After the economic crisis in the 1930s, countries tried to overcome this crisis by closing in on themselves. As a result, they moved away from cooperation in world trade. After the Second World War, the idea of the necessity of international economic cooperation in order to ensure peace in the world started to emerge. In this context, new institutions have been established in order to assist the development efforts of countries, to meet the needs such as international monetary and financial confidence, and to liberalize and increase international trade. Institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank have emerged as a result of these efforts. With the aim of liberalizing international trade, it was aimed to establish an international organization called the International Trade Organization.(ITO) While the establishment of this organization continues, the General Agreement on Customs Tariffs and Trade(GATT) has been signed in order to make tariff reductions on certain goods and to put these discounts into effect until the approval of the ITO by the countries.
With the GATT came into effect in January 1948, the international trade system was established for the first time. Since the establishment of GATT, significant increases have been recorded in world trade due to the removal of barriers distorting competition and restricting trade. This agreement was implemented between 1948-1994 and formed a generally accepted framework in world trade. Since the creation of GATT, four conferences and four multilateral trade negotiations have been held. These are as follows respectively:
During the negotiations held in 1951 in England - Troquay, along with many other countries, joining of Turkey to GATT also negotiated. Turkey became a party to the agreement in 1953. As of December 1993, when the Uruguay Tour was concluded, there are 114 countries that became a party to GATT.
The World Trade Organization was established in 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Tour, the last multilateral trade negotiation tour conducted by GATT.
The objectives of GATT are divided into general and specific in the General Agreement. General purposes are as follows;
Special purposes are as follows;
As a result, the purpose of GATT is to create economic cooperation and promote liberalism in foreign trade.
GATT member countries form the basis of management. The organization has three main organs. These are the General Assembly, the Council of Representatives and the Advisory Group established in 1975. In addition to these bodies, Committees such as Trade Development Committee, Balance of Payments Restrictions Committee, Participating Countries Committee, Textile Committee, Tariff Privileges Committee, Protection Committee, Budget and Finance Management Committee were also established with the task of monitoring and supervising various issues.
The highest authorized body of the organization is the General Assembly. This assembly meets every year in time periods covering the months of September, October and November. Each member has one voting right in the General Assembly. Decisions are made by simple majority.
It is a council that is responsible for implementing the daily work under the name of General Assembly. This council, which meets a maximum of 9 times a year, carries out business on behalf of the countries that are party to the convention and acts as an independent body.
The task of this group is to advise the General Assembly on international trade.
The Trade and Development Committee is the committee that was established on 26 November 1964 and is charged with supervising within the scope of Section 4 sanctions established under the General Agreement.
The Balance of Payments Restrictions Committee is in charge of closely monitoring the status of members who have reduced their imports due to balance of payments deficits.
As a result of the increasing number of countries declaring their sovereignty, it has also had an effect on the number of member states and in this context, there has been an increase in the number of member states. In order for a country to become a member of GATT, two-thirds of the existing members must receive the majority of votes.
The basic principle of GATT is equality in commercial transactions between countries. It has four basic principles.
Foreign trade between member countries should be done in a non-discriminatory manner. Accordingly, all signatory countries are obliged to grant all countries the privileges they have granted to any country in import-export taxes and duties. Within the framework of this principle, GATT member countries will not be able to apply their customs tariffs against each other in a discriminatory manner. This principle is based on the most favoured nation treatment principle. With this principle, when a country that is a member of GATT provides customs convenience to exporting countries to another rival country, other exporting countries will automatically benefit from the same discounts. In this way, exporters will face equal customs tax burden in international markets.
Many exceptions were foreseen during the creation of GATT. Agreements to create regional economic s, such as customs s and free trade zones, are not included in the implementation of this basic principle. If a group of countries decided to pursue such economic unification among themselves and fulfill the conditions set forth in the Agreement, the removal of customs reductions and quantitative restrictions will only apply to countries participating in the merger. This situation is contrary to the principle of the most favored nation treatment.
This principle includes lowering tariffs, releasing quantitative restrictions and refusing dumping.
The national industries of the GATT party countries will be protected only by tariffs. Other measures will not be used for this purpose. Thus, the use of import quotas for the protection of domestic industry is prohibited. It is also stated under which conditions and by whom the quantity restrictions can be used exceptionally. According to the General Agreement, it is possible for countries with temporary balance of payments problems to restrict their imports for a while. The parties signing the GATT can impose an anti-dumping tax on all goods subject to dumping. It has been stipulated that the amount of the anti-dumping tax will not be higher than the dumping margin affecting the property in question.
GATT acts as a mediator for disputes that may arise between members. Any country whose international trade interest is damaged can apply to the organization to ensure that the GATT rules are followed before taking any action. This principle aims to prevent the disputes from having a negative impact on world trade.
This principle was mentioned in the beginning part of the GATT General Agreement. Accordingly, member countries may ask the beneficiary country to implement similar implementations in case a country reduces tariffs applied to the exports of another country, removes or reduces other trade barriers. GATT member countries will be able to make tariff reductions in order to liberalize trade among themselves.
Many meetings were held within GATT. In the meetings held within the framework of GATT in order to liberalize world trade, extensive negotiations were carried out and significant tariff reductions were realized. The most important meeting is the Uruguay Trade Negotiation. This negotiation was very comprehensive and ambitious in its aims, it lasted for 4 years, mainly due to the existence of disputes in the field of agriculture. It was decided that decreasing the financial support given to exports in agricultural products by 36% and the amount of exports made with financial support by 21%, that removing of quotas in the field of textile and clothing, that reducing customs duties, that reducing of customs duties on other industrial products significantly and protecting intellectual property rights. At the end of these negotiations, GATT turned into the World Trade Organization (WTO).