Mercado
Común del Sur (Mercosur) or Mercado Comum do Sul (Mercosul)
Common Market of the South or Common Market of the Southern Cone. Customs
union made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Established
by the Treaty of Asunción, drafted on March 26, 1996, Mercosur
has been in operation since January 1, 1995. Its goals are to establish
a program of trade liberalisation, to co-ordinate macroeconomic decisions,
to create a common external tariff and to implement other trade-related
agreements.
Montreal
Protocol
Amendment to the Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer adopted
on September 16, 1987, and in force from January 1, 1989. It requires
states parties to equitably control the total global emissions of substances
that deplete the ozone layer.
Most-favoured-nation
treatment
General Agreement on Trade in Services requirement that World
Trade Organisation member states accord immediately and unconditionally
to services and service suppliers of other members treatment that is no
less favourable than that it accords to like services and service suppliers
of any other state.
Multifiber
Arrangement
Agreements established under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
of 1947 that allowed participating states to establish restrictions on
the importation of textiles on a country-by-country basis contrary to
the GATT's most-favoured-nation rule. The General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade of 1994 requires that these agreements be phased out.
Multilateral
Investment Guarantee
Agency (MIGA)
Agency of the World Bank created by the Convention Establishing the Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency and in operation from April 12, 1988. It promotes
the flow of foreign direct investment to its developing member countries
for economic development. It does so primarily through investment guarantees
against the risks of currency transfer, expropriation, and war and civil
disturbance ("political risks").
Test-Ban
Treaty
A multilateral treaty named Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the
Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water. The treaty was adopted at
Moscow, on 5 August 1963. It bans the testing of nuclear weapons in the
atmosphere, outerspace, and under water.
IPIC
Treaty
A multilateral treaty named Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect
of Integrated Circuits adopted at Washington on May 26, 1989. It requires
members to protect integrated circuits (such as the designs on computer
memory chips). The treaty is not currently in force, although the Agreement
on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights requires that
members of the World Trade Organisation observe is obligations.
