The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international body based in Geneva, Switzerland, that promotes and enforces the provisions of trade laws and regulations. The WTO has the authority to administer and police new and existing free trade agreements, to oversee world trade practices, and to settle trade disputes among member states. The WTO was established in 1994 when the members of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), a treaty and international trade organization, signed a new trade pact. The WTO was created to replace GATT, and began operation on 1 January 1995. The WTO has a significantly broader scope than GATT, expanding the GATT agreement to include trade in services and protections for intellectual property. 128 nations were contracting parties to the new GATT pact at the end of 1994, and became members of the WTO. By early 2000, the WTO had 136 members, and about 30 other countries had applied for membership. The WTO is controlled by a general council made up of member states’ ambassadors who also serve on various subsidiary and specialist committees. The ministerial conference, which meets every two years and appoints the WTO’s director-general, oversees the General Council.