RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/GC/W/10
3November 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3406)
Original: English GENERAL COUNCIL
15November 1995
ARRANGEMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE COOPERATION WITH
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Relations Between theWTO andtheUnited Nations
Communication from theDirector-General
After theadoption on31January 1995oftheReport ofthePreparatory Committee which saw
nogrounds forformal institutional linksbetween theWTO andtheUnited Nations although theneed
fortheestablishment ofcooperative tiesbetween thetwoorganizations wasunderscored, the
General Council considered on3April 1995 arrangements foreffective cooperation with other
intergovernmentalorganizationsandinparticulartherelationsbetweentheWTOandtheUnitedNations.
Itconsideredthatsuchanarrangementshouldencompass,ontheonehand,appropriatereciprocal
participationoftheWTOandtheUnitedNationsineachother'smeetings,tobedecidedbytherespective
Members and,ontheother, specific practical measures ofcooperation which could assist inthesmooth
andefficient functioning ofbothorganizations inareas where interaction could beofbenefit.
Inthatrespect theGeneral Council asked theSecretariat towork outwiththeUnited Nations
aglobal arrangement which would bebased upon thesame relationship thathadexisted inthepast
between theGATT andtheUnited Nations.
TheGeneral Council, when deciding onthesame datetomaintain thejointpartnership with
UNCTAD acting onbehalf oftheUnited Nations toruntheInternational Trade Centre, alsoagreed
thattheconcerns expressed bytheWTO Budget Committee withregard toITC'sbudgetary procedures
should bepartoftheglobal arrangement.
Iampleased toinform Members thatsuchaglobal arrangement hasbeenagreed between the
twoSecretariats through anexchange ofletters signed bytheSecretary-General oftheUnited Nations,
Mr.Boutros Boutros-Ghali andmyself.
Theletters areannexed fortheinformation ofMembers.WT/GC/W/10
Page2
ANNEX
I. Letter dated 29September 1995 fromtheDirector-General oftheWorld Trade Organization
totheUnited Nations Secretary-General
"Irefertotherecent consultations wehaveheldwithin theframework ofGeneral Assembly
Resolution 49/97 onthestrengthening ofinternational organizations intheareaofmultilateral trade
of19December 1994, andthedecision of3April 1995 oftheGeneral Council oftheWorld Trade
Organization mandating metoconclude aglobal arrangement withtheUnited Nations based onthe
previous United Nations/GATT relationship.
Ourconsultations brought outtheimportance webothattach toachieving effective cooperation
between theUnited Nations andtheWorld Trade Organization, consistent withtherespective status
andmandates ofthetwoorganizations andthecontractual nature oftheWorld Trade Organization.
Theconclusion which wehavereached, asaresult oftheseconsultations andtaking intoaccount
theexperience intherelations between theUnited Nations andtheGATT, isthataflexible framework
forcooperation, liable tofurther review andadaptation inthelightofdevelopments andemerging
requirements, isthemost desirable course ofaction.
Weagreed, inthatlight, thatthearrangements andpractices described intheattached United
Nations General Assembly document of9March 1976 (A/AC.179/5)1inrespect oftheUnited
Nations/GATT relationship provide asuitable basistocontinue toguide relations between theUnited
Nations andtheWorld Trade Organization. Relations between theUnited Nations andtheWorld Trade
Organization willthusinclude theprovision andexchange ofrelevant information, reciprocal
representation inaccordance withthedecisions ofthecompetent bodies oftherespective organizations,
participation oftheWorld Trade Organization intheAdministrative Committee onCoordination and
itssubsidiarybodies,cooperationbetweensecretariats,includinginthestatisticalarea,andadministrative
matters.
Wefurther concluded thatspecific arrangements forcooperation between theWorld Trade
Organization andtheUnited Nations Conference onTrade andDevelopment, inaccordance withthe
relevant decisions oftheGeneral Council oftheWorld Trade Organization, willbepursued bythe
twosecretariats within theoverall framework setoutabove, andinthelightofrecent, relevant decisions
oftheTrade andDevelopment Board, aswellastheGeneral Assembly Resolution 49/97.
Finally, weagreed, inourconsultations, torecommend totheresponsible intergovernmental
organs thatpresent arrangements governing thestatus oftheInternational Trade Centre asajointbody
beconfirmedandrenewedwiththeWorldTradeOrganization,subjecttorevisedbudgetaryarrangements
ascalled forbytheGeneral Council oftheWorld Trade Organization.
Ilookforward toclose andeffective cooperation between theUnited Nations andtheWorld
Trade Organization.
