GATS commitment: A legal term describing the scope of specific obligations a country enters into regarding liberalisation of services trade under GATS. One of the key flexibilities embedded in GATS is the discretion that a member country of the WTO enjoys in deciding which of the service sectors it wants to schedule for undertaking liberalisation commitments under GATS rules. Part III of the legal text of GATS includes certain provisions on ‘specific commitments' that apply only to those service sectors that are scheduled by a WTO member in its GATS commitments, and not to all service sectors covered by GATS.

GATS visa: Select member countries of the WTO (including India ) have proposed the creation of a GATS visa that would allow workers to work temporarily in any other WTO member country on the basis of the employment laws of the worker's home country.

G110: A coalition of the G20, G33 and G90 that emerged during the Sixth WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December 2005. It is the largest single grouping of developing countries. The aim was to ensure that developed countries do not dilute the contours of any global trade agreement by splitting them.

G20: Coalition of 20 major developing countries led by India, China, Brazil and South Africa. Formed in 2003 to present the interests of developing countries at the Fifth WTO Ministerial in Cancun to combat unfair trade practices, especially in agriculture, sought to be imposed by the EU-US. Other members include Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand.    

G33: Group of over 40 developing countries focusing on special products and special and differential treatment.

General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): Multilateral agreement dealing with trade in services that came into effect on January 1, 1995 (along with all other WTO agreements) as an outcome of the Uruguay Round (1986-94). GATS is a sort of framework agreement comprising a set of binding rules and disciplines to govern the entire gamut of the services trade. It covers 161 service activities under 12 broad sector heads.

General obligations: A series of general concepts, principles and rules that are largely applicable across the board to measures affecting trade in services. The most generally applicable provisions of GATS are those of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and transparency.

Generic drugs: A drug that contains the same active ingredient as the original drug, and is hence interchangeable with it.

Geographical Indications: Place names (or words associated with a place) used to identify products (for example, ‘Champagne ’, ‘Tequila’ or ‘Roquefort’) which have a particular quality, reputation or characteristic because they come from that place.

Girard formula: Non-linear tariff-cutting formula supported by India. Named after NAMA Chair Pierre Louis Girard who proposed it in 2003.

Green Box: Domestic support subsidies exempted from tariff reduction.

Group of Eight (G8): Eight richest countries in the world: US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada.