When and where was the office of GATT established?

🔑Key Points:
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)  is an international trade agreement signed in 1947.
GATT came into effect on January 1, 1948.
The purpose of GATT was to liberalize trade by reducing tariffs and reducing quotas among member countries.
The member nations had to remove all the trade discriminations.
The 7 rounds of negotiations from 1947 to 1993 reduced average tariffs on industrial goods from 40% to 5%.
The steps taken at GATT led to economic globalization.
The office of GATT was established in Geneva, 1948.

🔴Additional Information:
GATT lacked a coherent institutional structure.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) incorporates the principles of GATT and provides a more institutional framework for implementing and extending them.
GATT was ad hoc and provisional in nature, it was never ratified in the parliaments of member countries.
WTO and its agreements are permanent, it has a strong legal basis, and member countries have ratified it in their parliaments.
GATT dealt with just trade in goods, WTO covers services and intellectual property as well.
WTO dispute settlement is faster, its rulings can never be blocked.
Uruguay round of GATT negotiations started in September 1986, and it concluded on 15 April 1994 after nearly 8 years of negotiations.
This culminated in the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).