What was the Uruguay Round?

In September 1986, a ministerial meeting of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and a new round of negotiations aimed at comprehensive reform of the multilateral trading system was decided, hence the name "Uruguay Round" negotiations. This is the largest trade negotiation to date, which lasted 7 and a half years and ended in Marrakech, Morocco in April 1994. Negotiations cover almost all trades, from toothbrushes to yachts, from banks to telecommunications, from wild rice genes to AIDS treatment. The number of participants increased from the initial 103 to 123 at the end of the negotiations ^[1] .

Uruguay Round

Launched in 1986

Uruguay Round is

Uruguay Round Cargo

The Uruguay Round negotiations on goods can be divided into two parts. One is negotiations on tariff concessions; the other is negotiations on rules.

1) In terms of tariff concessions, the developed countries 'tariff concessions on goods reached 40%, that is, the weighted average tax rate was reduced from 6.3% to 3.8%; the developed countries' commitments on tariff concessions accounted for 93% of their total tax items, accounting for 84% of the total amount, of which the proportion of tariff duties promised to be reduced to zero has increased from 21% to 32% before the Uruguay Round, and the amount involved has increased from 20% to 44%; the proportion of peak tax rates above 15% has increased from 23% The decrease was 12%, and the amount involved was 5%, mainly for textiles and shoes. From the perspective of the level of tariff restrictions, the developed countries promised that the tariff bound by the tariff bounds increased from 78% to 99%, and the amount involved increased from 94% to 99%.

The tariff concession level of developing members is lower than that of developed members, and the weighted average tax rate is reduced from 15.3% to 12.3%. Analyzed from the scope of bound tariffs, the proportion of tax bound items of developing members rose from 21% to 71%, and the amount involved increased from 13% to 61%. After the Uruguay Round, most of the developing members have fully bound tariffs, such as Chile, Mexico, Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Thailand. The proportion of bound tariffs is about 90%.

The implementation period of the customs tariff is completed within 5 years from January 1, 1995.

Both developed and developing members have comprehensively restrained the tariffs on agricultural products and promised to further reduce them. The reduction of agricultural products began on January 1, 1995. The implementation period of developed members is 6 years, and the implementation period of developing members is 10 Years, but some developing members have also promised a six-year implementation period.

For developed members, from the perspective of concessions, the overall tariff reduction of developed members is about 37%, and the average concession of developing members is about 24%.

2) In terms of formulating rules, the agreements reached in the Uruguay Round are mainly divided into four groups. The first group includes the 1994 Customs and General Agreement (GATT 1994), which is a modified version of the original Customs and General Agreement (GATT 1947), and the 1994 Customs and General Agreement Agreement Marrakesh Protocol. The second group consists of two main agreements, the main purpose of which is to include agricultural products and textiles and clothing under normal rules. The third group includes 7 items including "technical", "customs valuation", "pre-shipment quarantine", "rules of origin", "import licensing procedures", "implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures agreement" and "measures related to" Agreement, the fourth group includes three remedial measures agreements: "Safeguard Measures", "Anti-dumping Agreement", and "Subsidies and Countervailing Subsidies".

Uruguay Round Services

In the past, tariffs and general agreements only involved the field of goods, and services did not fall under the jurisdiction of the multilateral system of customs and general agreements. Therefore, many countries have adopted a number of protection measures in the service area, which has obviously restricted the development of international services. In order to promote the liberalization of services, in the Uruguay Round negotiations, developed countries put the issue of service market access as the focus of the negotiations. After 8 years of bargaining, they finally signed the General Agreement on Services (GATS). The World Organization was officially established on January 1, 1995.

GATS divides the service industry into 12 sectors and 160 sub-sectors. Among the 12 departments, there are professional services involving lawyers, accounting, auditing, computer hardware installation and software services; services related to postal, telecommunications, telex and postal services; construction and engineering services; commercial distribution including wholesale Services; education services at different levels; environmental protection services; financial services including insurance and banking; and medical, tourism, entertainment, cultural and sports services, services and other services. "GATS" divides services into four forms: one is the cross-border delivery of services and the cross-border movement of service products, such as lawyer consulting and telecommunications services; the second is overseas consumption, which mainly involves tourism, education and medical care; the third is Provide services in the form of a commercial presence (cross-border establishment of a commercial or professional institution), such as the services provided by the establishment of shops, restaurants, law firms, branches of banks and insurance companies; fourth, services provided by temporary movement of natural persons, including performances, lectures And practicing medicine.

The general obligations of the GATS include most-favoured-nation treatment, the principle of transparency, a commitment to progressive liberalization, and greater participation by developing countries. Unlike goods, most-favored-nation treatment of services is given not only to the service itself, but also to the service provider. As for the principles of market access and national treatment in the GATS, it is not a general obligation, but a specific commitment, an obligation that is linked to the opening of specific sectors and is only undertaken after negotiation. This distinction between general obligations and specific commitments is a very important feature of GATS. The GATS also recognizes the imbalance in the development of service industries in developed and developing countries. Therefore, the special consideration of developing countries is reflected in the principle of greater participation of developing countries: first, developed countries must give priority to free access to the development of services in developing countries; second, allow developing countries to Appropriate protection of the service industry enables its service industry to enjoy certain flexibility. Third, conditions can be set when developing countries open their services. The results achieved by the Uruguay Round in the field of services are the most important progress made by the multilateral system in a single sector since the entry into force of the Customs and General Agreement in 1948.

Uruguay Round

Intellectual property rights are the rights generated by individuals or units based on the results of intellectual and creative activities. Compared with tangible substances in goods, intellectual property is an invisible and intangible "intangible" asset, which includes patent rights, trademark rights, copyrights, and trade secrets. An important feature of intellectual property rights is the territoriality, that is, the protection rights given to intellectual property rights by the laws of one country are valid in their own country and have no effect in other countries. In order to facilitate the legal protection of the intellectual property rights of natural or legal persons in a country abroad, countries around the world have gradually established international intellectual property protection systems by signing bilateral or multilateral treaties. However, with the development of the world economy, the expansion of the international scope and the rapid development of technology, the international agreements on the protection of intellectual property rights have not adapted to new needs. At the same time, due to the increasingly close relationship between intellectual property rights and international development, customs and general agreements The relevant intellectual property rights were included in the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations.

The Uruguay Round Intellectual Property Negotiation Group proposed the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in December 1991. After the agreement was discussed and modified, it was accepted as a formal agreement at the end of the Uruguay Round. The agreement clarified the goals and motivations of international legal protection of intellectual property rights; expanded the scope of intellectual property protection and strengthened related protection measures; strengthened the prevention and punishment of counterfeiting and piracy; the agreement emphasized the control of anti-competitive behavior and distortion ; The agreement provides for transitional arrangements to provide special treatment to developing countries; the final agreement also provides for responsibilities with relevant intellectual property institutions and arrangements for mutual cooperation. Intellectual property agreements are an important part of the Uruguay Round package, and all World Organization members are bound by its rules.

Uruguay Round Multilateral Trading System

Break through the original issues, and reach the Agreement on the Establishment of the World Trade Organization in accordance with the needs of the development of international trade. By establishing a trade organization, the "General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947" has been improved and the multilateral trading system has been improved and strengthened. The results of the negotiations have laid a good foundation. This is the most outstanding result achieved in the "Uruguayan Round".