How the WTO differs from GATT?
The World Trade Organisation is not a simple extension of the old General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It completely replaces its predecessor and has a very different character. Among the key differences are the following: • The GATT was a set of rules, a multilateral agreement with no institutional foundation, only a small associated secretariat. The WTO is a permanent institution with its own secretariat. • The GATT was applied on a provisional basis. The WTO commitments are full and permanent, unless a country resigns from it. • The GATT rules applied to trade in goods. In addition to goods, the WTO covers trade in services and trade-related aspects of intellectual property, and briefly, negative investment measures. • While GATT was a multilateral instrument, by the 1980s many new agreements had been added of a plurilateral nature, and therefore of selective nature. The agreements which constitute the WTO are almost all multilateral and, thus, involve commitments for the
