WTO accessions
China - Measures Related to the Exportation of Various Raw Materials
On 23 June 2009 the United States requested consultations with China with respect to China's restraints on the export from China of various forms of raw materials. The United States cites 32 measures through which China allegedly imposes restraints on the exports in question and note that there appear to be additional unpublished restrictive measures.
United States - Measures Affecting Imports of Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tyres from China
On 14 September 2009 China requested consultations with the United States concerning increased tariffs on certain passenger vehicle and light truck tyres (subject tyres) from China. The decision was announced on 11 September 2009 following an investigation pursuant to section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.). The USITC determined that there was market disruption as a result of rapidly increasing imports of subject tyres from China that were a significant cause of material injury to the domestic industry. Following a Presidential decision additional duties were imposed on subject tyres imports for a three year period in the amount of 35 per cent ad valorem in the first year 30 per cent ad valorem in the second year and 25 per cent ad valorem in the third year (the tyres measure). This measure took effect on 26 September 2009.
Introduction and Summary
This Handbook is intended for readers wanting detailed information on the process of accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). It will be of practical use to people involved in one way or another with the process and with the negotiations on accession to the World Trade Organization. The Handbook provides the general reader with a basis for informed discussion and analysis of the WTO’s membership process. It first places accession in the context of the WTO. It then sets out the basic provisions governing accession before going on to look at the standard procedures followed and then at the terms on which applicants have acceded to the Organization. Finally its annexes bring together the main documents used in the accession process.
Technical Assistance and Training for Acceding Countries
Accession to the WTO is a complex process and all acceding governments need expert advice to master the WTO rules and obligations the procedures governing the accession negotiations the demands that the process makes of them and how to respond to these demands. Applicants are also ipso facto participants in the negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda and need to keep abreast of the issues being dealt with there as they will be expected to accept the results of these negotiations when they become WTO Members.
Accession in Perspective
The multilateral trading system came into being on 1 January 1948 when the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947) was signed by its 23 founding members. The GATT’s membership expanded considerably in the following decades as many countries gained their independence and took over the rights and obligations of membership that metropolitan powers had accepted on their behalf and others negotiated their accession to the treaty. All the Members of GATT 1947 decided by the end of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations (1986–1994) to take on the greatly enlarged rights and obligations of the new organization they had negotiated – the World Trade Organization (WTO) which came into force on 1 January 1995 with 128 original Members. While these accounted for an extremely large percentage of world trade many economies remained outside the multilateral system. Since its inception WTO Members have repeatedly stressed their commitment to making the WTO universal in scope and coverage – an ambition shared by a large number of governments outside the system.
Foreword
Since the establishment of the WTO on 1 January 1995 no less than 23 States and separate customs territories have joined the multilateral trading system through the procedures of Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement. These represent a range of economies from global players to important emerging and transition economies and least-developed countries. A relatively large number are at various stages of the accession process. A certain limited number have still to take the decision to seek WTO membership.
A Handbook on Accession to the WTO
This guide has been prepared to assist public understanding of the process of accession to the WTO. The WTO Ministerial Conference and the General Council have the exclusive right to adopt interpretations of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO and its Multilateral Trade Agreements. This guide is not intended to and does not provide a legal interpretation of WTO provisions.
A Handbook on Accession to the WTO
The Handbook provides the first detailed explanation and analysis of the process whereby governments become Members of the WTO. The WTO Agreement which came into force on 1 January 1995 provides few details on how this process is to take place. Consequently the steps in the detailed negotiations leading up to access have evolved through the actual negotiations for governments which have become Members of the WTO since 1995. This handbook is unique in providing an account of how the process evolved and in offering details on the process as it is now applied. Moreover the input of the WTO Secretariat into the preparation of the guide provides information not available until now to anyone outside the Secretariat. The Secretariat has supported production of this handbook in the hope it will serve as a useful source of reference for officials from acceding governments WTO Members academia and the general public.