做功WTO术语英文解释

WTO

术语英文解释

General

GATT

—

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,

which has been superseded as an international

organization by the WTO. An updated General

Agreement is now one of the WTO’s agreements.

Tariffs

binding, bound

—

see ―tariff binding‖

electronic commerce

—

The production,

advertising, sale and distribution of products via

telecommunications networks.

free-rider

—

A casual term used to infer that a

GATT 1947

—

The old (pre-1994) version of the

GATT.

GATT 1994

—

The new version of the General

Agreement, incorporated into the WTO, which

governs trade in goods.

Members

—

WTO governments (first letter

capitalized, in WTO style).

MFN

—

Most- favoured-nation treatment (GATT

Article I, GATS Article II and TRIPS Article 4),

the principle of not discriminating between one’s

trading al treatment

—

The

principle of giving others the same treatment as

one’s own nationals.

GATT Article III requires that imports be

treated no less favourably than the same or

similar domestically-produced goods once they

have passed customs. GATS Article XVII and

TRIPS Article 3 also deal with national treatment

for services and intellectual property protection.

TPRB, TPRM

—

The Trade Policy Review Body is

General Council operating under special

procedures for meetings to review trade policies

and practices of individual WTO members under

the Trade

Policy Review Mechanism.

transparency

—

Degree to which trade policies

and practices, and the process by which they are

established, are open and predictable.

Uruguay Round

—

Multilateral trade negotiations

launched at Punta del Este, Uruguay in September

1986 and concluded in Geneva in December 1993.

Signed by Ministers in Marrakesh, Morocco, in

April 1994.

country which does not make any trade

concessions, profits, nonetheless, from tariff

cuts and concessions made by other countries in

negotiations under the most-favoured-nation

principle.

Harmonized System

—

An international

nomenclature developed by the World Customs

Organization, which is arranged in six digit codes

allowing all participating countries to classify

traded goods on a common basis. Beyond the six

digit level, countries are free to introduce

national distinctions for tariffs and many other

purposes.

ITA

—

Information Technology Agreement, or

formally the Ministerial-Declaration on Trade in

Information Technology Products, under which

participants will remove tariffs on IT products by

the year 2000.

ITA II

—

Negotiations aimed at expanding ITA’s

product coverage.

nuisance tariff

—

Tariff so low that it costs the

government more to collect it than the revenue it

generates.

schedule of concessions

—

List of bound tariff

rates.

tariff binding

—

Commitment not to increase a

rate of duty beyond an agreed level. Once a rate

of duty is bound, it may not be raised without

compensating the affected parties.

tariff escalation

—

Higher import duties on

semi-processed products than on raw materials,

and higher still on finished products. This

practice protects domestic processing industries

and discourages the development of processing

activity in the countries where raw materials

originate.

tariff peaks

—

Relatively high tariffs, usually on

―sensitive‖ products, amidst generally low tariff

levels. For industrialized countries, tariffs of

15% and above are generally

recognized as ―tariff

peaks‖.

tariffs

—

Customs duties on merchandise imports.

to raise the export price of the product to avoid

the possibility of an anti-dumping duty.

PSI

—

Preshipment inspection

—

the practice of

employing specialized private companies to check

shipment details of goods ordered overseas

—

i.e.

price, quantity, quality, etc.

QRs

—

Quantitative restrictions

—

specific limits

on the quantity or value of goods that can be

Levied either on an ad valorem basis (percentage

of value) or on a specific basis (e.g. $$7 per 100

kgs.). Tariffs give price advantage to similar

locally-produced goods and raise revenues for the

government.

WCO

—

World Customs Organization, a

multilateral body located in Brussels through

which participating countries seek to simplify and

rationalize customs procedures.

Non-tariff measures

anti-dumping duties

—

Article VI of the GATT

1994 permits the imposition of anti- dumping

duties against dumped goods, equal to the

difference between their export price and their

normal value, if dumping causes injury to

producers of competing products in the importing

country.

circumvention

—

Measures taken by exporters to

evade anti-dumping or countervailing duties.

countervailing measures

—

Action taken by the

importing country, usually in the form of

increased duties to offset subsidies given to

producers or exporters in the exporting country.

dumping

—

Occurs when goods are exported at a

price less than their normal value, generally

meaning they are exported for less than they are

sold in the domestic market or third-country

markets, or at less than production cost.

NTMs

—

Non-tariff measures such as quotas,

import licensing systems, sanitary regulations,

prohibitions, etc.

price undertaking

—

Undertaking by an exporter

imported (or exported) during a specific time

period. rules of origin

—

Laws, regulations and

administrative procedures which determine a

product’s country of origin. A decision by a

customs authority on origin can determine

whether a shipment falls within a quota limitation,

qualifies for a tariff preference or is affected by

an anti- dumping duty. These rules can vary from

country to country.

safeguard measures

—

Action taken to protect a

specific industry from an unexpected build-up of

imports

—

governed by Article XIX of the GATT

1994.

subsidy

—

There are two general types of

subsidies: export and domestic. An export

subsidy is a benefit conferred on a firm by the

government that is contingent on exports. A

domestic subsidy is a benefit not directly linked

to exports.

tariffication

—

Procedures relating to the

agricultural market-access provision in which all

non-tariff measures are converted into tariffs.

trade facilitation

—

Removing obstacles to the

movement of goods across borders (e.g.

simplification of customs procedures).

VRA, VER, OMA

—

Voluntary restraint

arrangement, voluntary export restraint, orderly

marketing arrangement. Bilateral arrangements

whereby an exporting country (government or

industry) agrees to reduce or restrict exports

without the importing country having to make use

of quotas, tariffs or other import controls.

