Editing World Trade Organization (section)

==Accession and membership==
{{Main|World Trade Organization accession and membership}}

The process of becoming a WTO member is unique to each applicant country, and the terms of accession are dependent upon the country's stage of economic development and the current trade regime.<ref name="AS">[http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidtrade/issues/accessions.html Accessions Summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203051531/http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidtrade/issues/accessions.html |date=3 February 2007 }}, Center for International Development</ref> The process takes about five years, on average, but it can last longer if the country is less than fully committed to the process or if political issues interfere. The shortest accession negotiation was that of the [[Kyrgyz Republic]], while the longest was that of Russia, which, having first applied to join GATT in 1993, was approved for membership in December 2011 and became a WTO member on 22 August 2012.<ref name=rusmem>[http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news11_e/acc_rus_16dec11_e.htm Ministerial Conference approves Russia's WTO membership] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107231725/http://wto.org/english/news_e/news11_e/acc_rus_16dec11_e.htm |date=7 January 2012 }} WTO News Item, 16 December 2011</ref> Kazakhstan also had a long accession negotiation process. The Working Party on the Accession of [[Kazakhstan]] was established in 1996 and was approved for membership in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan|url=https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_kazakhstan_e.htm|website=www.wto.org|access-date=23 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425071631/https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_kazakhstan_e.htm|archive-date=25 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The second longest was that of Vanuatu, whose Working Party on the Accession of Vanuatu was established on 11 July 1995. After a final meeting of the Working Party in October 2001, Vanuatu requested more time to consider its accession terms. In 2008, it indicated its interest to resume and conclude its WTO accession. The Working Party on the Accession of Vanuatu was reconvened informally on 4 April 2011 to discuss Vanuatu's future WTO membership. The re-convened Working Party completed its mandate on 2 May 2011. The General Council formally approved the Accession Package of Vanuatu on 26 October 2011. On 24 August 2012, the WTO welcomed Vanuatu as its 157th member.<ref>[http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_vanuatu_e.htm Accession status: Vanuatu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811121430/http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_vanuatu_e.htm |date=11 August 2012 }}. WTO. Retrieved on 12 July 2013.</ref> An offer of accession is only given once consensus is reached among interested parties.<ref name="M64">C. Michalopoulos, ''WTO Accession'', 64</ref>

A 2017 study argues that "political ties rather than issue-area functional gains determine who joins" and shows "how geopolitical alignment shapes the demand and supply sides of membership".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=Christina L.|last2=Wilf|first2=Meredith|date=10 May 2017|title=Joining the Club: Accession to the GATT/WTO|journal=The Journal of Politics|pages=964–978|volume=79|issue=3|doi=10.1086/691058|s2cid=152423155|issn=0022-3816}}</ref> The "findings challenge the view that states first liberalize trade to join the GATT/WTO. Instead, democracy and foreign policy similarity encourage states to join."<ref name=":0" />

===Accession process===
[[File:WTO enlargement.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.8|WTO accession progress:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/status_e.htm|title=Summary Table of Ongoing Accessions|date=April 2014|access-date=25 October 2014|publisher=World Trade Organization|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140929083614/http://wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/status_e.htm|archive-date=29 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> {{legend|#008000|Draft Working Party Report or Factual Summary adopted}} {{legend|#0000ff|Goods or Services offers submitted}} {{legend|#eeee00|Working party meetings}} {{legend|orange|Memorandum on Foreign Trade Regime submitted}} {{legend|#ff1111|Working party established}}]]
[[File:General Council (15850309447).jpg|thumb|The accession process can take several years before a country becomes an official member of the organization.]]

A country wishing to accede to the WTO submits an application to the General Council, and has to describe all aspects of its trade and economic policies that have a bearing on WTO agreements.<ref name="BM">[http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org3_e.htm#join Membership, Alliances and Bureaucracy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070316000217/http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org3_e.htm#join |date=16 March 2007 }}, WTO official site</ref> The application is submitted to the WTO in a [[memorandum]] which is examined by a working party open to all interested WTO Members.<ref name=autogenerated1>C. Michalopoulos, ''WTO Accession'', 62–63</ref>

After all necessary background information has been acquired, the working party focuses on issues of discrepancy between the WTO rules and the applicant's international and domestic trade policies and laws. The working party determines the terms and conditions of entry into the WTO for the applicant nation and may consider transitional periods to allow countries some leeway in complying with the WTO rules.<ref name="AS"/>

