The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was signed in 1947, is a multilateral agreement regulating trade among 153 countries. According to its preamble, the purpose of the GATT is the "substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis."
The GATT functioned de facto as an organization, conducting eight rounds of talks addressing various trade issues and resolving international trade disputes. The Uruguay Round, which was completed on December 15, 1993 after seven years of negotiations, resulted in an agreement among 117 countries (including the U.S.) to reduce trade barriers and to create more comprehensive and enforceable world trade rules. The agreement coming out of this round, the Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, was signed in April 1994. The Uruguay Round agreement was approved and implemented by the U.S. Congress in December 1994, and went into effect on January 1, 1995.
This agreement also created the World Trade Organization (WTO), which came into being on January 1, 1995. The WTO implements the agreement, provides a forum for negotiating additional reductions of trade barriers and for settling policy disputes, and enforces trade rules. The WTO launched the ninth round of multilateral trade negotiations under the "Doha Development Agenda" (DDA or Doha Round) in 2001. The WTO's website provides information about the Doha Round, including links to texts that have been generated by the negotiations and information regarding upcoming meetings.
GATT and WTO materials are available in print in the Goodson Law Library and in Perkins/Bostock Library. The Davis Library at the University of North Carolina has been a depository library for GATT materials, and continues to receive most of the materials published by the WTO. Online, the Trade Law Guide also contains WTO resources.
The text of the original agreement establishing the GATT, with annexes and schedules, is attached to the Final Act of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment. It was not signed as a separate document, but is in force among the contracting parties through the Protocol of Provisional Application and the subsequent Protocols of Accession. These documents are found at 61 Stat. A3 and 55 U.N.T.S. 187. The Protocol of Provisional Application, which was signed by the eight principal states involved in the negotiations (including the U.S.), is published at 61 Stat. A2051 and 55 U.N.T.S. 308.
The Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Agreements consists of the Final Act itself, the Agreement establishing the WTO ("WTO Agreement") and agreements annexed to it, and additional GATT agreements, decisions and declarations. The text can be found in various sources: 1867 U.N.T.S. 3, 33 I.L.M. 9 (1994) (December 1993 text) and 33 I.L.M. 1143 (1994) (April 1994 text), The Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (K4603 1987 .A3 1994), The Legal Texts: The Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (K4603 1987.A4 1999), reprint of The Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Legal Texts (Perkins/Bostock Ref. JZ5185 .R478 1994), and in The Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (online and in the Microforms Room, filed with GATT Documents, at PrEx 9.2:Ur 8/13). The text is also available online on the WTO website. Two of the most important of the annexed agreements are the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), 33 I.L.M. 44 (1994) (December 1993 text) and 1869 UNTS 183, 33 I.L.M. 1167 (1994) (April 1994 text) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), 33 I.L.M. 81 (1994) (December1993 text) and 1869 UNTS 299, 33 I.L.M. 1197 (1994) (April 1994 text).
WTO Status of Legal Instruments (K4610.A15 W86), prepared by the WTO Secretariat. This publication updates the status of the Agreement establishing the WTO and its annexes, along with protocols of accession and other instruments drawn up under the auspices of the WTO.
The GATT Uruguay Round: A Negotiating History (Terence P. Stewart, ed.)(K4603 1987 .G38 1993) contains commentary and documents related to the negotiations process.
Guide to the Uruguay Round Agreements (K4603 1987 .W67 1999), edited by the WTO Secretariat, provides a detailed explanation of the legal significance of the agreements coming out of the Uruguay Round of negotiations.
In addition to the texts of all the agreements, Law and Practice of the World Trade Organization (K4600. L38) contains other primary documents such as ministerial declarations and decisions. Guide to GATT Law and Practice: Analytical Index, 6th ed. (K4602.2 .G84 1995 and on HeinOnline) includes the text of the agreement, the application and interpretation of its provisions, the drafting history and other relevant documents. It is succeeded by the WTO Analytical Index: Guide to WTO Law and Practice (Reference K4602.2 2012).
Other GATT & WTO documents are available in a variety of sources:
Documents Online on the WTO website provide links to WTO legal texts and official documents (including texts of the WTO agreements) as well as to documents issued under the GATT.
Basic Instruments and Selected Documents (BISD) (K4602 .B36 and on HeinOnline). This annual publication is the primary source of GATT documents. It contains the text of GATT agreements and amendments, Protocol of Provisional Application and Annexes and other legal instruments (such as decisions, declarations, resolutions, and other selected documents ). The WTO considers the documents in BISD to have the legal standing of the originals. Unfortunately, it is several years behind.
Basic Documents of International Economic Law (K3820 .A35 B37 1990 and online on Lexis Academic and Westlaw's International Economic Law Documents database) contains many of these same materials. The online versions are more current than the book.
GATT Digital Library: This online library of more than 30,000 GATT documents from 1947 to 1994 is a joint project of the WTO and Stanford University. You must register to access the full texts of the documents, but registration is free. This site also includes bibliographies, research guides and links to other useful websites.
The WTO is working to produce a digital archive with all official documents issued under the GATT; more than half of the documents are available on the WTO website. GATT Documents (called WTO Documents after 1994) (Microforms Room) is a microfiche set containing documents from 1984 to 1996 de-restricted by GATT. The fiche set includes committee reports, press releases, speeches, etc., as well as "Trade Policy Reviews" for member countries. Some documents, including documents from multilateral trade negotiations, have never been de-restricted or released. Documents are arranged by fiche number. These documents can be accessed by subject, product, GATT instrument number, and geographical location through a printed guide, the List and Index of Documents Issued (Microforms Room).
International Legal Materials (Periodicals) is a good source for current GATT documents. Legal materials are published here before they appear in BISD. I.L.M. also publishes selected GATT and WTO panel reports. It is available electronically on HeinOnline, Lexis Advance, and Westlaw.