Modalities, formulas and modes

The conduct of trade negotiations in the WTO shows both continuity and change from the GATT period, but even the two main points of continuity have come under challenge. One is the use of multi-issue, multi-year rounds as the main organizing principle of negotiations, which was the general rule throughout the GATT period. The other is the practice of bundling all of the issues in these rounds into a single undertaking, which was an innovation from the final (Uruguay) round of the GATT period. Members reiterated both of those principles when they launched the Doha Round in 2001, but after more than a decade of desultory negotiations, those principles are increasingly questioned. Some issues have been handled outside of the round, as is discussed in Chapter 10, and both rounds and the single undertaking face critical scrutiny from analysts and some practitioners.