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143 The Puzzle of Globalization
– General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS),
– Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS),
– Trade-related Investment Measures (TRIMS).
The role of the WTO as a globally present »economic police«had been strengthened compared
to the GATT by the new Dispute Settlement Procedure (DSP). Dispute settlement procedures
may be invoked whenever a Member believes that an action by another Member has ‘nullified or
impaired’ a concession that was negotiated previously or breaks a WTO rule and ‘impairs the at-
tainment’ of an objective of the GATT. The legal interpretation of the WTO rules can be challenged
at the Appellate Body that has the power to decide on compensation or retaliation to punish a
country that does not respect the result of the DSP.
The GATT includes several important exceptions from the aforementioned rules that aim to re-
spect historical ties between industrial countries and their former colonies as well as preferential
agreements between industrial and developing countries. In general, the GATT allows bilateral
and multilateral regional trade agreements (RTAs, Figure 8). The largest and most integrated RTA
is the European Union. The WTO has 157 Members representing more than 97 percent of world
trade; furthermore, 27 observer governments are seeking membership (by August 2012).
Figure 8 | All Regional Trade Agreements Notified to the GATT/WTO
(1949 to 2011 by Year of Entry into Force)
Source: WTO, Annual Report 2012, p 60.