Since the value of its commodities are of great concern to any country, the major commodity markets in the world are all regulated by a legal entity to ensure that they are always correct--that the purchases and sales are all valid and that contracts are settled as agreed. Another set of regulation comes from the World Trade Organization, which gathers all member nations to regulate the trade of their vital commodities. This has been a largely criticized method of regulation since the effects have been to keep the costs of commodities to the largest nations low at the expense of the smallest nation producers.