An Evaluation of the Terms of Accession to the World Trade Organization A Comparative Assessment of Services and Goods Sector Commitments by WTO Members and Acceding Countries - Economic Paper

The relevant provisions for accession to the WTO, mainly entrenched in Article XII of the Marrakech Agreement, do not provide an adequate legal basis for the process. Its inherent flaws have resulted in demands on acceding countries that are invariably onerous and bear little or no relation to their size, significance or development status. This paper deals with a comparative assessment of commitments between WTO members and acceding countries in both the goods and services sectors. The study finds that, for the services sector, the commitments of post-Uruguay Round acceding countries far exceed those of their WTO member counterparts. In the goods sector, the bound tariff rate for acceding countries is much lower than their WTO member counterparts. The study also provides country specific commitment comparisons after controlling for the level of economic development of the countries. In conclusion, the authors make brief recommendations for reform of the process of accession, in light of the costs incurred by applicant countries, so as to produce more equitable outcomes.