BACKGROUND AND CURRENT AWARENESS
Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information
Resources
The World Trade Organization (WTO), established on 1 January 1995, is the legal and institutional foundation of the multilateral trading system. It provides the principal contractual obligations determining how governments frame and implement domestic trade legislation and regulations. And it is the platform on which trade relations among countries evolve through collective debate, negotiation and adjudication.
The Jonsson Library is a depository for all World Trade Organization publications (as it was for all GATT publications prior to 1995).
The following guide outlines the basic resources for those beginning research on GATT and WTO at
Stanford. The Jonsson Library is a depository for all World Trade Organization publications and was a
depository for all GATT publications prior to 1995. In general, all major GATT and WTO publications,
including texts of the various rounds of trade negotiations, and other basic publications offerred for sale by
the organization, can be found by searching either
Socrates I or
Socrates II,the Library's new web-based catalog. The Jonsson Library also houses a large collection
of internal documents that have been derestricted and reproduced on microfiche. The collection and its
indexes are described in the section below entitled Derestricted Documents
BACKGROUND AND CURRENT
AWARENESS
A large collection of "derestricted" GATT/WTO documents are available to the Stanford community and the general public. These documents include committee working papers, reports, meeting records, communications and memoranda, background documents, agreements and other documents. The collection is shelved in the Jonsson microtext area under the call number Microtext 2384. Documents issued between 1946-1983 are filed alphanumerically by symbol number. In 1984 GATT began issuing all its documents in annual sets with multiple documents placed on the same microfiche. In order to locate documents published after 1983 in the annual sets you must consult the List and Index and identify the specific document microfiche number (e.g., 96-2931 MF).
The GATT/WTO documents collection includes all or some of the following document series:
| AC/: Action Committee | L/: General Series |
| ADMINISTRATIVE MEMORANDUM/: | LET/: Letters |
| ADP/: Cttee on Anti-Dumping Practices | LA/: Latin American Informative Group |
| AG/: Cttee on Trade in Agriculture | LDC/: Least-Developed Countries |
| AIR/: Cttee on Trade in Civil Aircraft | LEGAL/: Cttee on the Legal...Framework...LDC's |
| BOP/: Cttee on Balance of Payments Restrictions | LIC/: Cttee on Import Licensing |
| C/: Council | MCDP/: Arrangement.Certain Dairy Products |
| CG/: Commodity Group Documents | MCMF/: Mgmt to the Protocol Relating to Milk Fat |
| CG/: Group on Cereals and Meat | MDF/: Ministerial Decision Follow-up |
| CG18/: Consultative Group of Eighteen | MGT/: Series |
| COM.AD/: Agriculture Committee | MIN(61): Meeting of Ministers (1961) |
| COM.IND/: Cttee on Trade in Industrial Products | MIN(63): Meeting of Ministers (1963) |
| COM.TD/: Ctee on Trade and Development | MIN(73): Meeting of Ministers (1973) |
| COM.TEX/: Textiles Cttee.Surveillance Body | NTM/: Non-Tariff Measures & Quantative Restrictions |
| COT/: Cotton Textiles Committee | OD/: Contracting Parties |
| CP/: Contracting Parties | PREP.COM/: 1981 Preparatory Committee |
| CPC/: Committee of Participating Countries | PREP.COM(86)/: 1986 Preparatory Committee |
| C/RM/: Trade Policy Review Mechanism | QRC/: Consultative Committee -Article XII:4(b) |
| DPC/: International Dairy Products Council | SCM/: Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures |
| DPC/C/: Cttee of the Protocol.Certain Cheeses | SEC/: Secret Documents |
| DPC/F/: Cttee of the Protocol.Milk Fat | SECRET/CP/: Contracting Parties - Secret Docs |
| DPC/P/: Cttee of the Protocol.Milk Powders | SGTP/: Spec. Group on Trade in Tropical Products |
| DPC/STAT/Spec/: Int'l Dairy Products Council | SPEC(): Special Distribution Series |
| DPG/: Domestically Prohibited Goods | SR: Contracting Parties |
| DS: Dispute Resolution | TA/: Technical Assistance Series |
| E/CONF.2: Trade & Emp't Conf, Havana (`47-'48) | TAR/: Committee on Tariff Concessions |
| E/PC/T/: UN ECOSOC-Prep Cttee ('47) | TBT/: Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade |
| FORTY: Forty: Contracting Parties | TC/: Trade Policy Courses |
| G/: General Series | TE/: Trade and Environment |
| GATT/ Contracting Parties | TEX/: Working Party on Trade in Textiles |
| GATT/AIR/: Airgrams | THIRTY: Contracting Parties |
| GATT/CEA/: Cttee on Special Exchange Agreem'ts | TRE/: Group on Environmental Measures and Int'l Trade |
| GATT/IC/: Intersessional Cttee | TN.56/: Tariff Conference (`56) |
| GATT/OFFICE CIRCULAR | TN.60/: Tariff Conference - Dillon Round (`60) |
| GATT/TN.1/:Tariff Negotiations,Annecy ('49) | TN.64/: Tariff Conference - Kennedy Round (`64) |
| GATT/TN.2/:Tariff Negotiations,Torquay (`50-'51) | TN(LDC): Trade Negotiations Cttee of Developing Countries |
| GATT/40: GATT Anniversary | TNB/: Trade Negotiations Committee - Brazil |
| GPR/: Cttee on Government Procurement | TNC/: Trade Negotiations Committee - Cuba |
| GS/: GATT Staff Council | TNJ/: Trade Negotiations Committee - Japan |
| IC/: Intercessional Cttee | TNS/: Trade Negotiations Committee - Switzerland |
| ICITO/: Interim Commission for the ITO | VACANCY NOTICE |
| IDB/: Integrated Data Base | VAL/: Committee on Customs Valuation |
| IMC/: Int'l Meat Council | W/: Contracting Parties |
| IMCG/: Int'l Meat Consultative Group | W(62) to W(72): Intersessional Misc. Working Papers |
| INF/: Information | WP.2/W/: Working Party on Article XVIII |
| INT()/: Internal |
At present, a large number of GATT and WTO documents are issued as "restricted" documents. Such documents are generally issued by the Secretariat only to representatives of WTO member governments, representatives of those governments, and international organizations with observer status at the WTO. Stanford owns a set of restricted documents under terms of a special agreement. The "restricted" documents collection is kept in a secure location and is not generally available either to the Stanford community or the general public. On an annual basis, GATT/WTO derestricts material from this collection. At the date of this guide's publication, all documents of the Tokyo Round (1974-1979) Uruguay Round (1986-1994) except for the final acts remain restricted. Many documents issued in the series above remain restricted, as do the following series in their entirety:
| COM/IND/W/: | MTN/: Multilateral Trade Negotiations Cttee |
| C/W/: | TAR/Spec/: |
This page was created and is maintained by Chuck Eckman. Please send comments regarding its content to:
Chuck Eckman
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last modified October 20,1998