WTO Accessions

Countries and separate customs territories seeking to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) must negotiate the terms of their accession with current Members, as provided for in Article XII of the WTO Agreement, which states:

“...any state or separate customs territory possessing full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations and of the other matters provided for in this Agreement and the Multilateral Trade Agreements may accede to this Agreement, on terms to be agreed between it and the WTO...”

The accession process, with its emphasis on implementation of WTO provisions and the establishment of stable and predictable market access for goods and services, provides a proven framework for adoption of policies and practices that encourage trade and investment and promote growth and development. The accession process strengthens the international trading system by ensuring that new Members understand and implement WTO rules from the outset.

The process also offers current Members the opportunity to secure market access opportunities from acceding countries, to work with acceding Members towards full implementation of WTO obligations, and to address outstanding trade issues covered by the WTO in a multilateral context.

Since the WTO came into existence in 1995, the following twenty five countries and separate customs territories have acceded pursuant to full negotiations under Article XII:

In addition, the WTO has initiated accession negotiations by creating Working Parties for 29 countries, which are at various stages of the negotiating process:

The WTO Accession Process

After receiving a letter requesting accession to the WTO, the General Council considers the appropriateness of the request and decides by consensus whether to establish a Working Party (WP), composed of interested WTO Members, to conduct the negotiations and to develop the terms of the applicant’s accession to the WTO.

The accession applicant submits a description of its trade regime to the Working Party, called a “Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime (MFTR).” WP members review this document and submit questions about it, focusing on areas where the current trade regime does not appear consistent with the provisions of the WTO. The Working Party meets several times to review applicant responses and additional information developed at each subsequent meeting.

During WP meetings, Members conduct a detailed review of the applicant’s entire trade regime, identifying measures in place that do not conform to WTO rules, as well as the areas where legislation will be necessary to implement WTO Agreements. The results of the WP discussions are compiled in a Report of the Working Party that includes a record of the issues discussed, the points raised by members and how the issues will be resolved.

The draft Protocol of Accession, for ultimate adoption by the General Council, is attached to the WP report. It lists specific substantive commitments made by the applicant during the negotiation to eliminate existing WTO-inconsistent measures and to make necessary legislative changes to implement WTO institutional and regulatory requirements. Acceding countries generally implement WTO rules before the Working Party concludes its work.

The Working Party reviews domestic implementing legislation and regulations to ensure that the WTO rules are being properly incorporated. The Working Party also seeks to identify areas where technical assistance can be productively utilized.

In addition to the Working Party report and Protocol of Accession, the terms of accession also require bilateral negotiations for market access of goods and services. Applicants are expected to undertake trade liberalizing specific commitments on market access for industrial and agricultural goods, agricultural domestic supports and export subsidies, and trade in services.

The terms of accession developed with Working Party Members in bilateral and multilateral negotiations are recorded in an accession “protocol package” that includes:

• a Report of the Working Party and draft Protocol of Accession with commitments on the implementation of WTO rules;

• a schedule consolidating all the specific commitments made in bilateral negotiations on market access for goods;

• a schedule consolidating all the specific commitments made in bilateral negotiations on market access for services; and

• specific commitments on the use of agricultural domestic supports and export subsidies.

The Working Party reviews the completed four elements of the protocol package (the terms of accession) and seeks to adopt the package by consensus, i.e., with no objection from any Member. It then transmits the package to the WTO Ministerial Conference, or to the General Council acting on its behalf, with a recommendation that the applicant be invited to accede to the World Trade Organization. General Council or Ministerial Conference approval is also by consensus, notwithstanding that there are provisions in the WTO Agreement for voting on accessions.

Accession applicants commonly submit the approved accession package to their domestic authorities for acceptance.

Thirty days after the WTO receives the applicant’s instrument of ratification accepting the terms of accession, the applicant becomes a WTO Member.

The process has no fixed schedule for completion. The discussion may require a number of meetings over several years, depending on how quickly the applicant moves to change its laws to eliminate WTO-inconsistent measures and to implement WTO Agreements.

U.S. Participation in the Accession Process

As a matter of course, the United States takes a leadership role in all aspects of WTO accessions, including bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral negotiations. The objective is to ensure that new Members implement WTO provisions and to encourage trade liberalization, as well as to use the opportunities provided in these negotiations to expand market access for U.S. exports. 

The United States provides a broad range of technical assistance to countries seeking accession to the WTO to help them meet the requirements and challenges presented, both by the negotiations and the process of implementing WTO provisions in their trade regimes. This assistance is provided through USAID, USDA and the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. It can include short-term technical expertise focused on specific issues, e.g., customs procedures, intellectual property rights protection, or technical barriers to trade, and/or a WTO expert in residence in the acceding country or customs territory. 

A number of WTO Members that have acceded since 1995 received technical assistance in their accession process from the United States: Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Nepal, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

Current accession applicants to which the United States has at one time or another provided technical assistance  include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Yemen.

In September 2008, Cape Verde, Comoros, Ethiopia, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Seychelles participated in a USDA-sponsored workshop on the WTO accession process and Member obligations under the Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.