WTO | Regional trade agreements

Basic InformationWTO Consideration ProcessRTA Provisions

Agreement name:	EFTA - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
Coverage:	Goods & Services	Type:	Free Trade Agreement & Economic Integration Agreement
Status:	In Force	Notification under:	GATT Art. XXIV & GATS Art. V
Date of signature:	22-Jun-2009	Date of notification:	06-Oct-2022
Date of entry into force:	01-Jul-2014	End of implementation period:	2019
Current signatories:	Bahrain, Kingdom of; Kuwait, the State of; Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of; United Arab Emirates; Iceland; Liechtenstein; Norway; Switzerland
Original signatories:	Bahrain, Kingdom of; Kuwait, the State of; Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of; United Arab Emirates; Iceland; Liechtenstein; Norway; Switzerland
RTA Composition:	Bilateral; All Parties are RTAs
Region:	Middle East; Europe
All Parties WTO members?	Yes	Cross-Regional:	Yes

Official Web Address

Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

Text of the agreement

Text of the agreement	E

Annexes & related documents

Annexes	E

Consideration status (G):

Awaiting data from the Parties

Consideration status (S):

Awaiting data from the Parties

Early announcement

		Date of signature:	22-Jun-2009

Related documents

Document series: WT/REG465

Document type	Symbol	Language
Notification (G)	WT/REG465/N/1	E F S
Notification (S)	S/C/N/1111	E F S

RTA Provisions Glossary

For details on these provisions, please consult the Glossary.

Last modified on: 11/10/2022

Topics
	Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ)
	All quantitative import restrictions prohibited
	Rules of Origin (RoO)
		Change of Tariff Classification Criteria (CTC)
		Regional Value Content Criteria (RVC)
		Other Criteria(s)
		De minimis rules
		Outward-processing allowed
		Cumulation among Parties
	All Export restrictions, including quantitative restrictions, prohibited
	Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO SPS Agreement
		Transparency obligations (SPS)
	Technical regulations, standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO TBT Agreement
	Safeguard Mechanisms (Goods)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Safeguard Agreement
		Exclusion of an RTA party in global safeguard action
	Balance-of-payments measures (Goods)
	Anti-Dumping measures
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Agreement on Anti-Dumping
	Countervailing measures
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing measures
	Subsidies (Goods)
	MFN Clause/Preferences extended from other RTAs (Goods)
	Sector-specific chapter/section or other legal instrument (Goods)
	Denial of benefits
	Services
		Positive list (Services)


	Rendez-Vous/Review/Evolutionary clause (services)
	Provisions on capital transfers
	Domestic Regulation
	Mutual Recognition
	Movement of Natural Persons
	Sector-specific chapter/section or other legal instrument (Services)
	General Exceptions
	Security Exceptions
	Accession
		Accession open to some third parties only
	Dispute Settlement (DS)
		Ad hoc Adjudicative Process
	Government procurement
	Intellectual property rights
		Enforcement
	Competition
		Adopts or maintains competition law
	Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
		Exceptions/exemptions
	E-Commerce
		Consumer protection provisions