Briefing note: WTO accessions — state of play

Completed accessions since 8th Ministerial Conference

Montenegro, Russia, Samoa and Vanuatu joined the WTO in 2012 and Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Tajikistan in 2013.

Since the 8th WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2011, the WTO has made significant progress in the area of accessions. In total, 31 accessions have been completed since the WTO was established in 1995.

 

2014 prospects

Several countries are entering or have already entered decisive stages of their accession negotiations, which should be advancing to “technical maturity” in 2014. These include Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Serbia and Seychelles.

Progress and the conclusion of any accession depend on the input of the acceding government. There is always uncertainty due to many factors, including continued negotiations with WTO members, technical complexities, domestic challenges, and possible delays resulting from a country wishing to analyse the impact of a new or amended law.  

 

Countries negotiating their WTO membership

The following 23 countries are currently negotiating their WTO membership.

Accession process in brief

APPLICATION

  (pursuant to Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO and to the 2002 LDC Guidelines reinforced at the 8th Ministerial Conference in 2011)

WORKING PARTY 

Negotiations on
trade regime (multilateral) and
market access (bilateral)

GENERAL COUNCIL OR MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ADOPTS ACCESSION PACKAGE (+ protocol and decision)

RATIFICATION OF ACCESSION PACKAGE BY ACCEDING GOVERNMENT

Deposit original notification of acceptance with the WTO Secretariat
membership after 30 days  

 

Accession process in detail

The accession process starts when the candidate government sends a request to the WTO Director-General to become a member.

The General Council then establishes a Working Party composed of WTO members, chaired by an ambassador to a WTO member. This forum for negotiations is open to any member country at any stage of the negotiation.

In examining the applicant's trade policies, the working party identifies the areas whereexisting laws need to be amended or new laws adopted, to conform to WTO rules. The candidate government must inscribe WTO rules into its national legal system.

In parallel, the applicant negotiates bilaterally with interested members to open its market further to imports of goods and/or services. The signed bilateral agreements are compiled and combined into two documents: the goods and services schedules. At the time of accession, all tariffs and commitments on goods and services are offered on the same terms to all WTO members under the principle of the Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment of the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) governing the WTO.

Once the applicant's trade laws meet WTO standards and all bilateral agreements are signed, the working party is ready to adopt the accession package containing five documents:

• the Working Party Report outlining all the reforms undertaken by the acceding country and its commitments
• the goods schedule: list of bound and applied tariffs on industrial and agricultural goods
• the services schedule: list of commitments in market opening in services
• the Protocol of Accession containing the negotiated terms to become a member, which have been accepted by all other WTO members in the General Council or at a Ministerial Conference - the Protocol includes annexes for the commitments made by the new member on market access for goods and services
• a decision taken by the General Council or the Ministerial Conference.

Once the working party adopts the accession package, it is forwarded to the General Council or the Ministerial Conference for final adoption. The applicant becomes a member 30 days after the WTO is notified of ratification by the acceding member.

More information available here.

 

Accession Working Party Management

* Least-developed countries (LDCs)