International Environment law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Environment law - Essay Example In order to fully understand the WTO’s legal framework and its policies and practices with respect to environmental protection it is first necessary to briefly examine a history and development of the WTO. By understanding the history and development of the WTO it will be easier to predict the possible outcomes for Agricola in the dispute filed by Machina. The WTO grew out of The International Trade Organization (ًITO) which was an attempt to create and cultivate a structured multilateral trade agreements regime in the aftermath of the Second World War.1 Under the auspices of the ITO the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was implemented in 1947. Its primary purpose was to serve as an interim multilateral trade agreement until such time as the WTO could be implemented and ratified.2 GATT was entirely reliant upon the relative strengths of the participating member states and their respective ability to negotiate multilateral trade agreements.3 The result was a co mmercial and political culture characterized by inequality of bargaining position since developing and least developed nations were unable to participate on the same level as developed countries under the GATT regime.4 Following a series of negotiations between world leaders referred to as the Uruguay Rounds, GATT was replaced by the WTO and signed in 1995.5 The new WTO made a concrete effort to commit member states to a series of new obligations designed to facilitate free and unrestricted trade between member states emphasising the need and desire to accommodate less developed countries.6 By virtue of the WTO’s treaties and agreements member states are required to extend indiscriminate treatment of all member states with respect to cross border trade agreements.7 In other words the WTO has as its primary aim the free movement of goods and services from one member state to another.8 Focused primarily on