(Signed )Renato RUGGIERO
Director-General"
1Reproduced inSection IIIbelow.WT/GC/W/10
Page3
II. Letter dated 29September 1995 from theUnited Nations Secretary-General tothe
Director-General oftheWorld Trade Organization
"Iacknowledge receipt ofyourletter oftoday'sdate,referring totherecent consultations we
have heldwithin theframework ofGeneral Assembly Resolution 49/97 onthestrengthening of
international organizations intheareaofmultilateral trade of19December 1994, andthedecision
of3April 1995 oftheGeneral Council oftheWorld Trade Organization mandating youtoconclude
aglobal arrangement withtheUnited Nations based ontheprevious United Nations/GATT relationship.
Ourconsultations brought outtheimportance webothattach toachieving effective cooperation
between theUnited Nations andtheWorld Trade Organization, consistent withtherespective status
andmandates ofthetwoorganizations andthecontractual nature oftheWorld Trade Organization.
Theconclusion which wehavereached, asaresult oftheseconsultations andtaking intoaccount
theexperience intherelations between theUnited Nations andtheGATT, isthataflexible framework
forcooperation, liable tofurther review andadaptation inthelightofdevelopments andemerging
requirements, isthemost desirable course ofaction.
Weagreed, inthatlight, thatthearrangements andpractices described intheattached United
Nations General Assembly document of9March 1976 (A/AC.179/5)2inrespect oftheUnited
Nations/GATT relationship provide asuitable basistocontinue toguide relations between theUnited
Nations andtheWorld Trade Organization. Relations between theUnited Nations andtheWorld Trade
Organization willthusinclude theprovision andexchange ofrelevant information, reciprocal
representation inaccordance withthedecisions ofthecompetent bodies oftherespective organizations,
participation oftheWorld Trade Organization intheAdministrative Committee onCoordination and
itssubsidiarybodies,cooperationbetweensecretariats,includinginthestatisticalarea,andadministrative
matters.
Wefurther concluded thatspecific arrangements forcooperation between theWorld Trade
Organization andtheUnited Nations Conference onTrade andDevelopment, inaccordance withthe
relevant decisions oftheGeneral Council oftheWorld Trade Organization, willbepursued bythe
twosecretariats within theoverall framework setoutabove, andinthelightofrecent, relevant decisions
oftheTrade andDevelopment Board, aswellastheGeneral Assembly Resolution 49/97.
Finally, weagreed, inourconsultations, torecommend totheresponsible intergovernmental
organs thatpresent arrangements governing thestatus oftheInternational Trade Centre asajointbody
beconfirmedandrenewedwiththeWorldTradeOrganization,subjecttorevisedbudgetaryarrangements
ascalled forbytheGeneral Council oftheWorld Trade Organization.
Ilookforward toclose andeffective cooperation between theUnited Nations andtheWorld
Trade Organization.
(Signed )Boutros BOUTROS-GHALI
Secretary-General"
2Reproduced inSection IIIbelow.WT/GC/W/10
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III. UNGeneral Assembly document of9March 1976 (A/AC.179/5)
ADHOC COMMITTEE ONTHE RESTRUCTURING
OFTHE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SECTORS
OFTHE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM
RELATIONS OFTHE GENERAL AGREEMENT ONTARIFFS
AND TRADE WITH THE UNITED NATIONS
Note bytheSecretariat
TheSecretariat circulates herewith apaper submitted bytheGeneral Agreement onTariffs
andTrade inresponse totherequest made bytheCommittee totheDirector-General ofthatorganization
atthe9thmeeting on12February 1976.
_______________
RELATIONS OFGATT WITH THE UNITED NATIONS
TheEconomic andSocial Council, byaresolution dated 18February 1946, decided tocall
anInternational Conference onTrade andEmployment; theConference metatHavana from
November 1947 toMarch 1948, andadopted aFinal Acttowhich wasannexed theHavana Charter.
TheConferencealsoestablishedanInterimCommissionfortheInternationalTradeOrganization(ICITO).
Although theHavana Charter failed tocome intoforce, ICITO wasnever abolished andremains in
existence tothisday.
TheGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade wasdesigned toprovide rulesfortheworld trading
system untiltheHavana Charter came intoforce. Atthesecond session oftheCONTRACTING
PARTIES itwasdecided thatthesecretariat ofICITO would beemployed onareimbursable basis
toserve assecretariat totheCONTRACTING PARTIES, andtheExecutive Secretary ofICITO has
since been serving asDirector-General (called theExecutive Secretary until 1965) ofthe
CONTRACTING PARTIES. Thisarrangement wasconfirmed inanexchange ofletters between the
thenExecutiveSecretaryofGATTandthethenSecretary-GeneraloftheUnitedNationsinAugust1952.
