WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/COMTD/LDC/W/52 
3 November 2011  
 
(11-5596) 
Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries Original:   English 
  
 
ACCESSION OF LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES TO THE WTO 
 
Submission by the LDC Group 
  
 The following communication containing a proposal for a decision on the accession of least-
developed countries to the WTO, dated 2 November  2011, has been received from the delegation of 
Bangladesh, on behalf of the LDC Group.   
_______________ 
 
 
Draft Decision on the Accession of Least-Developed Countries to the WTO 
 
 
Ministers, 
 
Reaffirming the guidelines for accession for the least-developed countries (LDCs') adopted by the 
Decision of the General Council of 10 December 2002 (WT/L/508);  Noting  with concern that only three LDCs (Cambodia, Nepal and Cape Verde
1) have successfully 
completed their accession negotiations since 1995, purs uant to the provisions of Article XII of the 
Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization; 
 Noting the continued onerous requests during the accessi on process that are beyond the capacities of 
the acceding LDCs;  
Welcoming  LDCs' endeavours and efforts aimed at liberalizing and instituting development 
conducive  trade policies and regula tions in order to advance thei r trade and development objectives 
and to ensure sustainable growth of their economies;  Recognising  that the priorities in the liberalisation of LDCs' trade policies shoul d primarily be based 
on LDCs' development objectives; 
 Recognising the structural difficulties faced by the LDCs  in the global economy and in realizing their 
trade and development objectives;  
Appreciating  the technical support provided by some WTO Members as well as regional and 
international organizations to LDCs in their WTO accession process, and recognising the need to 
streamline such support to ensure its efficiency;   
                                                      
1 Cape Verde graduated from the LDCs' Group effective 1 January 2008 (UN General Assembly 
Resolution A/RES/59/210). WT/COMTD/LDC/W/52 
Page 2  
 
  Determined  to help LDCs secure beneficial, meani ngful and facilitated integration into the 
multilateral trading system;  Decide that: 
 
Accession negotiations of LDCs shall be commens urate with their development objectives through 
further strengthening, streamlin ing and operationalising the 2002 Accession Guidelines as below, 
thereby ensuring that WTO principles are fully  respected by acceding LDCs and WTO Members 
alike: 
 
I. MARKET ACCESS  
(a) To ensure that due restraint is exerci sed in seeking concessions and commitments on 
trade in goods and services from acceding LD Cs, recognising their special structural 
problems, development priorities and the vulnerability of their economies, on the basis of the following principles : 
(i) Concrete benchmarks for concessions and commitments shall be defined  
based on average concessions and commitments of original WTO LDC 
Member countries; 
(ii) Market access negotiations shall be base d on the initial offer of the acceding 
LDCs; 
(iii) For better predictability and transp arency, bilateral market access 
negotiations shall be replaced by mu ltilateral market access negotiations;  
(iv) Any derogation from the benchmarks sh all be allowed only under exceptional 
circumstances in the context of mu ltilateral market access negotiations; 
(v) Acceding LDCs shall not be requested to make commitments on any sectoral 
market access initiatives. 
(b) As part of benchmarks for concessions on goods acceding LDCs shall be required to 
meet the following criteria:  
(i) The binding coverage level
2 and the tariff rate binding3 shall be based on 
concessions' averages made by original WTO LDC Member Countries;  and 
(ii)  To apply tariff rate quotas or other qu antitative restrictions on imports in 
accordance with WTO Agreements. 
(c) As part of benchmarks for services, acceding LDCs shall be required to meet the 
following criteria : 
(i) WTO Members shall exercise restraint from seeking commitments due to 
lack of  regulatory and instituti onal frameworks in acceding LDCs; 
                                                      
2 Binding coverage level of 100 per cent for agriculture and 48 per cent for non-agriculture products 
(Source:  WTO Statistics). 
3 Tariff binding average of 79 per cent for agricultu re and 44 per cent for non-agriculture products 
(Source:  WTO Statistics).  WT/COMTD/LDC/W/52 
 Page 3 
 
