The recognition of a cultural exception dates from as far back as 1947 with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which constituted the first stage in the globalisation of trade founded on the principle of free trade but allowed for legal exceptions for certain cultural products, in particular for cinematographic films and national treasures. This is still the case today with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the successor to GATT. However, GATT was in reality only a part of a fuller international treaty which also was to provide for legal exceptions to free trade for “primary commodities”: those of agriculture, forestry, fishing and minerals. This treaty was the Havana Charter, signed by 53 countries in March 1948. Because of a situation extraneous to the Charter, it has never been ratified or put into effect, unlike GATT itself. The result is that “cultural exceptions” are recognised, while “exceptions for food” are not.