Legal Instrument of Wto

The LAD-based Assistant Depositary prepares a publication on the status of WTO legal instruments. This publication, which lists all legal instruments prepared and deposited by WTO Members in relation to the WTO Agreement and the plurilateral trade agreements annexed to this Agreement, provides Members with a consolidated compilation of instruments of acceptance and accession, as well as other official notifications and communications relating to the WTO Agreements. This publication also contains a useful explanation of how the WTO Agreements have entered into force and of the depositary`s practice with regard to amendments to these Agreements and related legal instruments. In particular, the instrument of acceptance/accession: The publication shall include all treaty instruments developed since 1995 by WTO Members under the WTO Agreement and the multilateral and plurilateral trade agreements annexed to this Agreement. It sets the dates of adoption and signature of the WTO Agreements and the dates of adoption or amendment of these Agreements. It shall also indicate the date of its entry into force and any other communication and declaration received by the Director-General of the WTO in his capacity as depositary of the WTO. The Legal Affairs Division (LAD) of the WTO Secretariat assists the Director-General in carrying out the Director-General`s custodial duties. It copies relevant agreements and analyses practical legal issues that arise in the day-to-day work of depositaries in accordance with international law and established depositary practice. Upon request, LAD also assists acceding members and governments in the preparation of their WTO-related legal instruments, such as instruments of accession and instruments of acceptance of protocols amending the WTO Agreements.

Since the beginning of GATT on 1 January 1948, the Contracting Parties have drawn up a large number of multilateral international agreements under the following titles: Protocol, Agreement, Declaration, Oral Procedure, Memorandum, Certificate, Memorandum of Understanding. This volume deals with acts drawn up by the CONTRACTING PARTIES or drawn up under their auspices. Since then, negotiations have resulted in other legal texts such as the Information Technology Agreement, Services and Accession Protocols. Further negotiations were launched at the Doha Ministerial Conference in November 2001. Von 1948 bis zum 1. In February 1955, GATT acts were deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Instrument 32, although completed in October 1953, has not been deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. As from 1 February 1955, the Director-General of the CONTRACTING PARTIES was entrusted with the functions of depositary. Instruments are usually numbered in the chronological order in which they were completed. They are divided into sixteen chapter headings (see page XIII). In each chapter, they are usually listed in chronological order of their conclusion.

1. Alternatively, where appropriate, the competent authority of a Member, normally the most senior official responsible for foreign trade, may issue and sign the instrument. This is particularly true for WTO Members, which may not have officials with titles directly equivalent to the „Big Three” in a manner acceptable to all WTO Members. back to text Members intending to be bound by a WTO agreement or a particular related legal instrument must express their consent by depositing a valid „instrument of acceptance” directly with the Director-General or through the Assistant Depositary. Most WTO instruments set out, in addition to the relevant provisions of the WTO Agreements, additional measures that a Member must take to demonstrate its consent. Members can express this consent in a variety of ways and have a separate national approval process. Specific and differentiated provisions in legal texts: In addition, a valid instrument of accession should be deposited by an acceding Member accepting the relevant Protocol of Accession to the WTO or by a Member acceding to a plurilateral agreement. The depositary has informed the Contracting Parties and the Governments concerned of the appropriate signatures, of the receipt of instruments of ratification, accession or acceptance, of instruments of succession and withdrawal, of the entry into force of instruments and of any other relevant notifications, declarations or reservations received. The WTO is an intergovernmental organization that operates on the basis of several international agreements concluded by its members.

When the WTO was established, Members mandated the Director-General to act as depositary of these agreements and related instruments. As depositary, the Director-General is the custodian of the original WTO agreements and instruments and provides each Member with certified copies of the originals.