gatt documents

Derestriction of bilateral negotiating material from GATT rounds of negotiations

In line with the WTO's efforts to enhance transparency, members have agreed to derestrict an important number of documents relating to the GATT rounds of negotiations. Eight rounds of tariff negotiations were held between 1947 and 1994: Geneva (1947), Annecy (1949), Torquay (1950-51), Geneva (1956), Geneva (1960-61) - also known as the Dillon Round - the Kennedy Round (1964-67), the Tokyo Round (1973-79) and the Uruguay Round (1986-94).

The WTO Secretariat keeps a record of these negotiating materials including bilateral requests, offers and agreements negotiated using the “request and offer” approach, which eventually led to the WTO schedules of concessions for goods. The bilateral material has been scanned in a joint project with Stanford University Libraries to ensure its preservation.

WTO members agreed to the procedures for derestricting this historical documentation in the Committee on Market Access and by Decisions of the General Council (WT/L/892, WT/L/933, WT/L/966, WT/L/1025 and WT/L/1159). The objective of this derestriction is to enhance transparency and to make available to the public documents and materials of historical and research value. WTO members retain the right to decide if certain documents relating to their own negotiations shall remain restricted.

The bilateral records of these rounds are presented below, derestricted by the members concerned. Find documents by negotiation round or by members.