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DOHA
WTO MINISTERIAL 2001:
BRIEFING NOTES
MEMBERS
AND ACCESSION |
Contents > Director-General’s letter to journalists > Background > Least-developed countries (LDCs) > Agriculture > Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures > Trade in services > Implementation issues > Intellectual property (TRIPS) > Textiles and clothing > Information technology (IT) products > Trade and environment > Trade and investment > Trade and competition policy > Transparency in government procurement > Trade facilitation > Trade and labour standards > Disputes > Electronic commerce > Members and accession > Regional trade agreements > Some facts and figures > Glossary of terms
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The accession process commences with the submission of a formal written request for accession pursuant to Article XII of the WTO Agreement. This request is considered by the General Council which establishes a Working Party to examine the accession request and to submit recommendations to the General Council which may include a Protocol of Accession. The Working Party is open to all members of the WTO. Established procedures require the applicant government to present to Working Party members a memorandum covering all aspects of its trade and legal regime. This memorandum forms the basis for detailed fact finding by the Working Party. After examining all aspects of the existing trade and legal regimes of the acceding government, the Working Party goes into the substantive part of the multilateral negotiations involved in accession, i.e. determining the terms and conditions of entry. These terms and conditions, involving commitments to observe WTO rules and disciplines upon accession, and transitional periods if any, are finally incorporated in the Draft Report of the Working Party and the Protocol of Accession. At the same time, the applicant government engages in bilateral negotiations with interested Working Party members on concessions and commitments on market access for goods and services. This bilateral process determines the specific benefits for WTO members in permitting the applicant to accede to the WTO. Once both the Working Party’s Draft Report and Protocol of Accession and the market-access commitments in goods and services are completed to the satisfaction of members of the Working Party, the “accession package” is presented to the General Council or the Ministerial Conference for adoption. Once approved, the applicant is then free to sign the Protocol. Thirty days after the applicant government notifies the WTO Secretariat that it has completed its ratification procedures, the applicant government becomes a member of the WTO. Questions are often raised as to when a WTO applicant can accede to the WTO and whether it joins the WTO as a developing or a developed country. These questions are an inherent part of each WTO accession negotiation. Basically, this involves the granting of certain flexibilities in the implementation of WTO rules and disciplines — a matter determined in the negotiation process. While accession processes vary in length and can take several years to complete, much depends on the speed with which the applicant government is able to adjust its trade and legal regime to the requirements of WTO rules and disciplines. Because each accession Working Party takes decisions by consensus, WTO members must be in agreement that their individual concerns have been met and that all outstanding issues have been resolved in the course of their deliberations. Since the WTO was established on 1 January 1995, 29 countries have become WTO members. These are: Albania, Angola, Benin, Bulgaria, Chad, Congo, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Estonia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Haiti, Jordan, Latvia, Lithuania, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Niger, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Solomon Islands, and the United Arab Emirates. With 30 governments still in the queue for membership to the WTO, accession will remain a major challenge for WTO members in the years ahead.
Applicants back to top The following 30 governments have requested to join the WTO and their applications are currently being considered by WTO accession working parties or, as in the case of the People’s Republic of China and Chinese Taipei and Vanuatu pending approval by the Ministerial Conference. Each of the governments listed below has WTO observer status.
Membership of the World Trade Organization back to top 142 governments as of 26 July 2001
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