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.
See also:
> Non-agricultural market
access negotiations
> Negotiations, implementation and development: the Doha agenda
> Hong
Kong Ministerial Declaration
> GATT
and the Goods Council
> Tariffs
Derestriction of bilateral negotiating material from earlier GATT Rounds of negotiations
In line with WTO's efforts to enhance transparency, Members have agreed to derestrict an important number of documents relating to earlier GATT Rounds of negotiations. 1
The derestricted material includes more than 5,000 records kept by the Secretariat, including bilateral requests, offers, and agreements negotiated using the “request and offer” approach.
The bilateral material has been scanned in a joint project with Stanford University Libraries to ensure its preservation.
1. For more background information on the subject please see minutes of the meetings of the Committee on Market Access (G/MA/M/52, G/MA/M/53, and G/MA/M/55) and the General Council Decision of 25 July 2013, “Derestriction of some GATT 1947 historical bilateral negotiating documentation” (WT/L/892).
> GATT bilateral negotiating material by Round
> GATT bilateral negotiating material by Contracting Party
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Introduction
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
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
The 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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Work of the Committee on Market Access
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.
The current chair is .
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Documents of the Committee on Market Access
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
Quantitative Restrictions Database
> Database
> FAQ
Video: Quantitative Restrictions in the WTO framework
> Full details
- Technical cooperation handbook on notification requirements — Tariffs and Non-Tariff Measures