Textiles and clothing

ATC

—

The WTO Agreement on Textiles and

Clothing which integrates trade in this sector

back to GATT rules within a ten-year period.

carry forward

—

When an exporting country uses

relevant domestic industry.

Agriculture/SPS

Agenda 2000

—

EC’s financial reform plans for

2000

–

06 aimed at strengthening the union with a

view to receiving new members. Includes reform

part of the following year’s quota during the

current year.

carry over

—

When an exporting country utilizes

the previous year’s unutilized quota.

circumvention

—

Avoiding quotas and other

restrictions by altering the country of origin of a

product.

CTG

—

Council for Trade in Goods

—

oversees

WTO agreements on goods, including the ATC.

integration programme

—

The phasing out of MFA

restrictions in four stages starting on 1 January

1995 and ending on 1 January 2005.

ITCB

—

International Textiles and Clothing

Bureau

—

Geneva-based group of some 20

developing country exporters of textiles and

clothing.

MFA

—

Multifibre Arrangement (1974-94) under

which countries whose markets are disrupted by

increased imports of textiles and clothing from

another country were able to negotiate quota

restrictions.

swing

—

When an exporting country transfers

part of a quota from one product to another

restrained product.

TMB

—

The Textiles Monitoring Body, consisting

of a chairman plus ten members acting in a

personal capacity, oversees the implementation of

ATC commitments.

transitional safeguard mechanism

—

Allows

members to impose restrictions against individual

exporting countries if the importing country can

show that both overall imports of a product and

imports from the individual countries are entering

the country in such increased quantities as to

cause

—

or threaten

—

serious damage to the

of the CAP (see below).

border protection

—

Any measure which acts to

restrain imports at point of entry.

BSE

—

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or

―mad cow disease‖.

box

—

Category of domestic support.

—

Green

box: supports considered not to distort trade and

therefore permitted with no limits.

—

Blue box:

permitted supports linked to production, but

subject to production limits and therefore

minimally trade- distorting.

—

Amber box:

supports considered to distort trade and

therefore subject to reduction commitments.

Cairns Group

—

Group of agricultural exporting

nations lobbying for agricultural trade

liberalization. It was formed in 1986 in Cairns,

Australia just before the beginning of the

Uruguay Round. Current membership: Argentina,

Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia,

Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New

Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa,

Thailand and Uruguay.

CAP

—

Common Agricultural Policy

—

The EU’s

comprehensive system of production targets and

marketing mechanisms designed to manage

agricultural trade within the EU and with the rest

of the world.

Codex Alimentarius

—

FAO/WHO commission

that deals with international standards on food

safety.

distortion

—

When prices and production are

higher or lower than levels that would usually

exist in a competitive market.

deficiency payment

—

Paid by governments to

producers of certain commodities and based on

the difference between a target price and the

domestic market price or loan rate, whichever is

the less.

EEP

—

Export enhancement programme

—

programme of US export subsidies given

generally to compete with subsidized agricultural

and other reforms. Current negotiations launched

under Article 20 are for continuing the reform

process.

SPS regulations

—

Sanitary and Phytosanitary

regulations

—

government standards to protect

exports from the EU on certain export markets.

food security

—

Concept which discourages

opening the domestic market to foreign

agricultural products on the principle that a

country must be as self- sufficient as possible for

its basic dietary needs.

internal support

—

Encompasses any measure

which acts to maintain producer prices at levels

above those prevailing in international trade;

direct payments to producers, including

deficiency payments, and input and marketing

cost reduction measures available only for

agricultural production.

International Office of Epizootics

—

Deals with

international standards concerning animal health.

multifunctionality

—

Idea that agriculture has

many functions in addition to producing food and

fibre, e.g. environmental protection, landscape

preservation, rural employment, etc. See

non-trade concerns.

non-trade concerns

—

Similar to

multifunctionality. The preamble of the

Agriculture Agreement specifies food security

and environmental protection as examples. Also

cited by members are rural development and

employment, and poverty alleviation.

peace clause

—

Provision in Article 13 of the

Agriculture Agreement says agricultural

subsidies committed under the agreement cannot

be challenged under other WTO agreements, in

particular the Subsidies Agreement and GATT.

Expires at the end of 2003.

reform process/program

—

The Uruguay Round

Agriculture Agreement starts a reform process.

It sets out a first step, in the process, i.e. a

program for reducing subsidies and protection

human, animal and plant life and health, to help

ensure that food is safe for consumption.

variable levy

—

Customs duty rate which varies in

response to domestic price criterion.

Intellectual property

Berne Convention

—

Treaty, administered by

WIPO, for the protection of the rights of

authors in their literary and artistic works.

CBD

—

Convention on Biological Diversity.

compulsory licensing

—

For patents: when the

authorities license companies or individuals other

than the patent owner to use the rights of the

patent

—

to make, use, sell or import a product

under patent (i.e. a patented product or a product

made by a patented process)

—

without the

permission of the patent owner. Allowed under

the TRIPS Agreement provided certain

procedures and conditions are fulfilled. See also

government use.

counterfeit

—

Unauthorized representation of a

registered trademark carried on goods identical

or similar to goods for which the trademark is

registered, with a view to deceiving the purchaser

into believing that he/she is buying the original

goods.

exhaustion

—

The principle that once a product

has been sold on a market, the intellectual

property owner no longer has any rights over it.

(A debate among WTO member governments is

whether this applies to products put on the

market under compulsory licences.) Countries’

laws vary as to whether the right continues to be

exhausted if the product is imported from one

market into another, which affects the owner’s

rights over trade in the protected product. See