ABSTRACT
The 1980s saw the accession of twenty-five more developing countries, including some middle-income countries, into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The experience of developing countries in the GATT up to the conclusion of the Tokyo Round could be interpreted in two diametrically opposed ways. It could be said that from the Havana conference on, the developing countries have been repeatedly frustrated in getting the GATT to reflect their concerns. Agriculture, a sector of great interest to developing countries, largely remained outside the GATT framework. The GATT contains only a passing reference to commodity agreements in its Article XX, which deals with general exceptions to the obligations of contracting parties. The privileges and obligations of the codes were available only to the contracting parties of the GATT who chose to sign the codes.
