Formed in January 1995, the World Trade Organization is an international body seeking to promote free trade by opening markets through the elimination of import tariffs. To that end, the organization administers trade agreements, monitors international trade policy and acts as a forum for trade negotiations, while striving for four main goals -- freeing global trade through universally lowered tariffs, imposing the same rules on all members in order to homogenize the trade process, spurring competition through lowered subsidies, and ensuring the same trade concessions for all member nations. The WTO also provides technical assistance and training for developing countries.

World Trade Organization agreements cover intellectual property, goods and services. The body also oversees member countries' implementation of actions to lower customs tariffs and other trade barriers. The WTO works to improve transparency regarding trade policies by requiring its members to report on their trade laws and measures as they go into effect.

The WTO grew out of a provisional legal agreement, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT was drafted in Havana, Cuba, in 1948 in an attempt to encourage free trade in the wake of World War II. Twenty-three nations signed the original GATT agreement.

Fifty-five years later, more than 90 percent of world trade is subject to the WTO's trade rules, and proponents claim the economic gains speak to the organization's success.

According to the World Bank's 2004 Global Economic Prospects, released Sept. 3, the organization expects developing countries' economies to grow 4 percent in 2003 and 4.9 percent in 2004 if recovery remains on track.

The World Bank, which released a statement ahead of the WTO's Cancun talks, said a trade deal "that addresses the concerns of developing nations could spur global growth and reduce poverty by as much as 144 million people by 2015."

Despite its apparent success, the organization has been controversial since its inception. When the WTO replaced GATT, the new organization was granted a much broader mandate, expanding from simply addressing trade to covering services and intellectual property agreements. The organization's focus has also widened to include health and environmental regulations that can be construed as barriers to international trade.

Labor organizations, environmental groups and others oppose this broad mandate, saying it removes power from citizens and individual governments and places it in the hands of an unelected international authority.

"The WTO allows companies to try to trump the democratic process in the United States," Chris McGinn of the Washington-based Public Citizen Trade Watch told The New York Times. "It gives them an additional appeal process once a law is passed to try to undo hard-fought consumer, environmental or health legislation."

In July, the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) also expressed concern over the trade organization's ability to "overrule democratic national laws" deemed in violation of trade rules.

In a statement, the ICFTU -- which, according to its numbers, represents 158 million workers in 150 countries -- said the WTO "casts aside social or environmental standards in its agreements" and puts inordinate emphasis on economic considerations.

The WTO argues that liberalizing trade is only one of many tenets the organization upholds.

"Just as important as freer trade -- perhaps more important -- are other principles of the WTO system. For example: non-discrimination, and making sure the conditions for trade are stable, predictable and transparent," according to a statement on the WTO Web site.

The WTO'S Guiding Principles
One way the WTO aims for equal representation among members is by granting each member country "most-favored nation" status; when a member country bestows a trade privilege on another nation, the privilege must be extended to all other member countries. Another tenet is "national treatment," which behooves countries to treat foreign imports equally with those produced domestically.

All member nations decide on agreements, and no country has veto power. Agreements are decided by consensus, although the WTO agreement does allow for majority voting if a consensus is unreachable.

Relying on a consensus rather than majority vote and granting nations equal representation distinguishes the WTO from many multilateral organizations. Within the World Bank and International Monetary Fund each country's vote is weighted according to the country's status in the international economic system.

While the WTO's consensus-building method means trade laws can be adopted quickly, critics point out that it grants power to those wealthier nations with the resources to devote to treaty negotiation.

An increasingly common way for member nations to make the consensus-building approach work more in their favor is through the formation of alliances. By April, the WTO had 146 members with over 30 applicants (WTO "observers") awaiting full membership. Among the 146 member countries, several alliances work in concert to achieve mutually beneficial results. Some work with one spokesperson or negotiating team to push a decision through.

The largest alliance is known as the Quad, or Quadrilaterals, and includes the body's four largest members: Canada, the European Union, Japan and the United States. Other groupings include the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Cairns Group and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group. Some alliances are regional, others focus on a specific issue.

The Cairns Group, for example, was formed in 1986 as a way to argue for the liberalization of agricultural trade. Cairns Group members share the common view that they are unable to compete with larger, wealthier nations in domestic and export subsidies, and enjoy increased power through membership in an alliance.

Structure and Representation
Since member governments head the WTO, most countries have a diplomatic mission at the organization's Geneva headquarters, and some appoint a special ambassador to the organization.

The organization's director general is currently Supachai Panitchpakdi, who took over the position in September 2002 and will remain in the post until August 2005. The Right Honorable Mike Moore preceded Panitchpakdi, serving from September 1999 to August 2002.

The WTO's highest decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference, which meets biannually.

The next level is the General Council, which meets at the organization's Geneva headquarters a few times a year. Such meetings usually involve delegation heads and ambassadors based in Geneva, although delegates occasionally travel to Switzerland to participate, bringing trade policies and negotiating positions from their home countries. The General Council also acts as the Dispute Settlement Body and the Trade Policy Review Body.

Below the General Council are the Intellectual Property Council, Goods Council and Services Council. And finally, each agreement calls for various working groups and committees to hammer out regulations.

Additionally, there is another level of decision-making -- informal discussion that is often necessary in order to create consensus in committees and larger meetings. The importance of such discussions is recognized on the trade body's Web site: "Informal consultations in various forms play a vital role in allowing consensus to be reached, but they never appear in organization charts. They are necessary for making formal decisions in the councils and committees."

Council and committee leaders play a vital role in building consensus among members. Because of this, the General Council approves new chairpersons for the major WTO bodies each year, and attempts to represent regions equally in such appointments.

-- By Jessica Moore, Online NewsHour