TECHNICAL NOTE
ON THE ACCESSION PROCESS
Note by the
Secretariat
Revision
The present paper has been
updated by the Secretariat to reflect recent accessions. This paper was originally produced in
response to a request by the General Council for a Technical Note on the
Accession Process (WT/GC/M/32).
This paper is organized under
the following headings:
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Page No.
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1.
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Overview
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2
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2.
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Introduction
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5
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3.
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Relevant WTO Provisions
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7
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4.
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The Accession Process
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(a) General
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8
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(b) Establishment
of Working Party
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16
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(c) Collection
of Factual Information on Acceding Government's Trade Regime
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16
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(d) Negotiation
of Terms of Accession
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20
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(e) Completion
of the Working Party Mandate
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32
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(f) Adoption
of Working Party Report by General Council, Entry into Force of Protocol of
Accession
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33
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(g) Invocation
of Article XIII of the WTO Agreement
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33
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5.
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Technical Assistance
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33
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Annex 1
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Status of Working Party Accessions
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37
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Annex 2
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General Council Decisions and Protocols
of Accession
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2.1 Decisions and Protocols
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71
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2.2 Commitments on Rules
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73
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Annex 3
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Specific Commitments from the
Working Party Reports
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75
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Annex 4
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Specific Commitments on Services
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136
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