Question

Discuss the various process of accession to the WTO.

Answer 1

Any state or customs territory with full autonomy in the conduct of its trade policies may become a WTO member ("accede"), but the terms must be agreed by all WTO members. This is achieved by setting up a WTO member working party and agreeing a procedure. The emerging Accessions Transparency Tool Box (ATTB) aims at helping countries enter their WTO accession process and maintaining transparency. This provides a handbook, the Director-General's annual accession reports, an Accession Commitments Database (ACDB) and other resources for assisting accession work and ensuring consistency in WTO accession negotiations.

Around half of the countries in the WTO accession process are considered "fragile and affected by conflict" (FCA). The initiative "Trade for Peace," launched at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in December 2017, aims to use the process of WTO accession as a path to economic growth and development, fundamental elements of national, regional and international peace and security.

The method of entering the WTO is regulated by Article XII of the Marrakech Agreement, also known as accession. A working party, consisting of all interested WTO members, will scrutinize each application and discuss the accession conditions. That is followed by an extended period of bilateral negotiations on tariff rates and market access between the claimant and each member of the working party.