Committee on Market Access - Situation of Schedules of WTO Members - Note by the Secretariat - Revision

SITUATION OF SCHEDULES OF WTO MEMBERS

Note by the Secretariat[1]

Revision

It was agreed at the Market Access Committee meeting of 22 June 1999 that Annex II of document _G/MA/63, setting out the situation of schedules of WTO Members, would be updated periodically.[2] In this connection, please find attached an update of the status of Members' schedules incorporating information up to 25 April 2025. The introductory text contained in Annex II of the original document _G/MA/63 has been updated to take into account developments since the last revision.

 

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1  introduction

1.1.  Each WTO Member has a Schedule of concessions[3], sometimes referred to as a "Goods Schedule", most of which are either annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the GATT 1994 or to a Protocol of Accession.[4] The Uruguay Round Schedules of some Members incorporate by reference concessions pre-dating the Uruguay Round or indicated that the new concessions are "without prejudice" to their GATT Schedule and, as a result, many of these concessions remain valid under the WTO.[5] Although it is frequent to refer to "the" Schedule of a Member, tariff and other concessions can be contained in several legal instruments that, together, set out that Member's obligations.



[1] This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice to the positions of Members or to their rights and obligations under the WTO.

[2] See _G/MA/M/19, paragraph 4.1.

[3] Paragraph 1 of the Marrakesh Protocol to the GATT 1994 provides: "The schedule annexed to this Protocol relating to a Member shall become a Schedule to GATT 1994 relating to that Member on the day on which the WTO Agreement enters into force for that Member." This usage followed the convention in earlier GATT 1947 tariff protocols under which a "Schedule" of proposed concessions became a legally-binding "Schedule" upon its entry into force. See also Article XI of the WTO Agreement.

[4] Certain commitments are not directly reflected in the Schedules. For example, supporting Tables relating to commitments on agricultural products (AGST Supporting Tables) and specifically identified in Part IV of the Schedules annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol can be found in WTO document series _G/AG/AGST. Supporting Tables of acceded Members are now circulated in the _WT/ACC or _WT/ACC/SPEC document series. These documents can be obtained from the WTO website http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/supporting_tables_e.htm.

[5] The situation of Pre-Uruguay Round schedules can be found in GATT documents TAR/W/7 and TAR/W/85.