International Trade Law : Research Guide

Provides an explanation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a binding contract between 103 governments which together account for around 90 per cent of world merchandise trade, and how it works.

This annual volume published by the GATT contains information relating to the regular activities of the GATT and the work of GATT members. It is designed to provide interested parties with a review of the GATT activities from the preceding year. Following an introduction that provides an overview of the year, the volumes contain descriptions of activities, information relating to new agreements and actions taken by contracting members. The library collection contains this annual from 1969/1970 to 1994/1995. Following the 1994/1995 edition, this series merged with other international trade publications to form the WTO Annual Report (see description below in WTO resource section).

This series contains detailed reports relating the countries in GATT and how their internal trade policies interact with GATT policies. The Trade Policy Review Mechanism was created during the Uruguay Round in April 1989. Its purpose was to improve adherence of the contracting parties to GATT rules. The reports aim to increase the transparency of the trade practices of the contracting parties and to examine the impact such policies have on the multilateral trading system. The review volumes contain two reports, one created by the individual country and one by the GATT Secretariat. Reviews are conducted according to a set scheduled determined by the level of international trade engaged in by a particular country.