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WTO/GATT Research: GATT and early WTO documents, 1940-2000

This guide presents the essential sources for researching the former GATT and the current system under the Uruguay Round agreements and the World Trade Organization. NOTE: Main tabs list general sources that might not be repeated in the dropdown tabs.

GATT documents in BISD, the official print compilation of selected documents

BISD. Basic Instruments and Selected Documents and BISD Supplements. Geneva: Contracting Parties to the GATT, 1952-98 (covering 1947-95).

BISD is the official compilation of documents in hardcopy, but it contains only selected documents. After the first four volumes in this series, all volumes were called "supplements." The citation 42S/38 means supplement 42, at page 38. The subject index at the back of supplement 42 covers all of the supplements.
 
BISD contains only selected dispute decisions. See also Find disputes by topic, article number, etc., and Citing the dispute decisions

GATT/WTO Documents in microfiche

Microfiche GATT/WTO Documents. Geneva: WTO, 1947-96. This very large collection of microfiche documents covers from the negotiation of the GATT and the Havana Charter through 1996. It has very few Uruguay Round (MTN/...) documents. The fiche is accessible via a hardcopy index of subjects, document symbols, product names, country names, and articles of the agreements. You could also search the online collections to identify relevant documents. The fiche and the index are located in the Media Center.