Regional trade agreements
Regional Trade
Agreements (RTAs) have become a very prominent feature
of the Multilateral Trading System (MTS).
The surge in RTAs has continued unabated since the early 1990s. As of 15 January 2012, some 511 notifications of RTAs, counting goods, services and accessions separately, have been received by the GATT/WTO. Of these, 370 notifications were made under Article XXIV of the GATT 1947 or GATT 1994; 36 under the Enabling Clause; and 105 under Article V of the GATS. At that same date, 319 were in force.
For up-to-date information on WTO figures on
RTAs currently in force, please consult the summary tables contained in
the
RTA
Database.
These WTO figures correspond to 393 physical
RTAs (counting goods and services together), of which 214 are currently
in force.
The overall number of RTAs in force has been
increasingly steadily, a trend likely to be strengthened by the many
RTAs currently under negotiations. Of these RTAs, Free Trade Agreements
(FTAs) and partial scope agreements account for 90%, while customs
unions account for 10 %.
See also
> Negotiations on RTAs
> Transparency
Mechanism on RTAs
>
RTA
Database
 > Negotiations, implementation and development: the Doha agenda
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