WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/508
20 January 2003
(03-0191)
ACCESSION OF LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Decision of 10 December 2002
The General Council,
Having regard to paragraph 2 of Article IV and paragraph 1 of Article XII of the Marrakesh
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organizati on (the "WTO Agreement"), the commitment made
by Ministers, in paragraph 42 of the Doha Minist erial Declaration of 14 November 2001, to facilitate
and accelerate the accession negotiations with acceding least-developed countries (LDCs), and the
Decision-Making Procedures under Article IX and XI I of the WTO Agreement agreed by the General
Council (WT/L/93);
Considering  the relevant provisions of the WTO Multilateral Trade Agreements, as well as
Ministerial Decisions, and WTO legal instruments, on special and differential treatment for developing
and least-developed countries;
Conducting the function of the Ministerial Conference in the interval between meetings
pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article IV of the WTO Agreement;
Recalling  that the Director General shall submit a status report to the Fifth Ministerial
Conference on the "Implementation of the commitment by Ministers to facilitate and accelerate the
accession of LDCs";
Noting with concern  that no LDC has acceded to the Organization in accordance with
Article XII of the WTO Agreement since 1995;
Recognizing  the need to build on recent progress and for further positive efforts designed to
assist LDCs to participate in the rules-based mu ltilateral trading system, as embodied by the WTO and
its Agreements;
Taking into account  the commitments undertaken by LDC WTO Members at similar levels of
development;
Also taking into account  the statements made on the accession of LDCs to the WTO:
- By Ministers in the Integrated WTO Plan  of Action for the LDCs adopted at the
Singapore Ministerial C onference on 13 December 1996;
- by WTO Members at the High Level Meeting on Integrated Initiatives for LDCs' Trade
Development on 27-28 October 1997;  and
- by the Third United Nations Conference on Least-Developed Countries (LDC-III) in
the Brussels Declaration and Programme of Action;
- by LDC Ministers in their Zanzibar  Declaration of 24 July 2001;  andWT/L/508
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Pursuant to the follow-up work undertaken by Members with the adoption of the WTO Work
Programme for LDCs on 12 Febr uary 2002 (WT/COMTD/LDC/11);
Decides  that:
1. Negotiations for the accession of LDCs to the WTO, be facilitated and accelerated through
simplified and streamlined accession procedures, with a view to concluding these negotiations as
quickly as possible, in accordance with the guidelines set out hereunder:
I. MARKET ACCESS
- WTO Members shall exercise restraint  in seeking concessions and commitments on
trade in goods and services from acceding LDCs, taking into account the levels of
concessions and commitments undertaken by existing WTO LDCs' Members;
- acceding LDCs shall offer access through reasonable concessions and commitments
on trade in goods and services commensurate with their individual development,
financial and trade needs, in line with Article XXXVI.8 of GATT 1994,  Article 15 of
the Agreement on Agriculture, and Articles IV and XIX of the General Agreement onTrade in Services.
II. WTO RULES
- Special and Differential Treatment, as set out in the Multilateral Trade Agreements,
Ministerial Decisions, and other relevant WTO legal instruments, shall be applicable to
all acceding LDCs, from the date of entry in to force of their respective Protocols of
Accession;
- transitional periods/transitional arrangements foreseen under specific WTO
Agreements, to enable acceding LDCs to effectively implement commitments and
obligations, shall be granted in accession negotiations taking into account individual
development, financial and trade needs;
- transitional periods/arrangements shall be accompanied by Action Plans for
compliance with WTO rules.  The implementation of the Action Plans shall be
supported by Technical Assistance and Capacity Building measures for the acceding
LDCs'.  Upon the request of an acceding LDC, WTO Members may  coordinate
efforts to guide that LDC through the implementation process;
- commitments to accede to any of the Plurilate ral Trade Agreements or to participate in
other optional sectoral market access initiatives shall not be a precondition for
accession to the Multilateral Trade Agreements of the WTO.  As provided inparagraph 5 of Article IX and paragraph 3 of Article XII of the WTO Agreement,
decisions on the Plurilateral Trade Agreements shall be adopted by the Members of,
and governed by the provisions in, thos e Agreements.  WTO Members may seek to
ascertain acceding LDCs interests in the Plurilateral Trade Agreements.
III. PROCESS
- The good offices of the Director-General shall be available to assist acceding LDCs
and Chairpersons of the LDCs' Accession Working Parties in implementing this
decision;WT/L/508
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- efforts shall continue to be made, in line with information technology means and
developments, including in LDCs themselves,  to expedite documentation exchange
and streamline accession procedures for LDCs to make them more effective and
efficient, and less onerous.  The Secretariat will assist in this regard. Such efforts will,
inter-alia , be based upon the WTO Reference Centres that are already operational in
acceding LDCs;
- WTO Members may adopt additional measures in their bilateral negotiations to
streamline and facilitate the process, e.g., by holding bilateral negotiations in the
acceding LDC if so requested;
- upon request, WTO Members may  through coordinated, concentrated and targeted
technical assistance from an early stage facilitate the accession of an acceding LDC.
IV. TRADE-RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING
- Targeted and coordinated technical assistance and capacity building, by WTO and
other relevant multilateral, regional and bilateral development partners, includinginter alia  under the Integrated Framework (IF), shall be provided, on a priority basis,
to assist acceding LDCs.  Assistance shall be accorded with the objective of
effectively integrating the acceding LDC into the multilateral trading system;
- effective and broad-based technical coopera tion and capacity building measures shall
be provided, on a priority basis, to cover all stages of the accession process, i.e. from
the preparation of documentation to the setting up of the legislative infrastructure and
enforcement mechanisms, considering the high  costs involved and in order to enable
the acceding LDC to benefit from and comply with WTO rights and obligations.
2. The implementation of these guidelines shall be reviewed regularly in the agenda of the Sub-
Committee on LDCs.  The results of this review shall be included in the Annual Report of the
Committee on Trade and Development to the General Council.  In pursuance of their commitments on
LDCs' accessions in the Doha Ministerial Declaration, Ministers will take stock of the situation at the
Fifth Ministerial Conference and, as appropriate, at subsequent Ministerial Conferences.
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