African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries - Group of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries whose partnership with the EU has been defined in a series of agreements, from the Lome Convention to the Cotonou Agreement

Aggregate Measure of Support - An index that measures the monetary value of government support to a sector. The Agreement on Agriculture’s Aggregate Measure of Support includes direct payments to producers, input subsidies (such as for irrigation water), programmes that distort market prices to consumers (market price supports and interest subsidies on commodity loan programmes

Barriers to trade - These may be tariff or non- tariff. A tariff barrier is any tax or fee collected by a government on goods coming into the country. A Non -tariff Barrier are other measures apart from tax used to protect producers in the country (domestic producers) Some of these are subsidies, which are payments made by governments on goods going out of the country (export) or tax exemptions or other benefits given to the exporter, to encourage the export of certain products.

Bi-lateral - An agreement between two governments with the benefit not shared with third countries

Binding - A self imposed specific obligation appearing in a schedule of commitments

Comparative Advantage - The ability of one country compared with another to produce a good at lower cost relative to other goods. Under conditions of perfect competition and undistorted markets, countries tend to export goods in which they have comparative advantage

Consumption Abroad - This relates to services consumed by nationals of a member in the territory of another member where the service is supplied. Essentially, the service is supplied to the consumer outside of the territory of the member where the consumer resides. This is typical of tourism, and also where the property of the consumer crosses the border to be serviced abroad, such as when ships go for repairs in another country

Cotonou Agreement - Agreement between EU and Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries signed in June 2002 in Cotonou, Benin. Replaces the Lome Convention

Countervailing measures - An importing member is permitted to impose countervailing duties to offset subsidies on imported goods, imposed by an exporting member

Cross border services where the trade takes place from the territory of one member and not that of another. Only the service itself crosses the border, without the movement of persons such as information and advise passing by means of fax or electronic mail or cargo transportation. The service supplier does not establish any presence in the territory of the member where the service is consumed

Dispute settlement - The binding procedures whereby the WTO solves disputes between members

Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) - The DSU is the procedure for resolving trade quarrels and reinforcing the rules at the WTO. It emphasizes the importance of consultations in securing dispute resolution, requiring a Member to enter into consultations within 30 days of a request for consultations from another member. If after 60 days from the request for consultations there is no settlement, the complaining party may request the establishment of a panel. Where consultations are denied, the complaining party may move directly to request a panel the party may voluntarily agree to follow alternative means of dispute settlement, including good offices, conciliation, meditation and arbitration

Dumping - Occurs when goods are exported at a price less 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

Economic needs test - Provision in national regulations allowing (or imposing) the limitation of or giving discretion to regulatory authorities to limit the new entry of service suppliers into market by reference to existing local capacity

Export Processing Zone (EPZ) - Designated area or region where firms can import duty-free as long as the imports are used as inputs into the production of exports.

Fast-track negotiating authority - Authority granted to the US president by Congress to negotiate trade agreements. Under fast track, Congress can accept or reject an agreement but cannot alter any negotiated agreement. Introduced in the 1974 Trade Act

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) - An investment is considered direct when the investor’s share of ownership is sufficient to allow control of the company. It is also know as the investment for the purpose of establishing lasting economic relations.

Free Trade Area - A free trade area is an association of a number of countries between which there is free trade. A free trade area may also be called a common market

Free Trade - This means that there are no barriers to trade between and among countries. Countries with free trade do not have many rules and guidelines that make it hard or impossible for them to sell their goods and services to each other

G-7 - A group of seven major industrial countries -Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US- whose heads of state have met every year since 1976 for economic and political summits.

