Définition
The WTO (World Trade Organization) is an international organization. It enacts the rules governing trade between countries of goods, services, agricultural and industrial goods, and intellectual property. Its aim is to reduce the obstacles to free trade in order to help producers of goods and services, exporters and importers to carry out their activities.
The WTO is above all a framework for negotiation, a place where member governments attempt to resolve the trade disagreements that exist between them. The WTO has a "judicial authority", the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), to which countries that feel they have been wronged can complain. There is a procedure for settling conflicts between Member States. This procedure is principally based on negotiation.
The WTO is not a UN agency. Since 2001, the negotiations conducted by the WTO have been the Doha Round.
The WTO produces an annual report on world trade; the purpose is to provide a better understanding of the trends in world trade, trade policy issues, and the multilateral trade system.