WTO
Accessions
The benefits for a country acceding to the WTO are great,
with improved access to 148 markets within a transparent
and rules-based trading system, and full recourse to the
Organisation's Dispute Settlement Procedures (DSP) when
disagreements occur. But accession negotiations to join
the WTO are not easy. Applicant countries are required to
make commitments to open their markets and to adopt legislation
that is compatible with the various WTO agreements.
Key issues for WTO accession can be divided into three areas:
·
Improved market access offers for other WTO Members
·
Legislative reform
·
Implementation of new WTO-compatible measures
Technical assistance is available to WTO accession candidate
countries to assist with legislative reform and with compiling
and drafting the necessary documentation to present to the
Working Party to deal with the acceding country's application.
The Department for International Development contribute
funding to the United Nations Conference On Trade
And Development (UNCTAD) who fund and organize the technical assistance
programmes. The European Commission is also a significant
provider of technical assistance.
There is no timetable for achieving
WTO accession; the onus is on the acceding country to demonstrate
that it has made sufficient progress to be able to implement
the various WTO agreements. However, it is possible for
developing countries to negotiate transitional periods for
implementation of some of the agreements, if they can demonstrate
just cause for doing so. And the accession process allows
developing countries to negotiate for less onerous conditions
for entry into the WTO.
There are currently 29 countries involved in the WTO accession
process. They are: Afghanistan (the process has barely started),
Algeria, Andorra, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Belarus, Bhutan,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Iran (the
process has barely started), Iraq (the process has barely
started), Kazakhstan, Loa People's Democratic Republic,
Lebanese Republic, Libya (the process has barely started),
Montenegro, Russia, Samoa, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi
Arabia, Serbia, the Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tonga,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam and Yemen.
The Process
A Working Party is set up to oversee
the acceding country's application. The acceding country
must submit a ‘Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime’ to the
Working Group, which describes the trade regime of the acceding
country at the date of application for accession. This document
forms the basis for discussions between the acceding country
and the Working Group on principles and policies to bring
the various aspects of its trade regime to WTO-conformity.
When
sufficient progress has been made, parallel bilateral talks
begin between the acceding country and the interested individual
WTO members. These talks cover tariff rates, specific market
access commitments, and other policies on goods and services.
Upon accession, the new member's
commitments apply to all WTO members, even though they are
negotiated bilaterally. These talks can be highly complex.
The outcomes of these bilateral negotiations mean that the
most favourable market access commitments made by an accession
candidate country across all sectors and across each of
the agreed outcomes of bilateral negotiations are brought
together. The ensuing consolidated schedule of market access
commitments then forms the basis of market access commitments
to all WTO members.
Once
the bilateral negotiations are complete, or near complete,
and the Working Party concludes that good progress has been
made by the acceding country in adopting WTO-compatible
policies and legislation, the terms of accession are finalised
in the form of a ‘protocol of accession’. This, along with
the Working Party's report and the acceding country's list
of commitments are presented to either the WTO General Council
or at a WTO Ministerial Conference. Technically, support
from a two-thirds majority of the WTO membership is required
to leave the applicant free to sign the protocol and accede
to the Organisation but in practice this is done on a consensus.
In most cases, the Country's own parliament or equivalent
will need to ratify the agreement before membership is complete.
For more information contact
the DTI’s WTO Disputes & WTO Accessions Team:
Andy
weller
Tel: 0207 215 2321
Fax: 020 7215 2325
Email andy.weller@dti.gsi.gov.uk
Toni Woodger
Tel: 020 7215 2326
Fax: 020 7215 2235
Email toni.woodger@dti.gsi.gov.uk
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