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The Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations is 550 pages long and contains legal texts which spell out the results of the negotiations since the Round was launched in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in September 1986. In addition to the texts of the agreements, the Final Act also contains texts of Ministerial Decisions and Declarations which further clarify certain provisions of some of the agreements.
The following summarizes all the components of the Final Act. These summaries are intended to provide an informal guide to the agreements and have no legal status.
The Final Act covers all the negotiating areas cited in the Punta del Este Declaration with two important exceptions. The first is the results of the "market access negotiations" in which individual countries have made binding commitments to reduce or eliminate specific tariffs and non-tariff barriers to merchandise trade. These concessions are to be recorded in national schedules which will form an integral part of the Final Act. The second is the "initial commitments" on liberalization of trade in services. These commitments on liberalization are also to be recorded in national schedules.
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization The agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) envisages a single institutional framework encompassing the GATT, as modified by the Uruguay Round, all agreements and arrangements concluded under its auspices and the complete results of the Uruguay Round. Its structure will be headed by a Ministerial Conference meeting at least once every two years. A General Council will be established to oversee the operation of the agreement and ministerial decisions on a regular basis. This General Council will itself act as a Dispute Settlement Body and a Trade Policy Review Mechanism, which will concern themselves with the full range of trade issues covered by the WTO, and will also establish subsidiary bodies such as a Goods Council, a Services Council and a TRIPs Council. The WTO framework will ensure a "single undertaking approach" to the results of the Uruguay Round -- thus, membership in the WTO will entail accepting all the results of the Round without exception.
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE 1994
Texts on the interpretation of the following GATT Articles are included in the...