WTO | Regional trade agreements

Basic InformationWTO Consideration ProcessRTA Provisions

Agreement name:	South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA)
Coverage:	Goods	Type:	Free Trade Agreement
Status:	In Force	Notification under:	Enabling Clause
Date of signature:	06-Jan-2004	Date of notification:	21-Apr-2008
Date of entry into force:	01-Jan-2006	End of implementation period:	2016
Current signatories:	Afghanistan; Bangladesh; Bhutan; India; Maldives; Nepal; Pakistan; Sri Lanka
Original signatories:	Bangladesh; Bhutan; India; Maldives; Nepal; Pakistan; Sri Lanka
RTA Composition:	Plurilateral
Region:	West Asia
All Parties WTO members?	No	Cross-Regional:	No

Related agreements

South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) - Accession of Afghanistan
South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement (SAPTA)

Official Web Address

South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC)

Text of the agreement

Text of the agreement	E

Annexes & related documents

Annexes	E

Consideration status:	Awaiting data from the Parties

Related documents

Document series: WT/COMTD/10

Document type	Symbol	Language
Notification	WT/COMTD/N/26	E F S

RTA Provisions Glossary

For details on these provisions, please consult the Glossary.

Last modified on: 06/01/2020

Topics
	Rules of Origin (RoO)
		Change of Tariff Classification Criteria (CTC)
		Regional Value Content Criteria (RVC)
		Cumulation among Parties
	Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS)
	Technical regulations, standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT)
	Safeguard Mechanisms (Goods)
		Specifically reaffirms or incorporates WTO Safeguard Agreement
		RTA-specific safeguard measures always permitted
	Balance-of-payments measures (Goods)
	Anti-Dumping measures
	Countervailing measures
	Provisions on capital transfers


	Domestic Regulation
	Mutual Recognition
	Safeguard Mechanisms (Services)
	Balance-of-payments measures (Services)
	General Exceptions
	Security Exceptions
	Dispute Settlement (DS)
		Ad hoc Adjudicative Process
	Intellectual property rights