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20January 1997
WTO AGREEMENTS AND COMMITMENTS ONCD-ROM
Software allows convenient analysis of30,000 pages ofdata
TheWorldTradeOrganizationhasreleasedthefirsteverCD-ROMcontainingalltheagreements
oftheUruguay Round, together withthecommitments ongoods andservices made bythebulkof
theworld 'strading nations —allofthisinaform thatmakes theinformation easytoobtain andto
analyze.
TheCD-ROM hastwounique features. Its104megabytes contain theequivalent ofmore than
30,000 pages oflegal texts andtables ofcommitments —over30volumes ofprinted documents
representing thecomplete results oftheUruguay Round oftrade talks—forthefirsttimeallona
single disk. AndtheCD-ROM includes software allowing theusertosearch forinformation andto
compare various countries 'commitments toopen orkeepopen theirmarkets forspecific goods or
services. Textcanbereadinanyofthethree official WTO languages, English, French andSpanish
(although thelanguage usedinmenus, commands andon-line Help depends onthelanguage ofthe
Windows version thattheuserisoperating).
ThisnewproductispartoftheWTO’sefforttomakeinformationanddatarelatedtotheUruguay
Round agreements more easily accessible forarange ofusers. Itisdesigned forlawyers, government
officials, tradeconsultants, NGO workers, academic researchers, students, journalists andanyone else
needingquickandsimpleaccesstodetailsoftheagreements.Thediskcoversallthelegaltextsnegotiated
intheround, various decisions, understandings anddeclarations related totheagreements, andthe
schedules ofmarket-opening commitments thatmorethan100countries made onthousands ofproducts
andservices.
The1986-94 Uruguay Round ofmultilateral trade negotiations ledtothebiggest reform of
theworld trading system inalmost halfacentury. Oneoftheoutcomes wasthecreation oftheWorld
Trade Organization. Thenegotiations alsobrought about thefirstinternational traderulesforservices
andforintellectual property, andimportant changes inthewayinternational tradedisputes aresettled.
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Details
Thedataaredivided intothree sections:
Thelegal textsgoverning trade ingoods, services andtrade-related aspects ofintellectual
property, anddetails ofthenewWTO dispute settlement mechanism; together withrelated ministerial
decisions. Hyper-text allows theusertojump torelated articles, agreements, annexes, decisions,
understandings, footnotes andabbreviations withasimple mouse click.
Goodscommitments,containingalmost25,000pagesofschedulesfrom117countriesclassified
according totheinternational Harmonized System Nomenclature (standardised foruptosixdigits).
Software packaged withthedataallows information tobeselected andcompared foravariety of
purposes.
Services commitments andexemptions ,representing nearly 3,000 pages of122specific
commitments and69exemption lists,presented astables forconvenient comparison between countries.
Thissection alsohassoftware forsearching andformaking comparisons.
Thesoftwareincludesonegeneral“application”softwareforoperatingtheCD-ROMasawhole,
andsub-applications foreachofthethreedatasections. Thesub-applications offerarange offacilities
andoptions. Information onhowtooperate theseisavailable inon-line Help, alsoavailable inEnglish,
French orSpanish —theexact choice depending onthelanguage oftheuser'sversion ofWindows.
Technical requirements: PCwith80486 processor orhigher. Windows 3.1orhigher. 8MBRAM
and1MBfreediskspace ormore. Graphics adapter, mouse andprinter supported byWindows.
CD-ROM drive.
Price: SF1,000 forsingle user, SF2,000 forLANlicence
Available from:
WTO Publications, World Trade Organization,
Centre William Rappard, RuedeLausanne 154,
CH-1211 Geneva 21,Switzerland.
Tel:(41)(+22) 7395208or7395308. Fax:(41)(+22) 7395792
e-mail: publications@wto.org Website:http://www.wto.org
Click on“Publications ”
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