Subject to certain exceptions, the general rule is that the obligations under the Agreement apply to existing and new intellectual property rights. In principle, protective measures must be applied regardless of the source. In cases where a quota is allocated among supplier countries, the member applying restrictions may request an agreement with other countries. Members who have a significant interest in the supply of the product concerned. Normally, the allocation of shares is based on the share of the total quantity or value of the product imported during a previous representative period. However, the importing country could deviate from this approach if it could demonstrate, through consultations under the auspices of the Committee on Safeguard Measures, that imports from certain Parties have increased disproportionately to the overall increase and that such a waiver would be justified and fair for all suppliers. In this case, the period of validity of the protection measure may not exceed four years. Measures with a minimal impact on trade can be used freely, they are in a green box (green as in traffic lights). These include government services such as research, disease control, infrastructure and food security. This includes direct payments to farmers who do not stimulate production, such as certain forms of direct income support, aid to help farmers restructure agriculture and direct payments under environmental and regional aid programmes.

The agreement allows governments to support their rural economies, but preferably through measures that cause less trade distortion. It also allows for flexibility in how commitments are implemented. Developing countries do not have to reduce their subsidies or tariffs as much as developed countries, and they have more time to meet their commitments. The least developed countries do not have to do that at all. Special provisions respond to the interests of countries that depend on imports for their food supply and to the concerns of the least developed economies. The first annex to the agreement concerns the free movement of workers. It allows the parties to negotiate specific obligations applicable to the free movement of persons providing services under the Agreement. It requires that persons covered by a particular obligation be allowed to provide the service in accordance with the terms of the obligation. However, the agreement would not apply to measures affecting employment, nationality, residence or permanent employment.

The Annex on Financial Services (mainly banks and insurance companies) sets out the right of the Parties to take prudential measures, notwithstanding other provisions, in particular to protect investors, deposit holders and policyholders, and to ensure the integrity and stability of the financial system. However, a better understanding of financial services would allow participants who choose to do so to make commitments with respect to financial services using a different method. As regards market access, the agreement contains more detailed obligations, in particular as regards monopoly rights, cross-border trade (drafting of certain insurance and reinsurance policies and processing and transfer of financial data), the right to establish or extend a commercial presence and the temporary admission of staff. The provisions on national treatment shall explicitly refer to access to payment and clearing systems operated by public bodies and to public financing and refinancing mechanisms. They also refer to membership or participation in self-regulatory organizations, stock exchanges or futures exchanges and clearing agencies. The Agreement would establish a Safeguard Committee to monitor the application of its provisions and, in particular, to monitor its obligations. This agreement extends and clarifies the Tokyo Round agreement on technical barriers to trade. It aims to ensure that technical negotiations and standards as well as testing and certification procedures do not create unnecessary barriers to trade. However, it recognizes that countries have the right to create elements of protection at a level they deem appropriate, for example for human, animal or plant health or the environment, and should not be prevented from taking the necessary measures to ensure that these levels of protection are achieved. The agreement therefore encourages countries to apply international standards where appropriate, but does not require them to change their level of protection as a result of standardization. In Nairobi, ministers said that “all members remain firmly committed to advancing negotiations on the remaining Doha issues. This includes promoting work in the three pillars of agriculture, namely domestic support, market access and export competition.

The Annex on Telecommunications concerns measures affecting access to and use of public telecommunications services and networks. In particular, it requires that such access be granted to another party on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms in order to enable the provision of a service listed in its Annex. The conditions attached to the use of public networks should not be more than necessary to safeguard the public service obligations of their operators, to protect the technical integrity of the network and to ensure that foreign service providers do not provide services, unless this is permitted by a specific obligation. The annex also encourages technical cooperation to help developing countries strengthen their own national telecommunications sectors. The Annex on air services excludes from the scope of the Agreement traffic rights (mainly bilateral air services agreements conferring landing rights) and directly related activities that could have an impact on the negotiation of traffic rights. However, the Annex, in its current form, also states that the Agreement should apply to aircraft repair and maintenance services, the marketing of air transport services and computer reservation services. The operation of the Annex would be reviewed at least every five years. Industrial designs are also protected by the agreement for a period of 10 years. Holders of protected designs could prevent the manufacture, sale or importation of goods bearing or incorporating a design that constitutes a copy of the protected design. An agreement confirms the trade policy review mechanism put in place at the time of the MTR and promotes greater transparency in the design of national trade policy. With a new ministerial decision, reporting obligations and procedures will be reformed in general. Once the panel or Appellate Body report has been adopted, the person concerned must communicate his or her intentions with regard to the implementation of the adopted recommendations.

If it is not possible to comply without delay, the Party concerned shall be granted a reasonable period of time to be decided either by agreement of the Parties and by approval of the Dispute Settlement Body within 45 days of the adoption of the report or by arbitration within 90 days of acceptance. In any case, the dispute settlement body will regularly monitor the implementation until the issue is resolved. Part V of the Agreement contains institutional arrangements, including consultation and dispute settlement and the establishment of a Services Council. The powers of the Council are defined in a ministerial decision. The agreement recognises that very different standards for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and the absence of a multilateral framework of principles, rules and disciplines for international trade in counterfeit goods have been a growing source of tension in international economic relations. Rules and disciplines were needed to deal with these tensions. To this end, the Agreement deals with the applicability of the fundamental principles of GATT and relevant international agreements on intellectual property; the provision of appropriate intellectual property rights; the establishment of effective enforcement measures for these rights; multilateral dispute settlement; and transitional provisions. This Agreement concerns the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, i.e. food safety and animal and plant health rules. The Agreement recognizes that governments have the right to take sanitary and phytosanitary measures, but that they should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health and that they should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between Members where the same or similar conditions prevail.

All restrictions on the MFA in force on 31 December 1994 would be incorporated into the new agreement and maintained until the restrictions are lifted or the products are incorporated into the GATT. For products that remain subject to restrictions at all stages, the agreement establishes a formula to increase existing growth rates. For example, annual growth in Phase 1 and for each restriction previously in force under the bilateral MFA agreements applicable to 1994 should not be less than 16% above the growth rate set for the previous MFA restriction. .