Permanent Representative of Australia to the World Trade Organization Permanent Representative of Australia to the World Trade Organization The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the World Trade Organization is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Permanent Mission of the Commonwealth of Australia to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The position has the rank and status of an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and continues Australia's representation to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT; 1948–1995), as a charter member joining the WTO to replace the GATT on 1 January 1995. The Permanent Mission to
Labour standards in the World Trade Organization so as to constitute arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination, nor be a disguised restriction on international trade. This last requirement is particularly important because there is often a suspicion that the insertion of labour standards into free trade agreements/other measures, for example, are really disguised restrictions on trade. Furthermore, the 'necessity test' ensures that only when the products themselves present a threat can they be restricted. Therefore, protecting labour rights through GATT Article XX is impossible, even if the production of the product may threaten human life. For example, the worst forms of child labour are a heinous practice which fall