The final phase of accession involves bilateral negotiations between the applicant nation and other working party members regarding the concessions and commitments on tariff levels and market access for goods and services. The new member's commitments are to apply equally to all WTO members under normal non-discrimination rules, even though they are negotiated bilaterally.<ref name="BM"/> For instance, as a result of joining the WTO, [[Armenia]] offered a 15 per cent ceiling [[bound tariff rate]] on accessing its market for goods. Together with the tariff bindings being [[ad valorem]] there are no specific or compound rates. Moreover, there are no [[tariff-rate quota]]s on both industrial and agricultural products.<ref>[http://www.wto.am/en/wto-membership Armenia – WTO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512153250/http://www.wto.am/en/wto-membership |date=12 May 2019 }}, www.wto.am</ref> Armenia's economic and trade performance growth was noted since its first review in 2010, especially its revival from the 2008 global financial crisis, with an average annual 4% GDP growth rate, despite some fluctuations. [[Armenia]]'s economy was marked by low inflation, diminishing poverty, and essential progress in enhancing its macroeconomic steadiness in which trade in goods and services, which is the equivalent of 87% of GDP, played a growing role.<ref>[https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp479_crc_e.htm Concluding remarks by the Chairperson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512195924/https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp479_crc_e.htm |date=12 May 2019 }}, WTO official site</ref>

When the bilateral talks conclude, the working party sends to the general council or ministerial conference an accession package, which includes a summary of all the working party meetings, the [[Protocol of Accession]] (a draft membership treaty), and lists ("schedules") of the member to be commitments. Once the general council or ministerial conference approves of the terms of accession, the applicant's parliament must ratify the Protocol of Accession before it can become a member.<ref>[http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/acces_e.htm How to Become a Member of the WTO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313234319/http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/acces_e.htm |date=13 March 2007 }}, WTO official site</ref> Some countries may have faced tougher and a much longer accession process due to challenges during negotiations with other WTO members, such as Vietnam, whose negotiations took more than 11 years before it became an official member in January 2007.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Napier | first1 = Nancy K. | last2 = Vuong | first2 = Quan Hoang | title = What we see, why we worry, why we hope: Vietnam going forward | publisher = Boise State University CCI Press | year = 2013 | location = Boise, ID | page =140 | isbn = 978-0-9855305-8-7}}</ref>

===Members and observers===
{{see|Member states of the World Trade Organization}}
The WTO has 166 members and 23 observer governments.<ref name="memberlist">{{cite web|url=http://wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm|title=Members and Observers|publisher=World Trade Organization|date=24 August 2012|access-date=10 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910105304/http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_e.htm|archive-date=10 September 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |date=26 February 2024 |title=Ministers approve WTO membership of Comoros and Timor-Leste at MC13 |url=https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news24_e/acc_26feb24_e.htm |access-date=26 February 2024 |website=World Trade Organization}}</ref>  Most recently, on 26 February 2024 at the 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, Comoros and Timor Leste were approved to became the 165th and 166th members.<ref name=":10" /> In addition to states, the European Union, and each EU country in its own right,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/european_communities_e.htm|title=The European Union and the WTO|website=World Trade Organization|access-date=2 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624102938/https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/european_communities_e.htm|archive-date=24 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> is a member. WTO members do not have to be fully independent states; they need only be a customs territory with full autonomy in the conduct of their external commercial relations. Thus Hong Kong has been a member since 1995 (as "Hong Kong, China" since 1997) predating the People's Republic of China, which joined in 2001 after 15 years of negotiations. [[Taiwan]] acceded to the WTO in 2002 as the "[[Chinese Taipei|Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu]]."<ref name="J109">Jackson, J.H. ''Sovereignty'', 109</ref> The WTO Secretariat omits the official titles (such as Counsellor, First Secretary, Second Secretary and Third Secretary) of the members of [[Taiwan]]'s Permanent Mission to the WTO, except for the titles of the Permanent Representative and the Deputy Permanent Representative.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mac.gov.tw/public/Data/962717531571.pdf |title=ROC Government Publication |access-date=12 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119112714/http://www.mac.gov.tw/public/Data/962717531571.pdf |archive-date=19 January 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As of 2007, WTO members represented 96.4% of global trade and 96.7% of global GDP.<ref name=":9">{{cite web|url=http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/cbt_course_e/c1s1p1_e.htm |work=          Handbook on Accession to the WTO |title=Accession in perspective|access-date=22 December 2013|publisher=World Trade Organization|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224103425/http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/cbt_course_e/c1s1p1_e.htm|archive-date=24 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Iran]], followed by [[Algeria]], are the economies with the largest GDP and trade outside the WTO, using 2005 data.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/cbt_course_e/annex1_e.doc|title=Annex 1. Statistical Survey|date=2005|access-date=22 December 2013|publisher=World Trade Organization|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224104338/http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/cbt_course_e/annex1_e.doc|archive-date=24 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Iranian Membership in the World Trade Organization: An Unclear Future|journal=[[Iranian Studies (journal)|Iranian Studies]]|date=21 November 2013|last=Arjomandy|first=Danial|doi=10.1080/00210862.2013.859810|volume=47|issue = 6|pages=933–950|s2cid=162297876}}</ref> With the exception of the [[Holy See]], observers must start accession negotiations within five years of becoming observers. A number of international intergovernmental organizations have also been granted observer status to WTO bodies.<ref>[http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/igo_obs_e.htm International intergovernmental organizations granted observer status to WTO bodies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312175427/http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/igo_obs_e.htm |date=12 March 2007 }} at WTO official website</ref> Ten UN members have no affiliation with the WTO.