The WTO Trade Policy Reviews

Stampa
There are no translations available.

Among the responsibilities of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) there is the surveillance of trade policies of its members (which include both national countries and customs territories, like the EU, the EAC, WAEMU, SACU and others), and the analysis of their impact on the functioning of the multilateral trading system.

To this end, the contracting Parties to the former General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), now replaced by the WTO, developed with a Decision of 12 April 1989 (GATT document L/6490) a periodical assessment tool called “Trade Policy Review Mechanism” (TPRM), whose purpose is to examine and evaluate at regular intervals the adherence, by all the WTO Members, to the rules, disciplines and commitments made under the Multilateral Trade Agreements and, where applicable, the Plurilateral Trade Agreements.

The body responsible for conducting such assessment is the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB), whose rules of procedure have been established with the document WT/TPR/6. The last revision of such document (Rev. 4), was adopted on 16 June 2017.

The frequency of each review varying according to the country or customs territory size and its share of world trade. The chronological list of Countries/Customs territories subjected to the TPRM is available here.