commodity agreements, restrictive business practices, international investment and services .The rto Charter was finally agreed at a N Conference on Trade and employment in Havana in March 1948(so called “ Havana Charter”) .A long way to go for ratification by legislatures 1. A Brief History ofGATT While the charter was seeking ratifica tion in national legislatures tariff negotiations were opened among the 23 founding gatt "contracting parties" in order to give an early boost to trade liberalization after the second world war-and to begin to correct the large overhang(突出问题) of protectionist (贸易保护的) measures which remained in place from the early 1. A Brief History Of GATT .This first round of negotiations resulted in 45,000 tariff concessions(关税减让) affecting s10 billion- or about one-fifth of world trade .The tariff concessions and the principles and basic rules in the draft ito charter together became known as the general Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and entered into force in January 1948 It was assumed to be a provisional system before To 1. A Brief History of gatT .Although the Ito Charter was finally agreed at a UN Conference on Trade and employment in Havana in March 1948. ratification in national legislatures proved impossible in some .When the United states government announced, in 1950, that it would not seek Congressional ra tification of the havana charter the ito was effectively dead 1. A Brief History ofGATT Despite its provisional nature, the gatt remained the only multilateral instrument govern ing international trade from 1948 until the establishment of the wto Although, in its 47 years, the basic legal text of the gatt remained much as it was in 1948. there were additional3 commodity agreements, restrictive business practices, international investment and services. •The ITO Charter was finally agreed at a UN Conference on Trade and Employment in Havana in March 1948 (so called “Havana Charter”). •A long way to go for ratification by legislatures I. A Brief History of GATT •While the charter was seeking ratification in national legislatures , tariff negotiations were opened among the 23 founding GATT “contracting parties” in order to give an early boost to trade liberalization after the Second World War - and to begin to correct the large overhang (突出问题）of protectionist (贸易保护的） measures which remained in place from the early 1930s . I. A Brief History of GATT •This first round of negotiations resulted in 45,000 tariff concessions （关税减让）affecting $10 billion - or about one-fifth - of world trade. •The tariff concessions and the principles and basic rules in the draft ITO Charter together became known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and entered into force in January 1948. •It was assumed to be a provisional system before ITO. I. A Brief History of GATT •Although the ITO Charter was finally agreed at a UN Conference on Trade and Employment in Havana in March 1948, ratification in national legislatures proved impossible in some cases. •When the United States' government announced, in 1950, that it would not seek Congressional ratification of the Havana Charter, the ITO was effectively dead. I. A Brief History of GATT •Despite its provisional nature, the GATT remained the only multilateral instrument governing international trade from 1948 until the establishment of the WTO. •Although, in its 47 years, the basic legal text of the GATT remained much as it was in 1948, there were additional