourages foreign investment in the local economy , e.g. currency exchange limits . As globalization integrates the economies of neighboring and of trading states, they are typically forced to trade off such rules as part of

440-649: The two largest areas under the WTO, goods and services, share a three-part outline: One of the achievements of the Uruguay round would be the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture , administered by the WTO, which brings agricultural trade more fully under the GATT. Prior to the Uruguay Round, conditions for agricultural trade were deteriorating with increasing use of subsidies, build-up of stocks, declining world prices and escalating costs of support. It provides for converting quantitative restrictions to tariffs and for

462-668: Was produced in Geneva by the office of the Director-General during July 1986 in order to prepare the way for progress to be made. As described below, the round was launched in Punta del Este , Uruguay in September 1986, followed by negotiations in Geneva , Brussels , Washington, D.C. , and Tokyo . The 1986 Ministerial Declaration identified problems including structural deficiencies, spill-over impacts of certain countries' policies on world trade GATT could not manage. To address these issues,

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484-595: Was supposed to end in December 1990, but the US and EU disagreed on how to reform agricultural trade and decided to extend the talks. Finally, in November 1992, the US and EU settled most of their differences in a deal known informally as " the Blair House accord ", and on 15 April 1994, the deal was signed by ministers from most of the 123 participating governments at a meeting in Marrakesh , Morocco . The agreement established

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