(Copies oftheletters areattached todocument E/5476/Add.12 of24May1974.)
The1952letters alsoconfirmed thattheexistence oftheabove arrangement, coupled withthe
close defacto working arrangements which existed between theUnited Nations Secretariat andthe
secretariat oftheInterim Commission, rendered itunnecessary tomake separate orformal agreements
between theCONTRACTING PARTIES andtheEconomic andSocial Council relating tothework
oftheGeneral Agreement. Thisformal exchange ofletters defined, andcontinues todefine, the
relationship between theCONTRACTING PARTIES andtheUnited Nations, under which GATT is
treated asaspecialized agency onadefactobasis. Asaresult arrangements ofapractical nature have
developed inthecourse ofyears covering interaliathefollowing areas:WT/GC/W/10
Page5
Exchange ofinformation anddocuments
TheUnited Nations receives copies ofallGATT documents regularly distributed toGATT
CONTRACTING PARTIES. TheGATT receives copies ofdocuments fortheGeneral Assembly and
theEconomic andSocial Council, andofother United Nations organs which areofinterest toGATT.
Inaddition,GATTprovidessuchspecialinformationasmayberequestedbytheUnitedNations.
Resolutions oftheUnited Nations
Anyresolution relating toGATT, referred totheCONTRACTING PARTIES bytheGeneral
Assembly ortheEconomic andSocial Council, istaken intoconsideration and,upon request, GATT
submits areport onanyaction taken asaresult ofitsconsideration. Onessentially political matters
theCONTRACTINGPARTIESfollowthepolicyexpressedinarticle86oftheHavanaCharter,namely,
toavoid passing judgement inanywayonsuchmatters andtofollow decisions oftheUnited Nations
onsuchquestions (SR.22/3 of8March 1965).
Reciprocal representation
TheSecretary-General oftheUnited Nations, orhisrepresentative, isinvited toattend sessions
oftheCONTRACTINGPARTIES,oftheGATTCouncilandallregularGATTcommitteesandworking
parties.
TheDirector-General ofGATT, orhisrepresentative, isinvited toattend plenary meetings
oftheGeneral Assembly anditscommittees andmeetings oftheEconomic andSocial Council and,
asappropriate, itssubsidiary bodies. Asregards theEconomic andSocial Council thequestion of
GATT participation under thenewrulesofprocedure oftheCouncil wasdiscussed during thefifty-ninth
session oftheCouncil inJuly1975. Itwasagreed thatGATT should continue toparticipate onthe
same footing asbefore (E/SR.1973 of23July1975).
Co-ordination
TheGATT participates inthework oftheAdministrative Committee onCo-ordination and
itsrelevant subsidiary organs and,asappropriate, ofanyother bodies established bytheUnited Nations
tofacilitate such co-operation andco-ordination. Mention maybemade, inparticular, ofthe
ACC Preparatory Committee andtheConsultative Committee onAdministrative Questions (CCAQ).
TheGATT contributes itsproratashare inthebudget ofCCAQ.
Co-operation between secretariats
Aclose working relationship exists between theSecretariat oftheUnited Nations, including
thesecretariats oftheEconomic andSocial Council andtheregional commissions, andthesecretariat
ofGATT.
Statistical services
Inorder toavoid undesirable duplication between thestatistical services oftheUnited Nations
andGATT, regular consultations takeplace between theservices onthemostefficient useofresources.
Suchconsultations takeplace directly between theservices concerned, orthrough theannual meetings
oftheACC Sub-Committee onStatistics.WT/GC/W/10
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Consequently, GATT greatly relies onsupply ofstatistics bytheUnited Nations statistical
services. Where appropriate, theUnited Nations provides statistical information oncomputer tapes.
TheGATT participates intheco-operative arrangement between several agencies forelectronic
dataprocessing through theInternational Computing Centre anditshares inthecosts ofICC.
Personnel arrangements
TheGATT applies theUnited Nations StaffRules andRegulations andUnited Nations Financial
Regulations. Deviations fromtheapplication oftheserulesandregulations require aspecific approval
bytheCONTRACTING PARTIES. Thecontinued application toGATT oftheUnited Nations Staff
Rules andRegulations andUnited Nations Financial Regulations andRules wasconfirmed bythe
CONTRACTING PARTIES inDecember 1970 (L/3454, C/M/65).
Under present arrangements members oftheGATT staff mayusetheUnited Nations
laissez passer asatravel document.
