ABSTRACT
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has two primary objectives: first, to progressively remove the trade restrictions and distortions that protect uncompetitive producers and deny consumers the possibility of purchasing goods and services at the most competitive international prices. The second aim of WTO is to maintain the open, liberal and non-discriminatory rules-based multilateral trading system as a means to ensure predictability and stability in world trade. The WTO places no constraints on governments pursuing within their borders whatever legitimate policy options they wish with respect to the environment. Conducting international trade according to rules rather than commercial or political power is accepted by all WTO members to be one of its most important characteristics. The procedures for changing rules in the WTO are complex. A point that is sometimes overlooked in directing these criticisms at the WTO is that the meaning ascribed to the World Trade Organization depends very much on the context in which it is used.