G-8 - The G-7 plus the Russian federation, whose heads of state have met every year since 1998 for economic and political summits

G-77 - A group of developing countries within the UN established in 1964 to articulate and promote the collective economic interests of its members and enhance their negotiating capacity. Founded by 77 developing countries, by 2002 it had 133 members

GATS - The general Agreement on Trade and Services, originally agreed at the WTO in 1994, aims at removing any restrictions and internal government regulations in the area of service delivery that are considered to be “barriers to trade”. Services can be explained as anything that you cannot drop on your foot. Libraries, schools, hospitals, banks, rubbish collection are good examples of these

GATS-type approach - Also know as the “Bottom-up” or “positive-list” approach to scheduling market-access commitments and related policy obligations, has been proposed as a way of approaching any eventual multilateral negotiation in the area of investment. It allows each Member to decide what specific market-access commitments will undertake, and to schedule those commitments. If a Member does not list a specific commitment to allow a foreign service supplier to establish a commercial presence in a particular service sector, then subject to its MFN obligation it is not required to grant them entry to that sector

Grand-fathering - Permanent exemption of specific measures from coverage of a trade agreement when it enters into force alternatively under national regulations in respect of rights acquired by firms established before the entry into force of a new restrictive regulation

Intellectual property - Protected rights in invention and creative work

Investment - There are several approaches to the definition of this term, which can be founding the different bilateral investment protection treatments, as well as regional and multilateral agreements on investment. The two main approaches can be generally characterized as either “enterprise based” definition:

Enterprise-based approach - Investment is defined the establishment or acquisition of a business enterprise, as well as a share in a business enterprise which provides the investor control over the enterprise. However, distinguishing it from the “asset-based” definition is not without difficulties. This definition is also used to define Foreign Direct Investment.

Asset-based approach - This definition of investment uses asset standards and is a wide-ranging definition that includes both portfolio and real state investment. There is room for variation in this category, however, such as the treatment of short-term capital regulations or exclusion of the movement of capital based on speculative financial transactions.

Market Access - Refers to the conditions under which imports compete with domestically produces substitutes. These are determined by the extend to which foreign goods are confronted with tariffs, discriminatory taxes, and other regulations.

Modes of Delivery - Forms under which a service can be supplied from a country into another country. There are four modes cross border services, consumption or purchase abroad, establishment of commercial presence temporary movement of natural persons

Most Favored Nation Treatment - Foreign services ad services suppliers have to be treated alike (i.e. not discriminated between since each has to be accorded treatment no less favorable than that accorded to others

Multilateral - An agreement between many governments

National treatment - Foreign services and services suppliers and their local counterparts have to be treated alike

Negative List - In an international agreement, a list of those items, entities, products, and so on to which the agreement will not apply, the commitment being to apply the agreement to everything else. This list contrasts with the positive list

OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Plurilateral Agreement - Plurilateral WTO agreements contrast with multilateral agreements in that plurilateral agreements are signed only by member countries that choose to do so, while all members are party to multilateral agreements

Positive List - In an international agreement, a list of those items, entities, products, and so on to which the agreement will apply, whit no commitments to apply the agreement to anything else

Quad (group of countries) - The participants in the Quadrilateral meetings: Canada, the EU, Japan and the US

Quantitative restriction - A numerical limit on imports from a country for a product.

Reciprocity - the exchange of exactly similar concessions

Rollback - Replace or phasing out of trade restrictive and discrimminatory measures. Specific commitments can schedule time limits for the future rollback or elimination of measures

Round - Multi-lateral trade negotiations under the auspices of the WTO

Safeguards Measures - Suspending commitments under certain emergency situations. Disciplines for these situations have to be developed by June 1999

Singapore issues - The four issues on which it was agreed at the 1996 WTO Singapore Ministerial Conference to form working groups: trade and investment, competition policy, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation

Single undertaking - Provision that requires countries to accept all the agreements reached during the Uruguay Round negotiations as a single package, rather than on a case-by-case basis

Special and differential treatment - The principle in the WTO that developing countries be accorded special privileges, either exempting them from some WTO rules or granting them preferential treatment in the application of WTO rules.

Tariff escalation - An increase in tariffs as a good becomes more processed, with lower tariffs on raw materials and less processed goods than on more processed versions of the same or derivative goods. For example, low duties on fresh tomatoes, higher duties on canned tomatoes and higher yet on tomato Ketchup

Technical barrier to trade - Trade-restrictive effect arising from the application of technical regulations or standards such as testing requirements, labeling requirements

Transparency - Publication and availability for scrutiny of information from Members on measures

WTO plus - Trade agreements that contain more stringent obligations than the WTO multilateral trade regime requires. Regional trade agreements sometimes contain WTO plus elements