Catalogue description Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GAT series)

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Details of MAF 608
Reference: MAF 608
Title: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GAT series)
Description:

The files in this series mainly relate to the Uruguay Round Agriculture Negotiating Group and the Trade Negotiations Committee. In both instances, ministerial responsibility lay jointly with the Secretary of State for FCO and DTI on the negotiations. However, MAFF did have involvement at a high level.

Date: 1987-1992
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: GAT file series
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1955-2001

Physical description: 14 file(s)
Access conditions: Open
Immediate source of acquisition:

from 2013 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Custodial history: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food until 2001; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2002.
Accruals: Series is accruing.
Administrative / biographical background:

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) came into being in the post-war period (1948) to begin the process of multilateral trade liberalisation. There have been a number of multilateral negotiations or 'Rounds' since the creation of the GATT. But while certain GATT rules applied to agriculture, others did not.

The Uruguay Round fundamentally changed matters, launched in 1986 and finally concluded in 1994, it included specific agricultural trade disciplines in the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). The AoA sets out commitments which countries had to apply over a six-year implementation period (1995 to 2000), but which remain in force until a successor agreement is made.

The conclusion of the Uruguay Round marked the replacement of the GATT by the creation, on 1 January 1995, of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

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