The Birth of Global Market

THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION


Introduction




“The Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations”, signed by ministers in Marrakesh on 15 April 1994 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 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 recorded in national schedules that 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 recorded in national schedules.