 
  (ii) The number of services sectors and sub-sectors to be decided on the basis of 
the average number of commitments undertaken by original WTO LDC Member countries;  and 
(iii) The services sectors and sub-sectors shall be identified by the acceding LDCs 
in line with its particular development objectives. 
(d) A WTO Member shall not engage in ma rket access negotiations on goods and 
services with acceding LDCs and ask for further concessions and commitments after the date when the agreement by Members of respective Working Parties on consolidation of the multilateral market access negotiations on goods and services has 
been achieved. 
II. WTO RULES 
(a) Acceding LDCs shall automatically be entitle d to the full benefit of all Special and 
Differential Treatment and subsidies' provisi ons and exemptions enjoyed by original 
LDC WTO Members; 
(b) Due to LDCs institutional weaknesses and lack of relevant capacities, transitional 
periods of up to 10 years shall be gran ted to acceding LDCs in multilateral accession 
negotiations for effective im plementation of their commitments.  The list of WTO 
multilateral agreements where such transiti onal arrangements may be sought shall be 
identified individually by each acceding LDC; 
(c) The transitional periods/arrangements sti pulated in paragraph II.(b) shall be 
accompanied, by Action Plans outlining successive steps for implementation of 
legislative and regulatory reforms, from the da te of entry into force of their respective 
Protocols of Accession, as well as co rresponding dates for each step of the 
implementation process; 
(d) Acceding LDCs shall not be requested to make commitments on the WTO plurilateral 
agreements; 
(e) Targeted technical assistance shall be provided to acceding LDCs as identified in 
their respective Action Plans.  The providers of technical assistance shall undertake time-bound commitments which shall be inte grated into the corresponding action 
plans; 
(f) Upon the request of the acceding LDCs, a re view of the implementation of the action 
plans may take place at the end of the transitional periods/arrangements based on 
reports submitted by the concerne d LDC and the WTO Secretariat. 
III. PROCESS/PROCEDURES 
In order to mitigate the challenges faced by accedin g LDCs, especially with regard to the length and 
complexity of the accession process, the following measures, among others, shall be undertaken:  
 
(a) Stipulate a minimum timeframe for scheduling the first meeting of the Working Party 
from the date of the Submission of the Memorandum of Foreign Trade Regime 
(MFTR) and minimise the number of Working Party meetings;  WT/COMTD/LDC/W/52 
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  (b) Enhance the role of  the good offices of th e Director-General and  the Chairs of 
Working Parties in facilitating LDCs' accessi on in the context of multilateral market 
access negotiations; 
(c) Present annual progress reports on LDC acc essions to the General Council by the 
Director-General;  and  
(d) Accord particular attention and support to  non-resident delegations in response to 
their specific needs and suggestions, includi ng, where feasible, increasing the use of 
electronic means of communication; 
(e) Dedicated sessions of the General Counc il shall be convened on LDCs' accession 
periodically with the participation of acced ing LDCs as observers.  The sessions shall 
serve as the forum to: 
(i) Receive and analyse periodic reports fro m the Chairs of Working Parties to 
identify the challenges in the accessions  processes and find solutions to 
address those challenges; 
(ii) Ensure that technical assistance and capacity-building measures are tailored 
to the needs of acceding LDCs. 
IV. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING 
Targeted and coordinated as well as effective and broad-based technical assistance and capacity 
building support shall be provided to acceding LDCs in a timely manner.  In so doing, the following 
modalities, among others, shall be put into effect: 
 
(a) WTO Secretariat  to provide technical assistance and capacity building to an acceding 
LDC from the very beginning of the accession process to the post-accession 
implementation phase; 
(b) Elaboration of a Master Plan for technical assistance and capacity building by WTO 
Secretariat in close consultation with the acceding LDC and other relevant development partners from the very beginning of the accession process, to be 
reviewed periodically; 
(c) Creation of an accession fund for LDCs managed by the WTO Secretariat to 
coordinate WTO's technical assistance and capacity building measures; 
(d) The WTO Secretariat to develop an indica tive list of experts and organizations for 
providing technical assistance and capacity bu ilding, to be upda ted periodically;  
(e) Acceding LDCs to choose freely the expert s and/or organizations which correspond 
best to their needs. 
 
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