Administrative co-operation
TheGATT participates inanumber ofco-operative arrangements ofanadministrative nature,
established between theUnited Nations andtheinternational organizations inGeneva, suchastheJoint
Medical Service, theJoint Housing Service, theJoint Purchasing Service, theUnited Nations Staff
Mutual Insurance Society against Sickness andAccident, theUnited Nations Language Courses and
StaffDevelopmentProgrammeetc.Thecostsoftheseco-operativearrangementsaresharedonaprorata
basis bytheparticipating organizations.
Affiliation ofGATT totheUnited Nations Pension Fund
TheGATT isaffiliated totheUnited Nations Joint StaffPension Fund. Theregulations of
thePensionFundwereamendedtothateffectbyGeneralAssemblyresolution874(IX)andanagreement
wasconcluded bytheSecretary-General oftheUnited Nations andtheExecutive Secretary ofICITO
on20May1957.
Regional commissions andother United Nations organs
Theabove arrangements regarding reciprocal representation andexchange ofinformation and
documents equally apply totheregional commissions andother United Nations organs. Invitations
toberepresented atsessions oftheCONTRACTING PARTIES, theGATT Council andtheGATT
committees andworking parties areregularly extended totheexecutive secretaries oftheregional
commissions andtheSecretary-General ofUNCTAD aswellastotheexecutive heads ofthevarious
United Nations organs andagencies.
Furthermore, overaperiod ofyears GATT hasco-operated withtheregional commissions,
inparticular theEconomic Commission forAfrica, inthejointsponsoring ofcommercial policy training
courses organized forofficials ofthemember countries oftheregion. While atpresent suchcourses
areorganized under theexclusive responsibility oftheregional commission concerned, GATT continues
tolenditssupport byproviding lecturers toparticipate insuchcourses whenever requested.
International Trade Centre UNCTAD-GATT
TheInternational Trade Centre (ITC) wasestablished byadecision oftheCONTRACTING
PARTIES of19March 1964(SR.21/9) andcame intooperation inMay1964. Since 1968theCentreWT/GC/W/10
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hasbeenjointly operated byGATT andtheUnited Nations Conference onTrade andDevelopment.
This joint operation hasbeen approved bytheGeneral Assembly (resolution 2297 (XXII) of
12December 1967) andbytheCONTRACTING PARTIES (SR.24/11 of23November 1967). Initially
theworking arrangements ofthejointoperation wereofaninterim character. Thelegalstatus ofthe
Trade Centre vis-à-vis theUnited Nations system wasreviewed in1973and1974andnewadministrative
arrangements were approved bytheCONTRACTING PARTIES on19November 1974 andbythe
General Assembly on18December 1974. Thetwosponsoring organizations, theCONTRACTING
PARTIES toGATT andUNCTAD, haveajointandequal responsibility forthegeneral policy and
orientation ofITC'swork programme. TheTrade Centre isrecognized asajointsubsidiary organ
ofGATT andtheUnited Nations, thelatter acting through UNCTAD. Thetwoorganizations each
contribute anequal share totheCentre 'sbudget, which issupplemented byfunds earmarked forspecial
projects fromtheUnited Nations Development Programme, andbyvoluntary contributions bysome
Governments.
Commercial policy courses
Since 1955 twocourses incommercial policy areorganized byGATT inGeneva eachyear;
oneforEnglish-speaking participants from February toJune, andthesecond forFrench-speaking
participants from August toDecember. Thecourses areopentoofficials from developing countries
(GATT andnon-GATT alike), whohave, ormayinfuture have, responsibilities intheformulation
andconduct offoreign tradepolicy. Thecourses arefinanced byfellowships granted under theUnited
Nations Development Programme andbyGATT under itsregular budget forthesupply ofstaffand
services.
Relations withtheInternational Monetary Fund
Practical working arrangements havebeen established withallUnited Nations organs and
specialized agencies insofarasrelated tomatters ofinterest toGATT.
Asregards IMF, however, theprovisions ofarticle XVoftheGeneral Agreement specifically
require thattheCONTRACTING PARTIES shallseekco-operation withtheFund sothatGATT and
theFund maypursue aco-ordinated policy withregard toquestions ofquantitative restrictions and
other trade measures within thejurisdiction ofGATT, andexchange questions within thejurisdiction
oftheFund. Whenever theCONTRACTING PARTIES arecalled upon toconsider problems ofa
monetary nature there isanobligation forGATT toconsult fully withtheFund andtoaccept the
determination oftheFund inrespect ofthefinancial andbalance-of-payments aspects ofthematter.
Arrangements have been made bymeans ofexchanges ofletters between theChairman ofthe
CONTRACTING PARTIES andtheManaging Director oftheFund forco-operation, consultation
andco-ordination inthecollection ofinformation andmaking ofpublic announcements. Thetexts
ofthese letters areattached todocument E/5476/Add.12.
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