Topics handled by WTO committees and agreements
 Issues covered by the WTO’s committees and agreements

 Market access for goods

Market access for goods in the WTO means the conditions, tariff and non-tariff measures, agreed by members for the entry of specific goods into their markets. Tariff commitments for goods are set out in each member's schedules of concessions on goods. The schedules represent commitments not to apply tariffs above the listed rates — these rates are “bound”. Non-tariff measures are dealt with under specific WTO agreements (see list below). WTO Members seek to continually improve market access through the regular WTO work programme and through negotiations such as those launched at the Doha Ministerial Conference in November 2001.

Click for Doha Development Agenda gatewaySee also:
> Non-agricultural market access negotiations
> Negotiations, implementation and development: the Doha agenda
> Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration
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See also:
> GATT and the Goods Council
 > Tariffs 		Introduction      > back to top
Information on market access for goods in the WTO
Links to market access and tariff information in the WTO guide “Understanding the WTO”
Includes: Tariff; Bindings; Agriculture;
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 The mandate      > back  to  top

Consult or download the Marrakesh Protocol
 
Summary of the legal texts of the GATT
A technical summary
  
Browse or download the text of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947) from the legal texts gateway
  
Find decisions of WTO bodies concerning the GATT in the Analytical Index — Guide to WTO Law and Practice
Click for Doha Development Agenda gatewayThe Doha negotiating mandate
Section on market access in the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration
Consult the goods schedules for WTO members and new members
  
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration
  

 

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Market access on specific subjects is dealt with directly under the relevant gateways

> Agriculture
> Anti-dumping
> Balance of payments
> Customs valuation
 > Import licensing
 > Information technology agreement
 > Rules of origin
 > Safeguards
> Sanitary and phytosanitary measures
> State trading enterprises (working group)
> Subsidies and countervailing measure
> Technical barriers to trade
> Textiles
> Trade facilitation

 

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Work of the Committee on Market Access      > back  to  top

At its meeting on 31 January 1995 the General Council established the WTO Committee on Market Access with the following terms of reference:

The Committee on Market Access shall:

(a) in relation to market access issues not covered by any other WTO body:

  • supervise the implementation of concessions relating to tariffs and non-tariff measures;
  • provide a forum for consultation on matters relating to tariffs and non-tariff measures;

(b) oversee the application of procedures for modification or withdrawal of tariff concessions;

(c) ensure that GATT Schedules are kept up-to-date, and that modifications, including those resulting from changes in tariff nomenclature, are reflected;

(d) conduct the updating and analysis of the documentation on quantitative restrictions and other non-tariff measures, in accordance with the timetable and procedures agreed by the CONTRACTING PARTIES in 1984 and 1985 (BISD 31S/227 and 228, and BISD 32S/92 and 93).

(e) oversee the content and operation of, and access to, the Integrated Data Base;

(f) report periodically — and in any case not less than once a year — to the Council on Trade in Goods.

> Current Chairperson

  
  
Documents of the Committee on Market Access      > back  to  top

Search Documents Online
Documents on market access use the code G/MA/*. Under the Doha agenda’s trade negotiations mandate, they use TN/MA/* (where * takes additional values).
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> help with downloading these documents

  • Annual reports of the Committee to the General Council    > search
  • Summary reports (minutes) of regular meetings of the Committee (Document code G/MA/M/*)    > search
  • Working documents of the Committee (Document code G/MA/W/*)
        > search
  • Integrated Data Base (IDB) (Document code G/MA/IDB/*) 
    • Working documents (Document code G/MA/IDB/W*)    > search
    • Status of submissions to the Integrated Data Base    > search
    • General IDB documents    > search
  • Notifications
    • Procedures    > search
    • Notifications in pursuance of paragraph 3 of the Understanding regarding notification, consultation, dispute settlement and surveillance and the decision on notification procedures Annexed to the final act embodying the results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral trade negotiations (Document code WT/L/* and keyword “paragraph 3 of the understanding”)    > search
    • Notifications of quantitative restrictions (Document code G/MA/NTM/* and keyword “notification”)    > search
  • Tariff information available in the Secretariat (Document code G/MA/TAR* and keywords “tariff and information and available”)    > search

Technical cooperation handbook on notification requirements — Tariffs and Non-Tariff Measures  (Document code WT/TC/NOTIF/MA/1)

> See also market access negotiations documents

You can perform more sophisticated searches from the Documents Online search facility (opens in new window) by defining multiple search criteria such as document symbol (i.e. code number), full text search or document date.
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