Legal texts
WTO legal texts
The 1986–94 Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations resulted in about two dozen agreements, contained in four annexes to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, signed in April 1994. Since their entry into force in January 1995, portions of these agreements have been amended and rectified several times and some were terminated.
The texts reproduced here do not have the legal standing of the original documents which are entrusted and kept at the WTO Secretariat in Geneva.
Introduction
The WTO agreements contain rights and obligations that apply to WTO members in general. Some of these agreements also include “schedules” of commitments specific to individual members.
When signing the Marrakesh Agreement, ministers adopted the Marrakesh Ministerial Declaration to formally conclude the Uruguay Round. They also signed a Final Act, which contained various Uruguay Round ministerial decisions and declarations, and the Understanding on Commitments in Financial Services in an annex.
These documents have been published in the WTO Ministerial Conferences — Key Outcomes publication. Together with the Marrakesh Agreement, which was also annexed to the Final Act, they embody the results of the Uruguay Round.
The Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO and its Annexes
The Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization was signed in Marrakesh on 15 April 1994, and entered into force on 1 January 1995. It contains four annexes. These address trade in goods (Annex 1A) and services (Annex 1B), trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (Annex 1C), procedures for dispute settlement among members (Annex 2), and a mechanism to review members' trade policies (Annex 3).
Following the termination of two agreements in the late 1990s, Annex 4 to the Marrakesh Agreement contains two “plurilateral” trade agreements applicable among certain members only: the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft and the Agreement on Government Procurement.
The Marrakesh Agreement and its Annexes, as amended or rectified up to January 2019, have been published in The WTO Agreements publication.
Since 1995, specific portions of the Marrakesh Agreement have been amended or rectified. The amendments included the insertion, in 2017, of the Trade Facilitation Agreement into Annex 1A, the amendment of the TRIPS Agreement in 2017 to improve developing economies' access to medicines, and the extension of review cycles under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism, which took effect in 2019. In 2022, an amendment to the Marrakesh Agreement was adopted for the insertion of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies into Annex 1A. This amendment is currently open for acceptance by members and has not yet entered into force.
There have also been amendments to the plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement and the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft. Both the original and amended versions of these agreements are available below.
A detailed description of how the Marrakesh Agreement entered into force and how it has been rectified and amended is contained in the introduction to the Status of WTO Legal Instruments publication.
Accession protocols, which also form an integral part of the Marrakesh Agreement, are available in the accessions section of the WTO website.
Key documents relating to negotiations among certain members resulting in co-ordinated changes to relevant members' goods and services schedules are available through the dedicated page regarding members' schedules.
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization
Annex 1
Annex 1A Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods
- General interpretative note to Annex 1A
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994)
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (GATT 1947)
Explanation on the relationship with the GATT 1994
Members' goods schedules - Differential and More Favourable Treatment Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (“Enabling Clause”)
- Understanding on the Interpretation of Article II:1(b) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
- Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XVII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (State trading enterprises)
- Understanding on the Balance-of-Payments Provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
- Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Regional Trade Agreements)
- Understanding in Respect of Waivers of Obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
- Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Modification of Schedules)
- Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
- Agreement on Agriculture
- Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
- Agreement on Textiles and Clothing
Note: this Agreement was terminated on 1 January 2005. See document G/TMB/R/116 and Textiles - Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
- Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs)
- Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Anti-dumping)
- Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Customs Valuation)
- Agreement on Preshipment Inspection
- Agreement on Rules of Origin
- Agreement on Import Licensing
- Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
- Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
- Agreement on Safeguards
- Agreement on Trade Facilitation
Relevant members' category A, B and C commitments
Annex 1B General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
Members' services schedules
Annex 1C Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), as amended on 23 January 2017
(original, unamended version)
Integrated IP Conventions
Annex 2
- Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU)
Annex 3
- Trade Policy Review Mechanism, as amended as of 1 January 2019
(original, unamended version)
Annex 4 Plurilateral Trade Agreements
- Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, done at Geneva on 12 April 1979, as subsequently modified, rectified or amended up to the adoption of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization
Annex to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, as amended in 2001 and 2015
Earlier versions of the Annex - Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), as amended on 6 April 2014 Members' GPA schedules under the amended GPA
(original, unamended version of 1994)
Members' GPA schedules under the original, 1994 GPA - International Dairy Agreement
Note: this Agreement was terminated as of 1 January 1998. See document IDA/8. - International Bovine Meat Agreement
Note: this Agreement was terminated end 1997. See document IMA/8.
Schedules and TFA commitments
Four agreements annexed to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization include concessions and commitments specific to individual members: the GATT, the GATS, the Agreement on Trade Facilitation, and the Agreement on Government Procurement.
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