TECHNICAL NOTE
ON THE ACCESSION PROCESS
Note by the
Secretariat
At its meeting of 10 December
1998 the General Council held a discussion on the process of accession at the
request of the delegations of Egypt and Jamaica. The statement of the delegation of Jamaica
was distributed in advance of the meeting as Job No. 6787. The General Council also had before it a Note
by the Secretariat, Accession to the WTO - State of Play (WT/GC/W/100). The present paper has been prepared by the
Secretariat in response to a request by the General Council at that meeting 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)
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General
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8
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(b)
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Establishment of Working Party
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15
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(c)
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Collection of Factual Information on Acceding Government's Trade
Regime
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15
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(d)
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Negotiation of Terms of Accession
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19
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(e)
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Completion of the Working Party Mandate
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28
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(f)
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Adoption of Working Party Report by General Council, Entry into
Force of Protocol of Accession
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29
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(g)
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Invocation of Article XIII of the WTO Agreement
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29
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5.
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Technical Assistance
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29
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Annex 1
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Status of Working Party Accessions
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33
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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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64
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2.2 Commitments on
Rules
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66
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2.3 Specific
Commitments on Services
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97
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