REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
INFORMATION SYSTEM
(RTA-IS)
USER GUIDE
I. Brief
Introduction to Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs)
II. What is the Regional Trade
Agreements Information System
A. What
kind of information is available from the RTA-IS?
1. The
"ID-Card" and its content
2. Early
announcements,agreements notified but not yet in force and inactive agreements
3. Pre-defined
reports and Summary Tables
B. RTA
Information Search facility
1. Search
by country/territory
B. Glossary
of RTA ID-CARD terms
IV. Frequently Asked Questions
When a WTO Member enters into a
regional trade agreement (RTA) through which it grants more favourable
conditions than for trade with other WTO Members, it departs from the guiding
principle of non-discrimination defined in the GATT, and the GATS. WTO Members are however permitted to enter into
such arrangements under specific conditions which are spelled out in three sets
of rules:
¨
Paragraphs 4 to 10 of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 (as clarified in the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article
XXIV of the GATT 1994) provide for the formation and operation of customs
unions and free-trade areas covering trade in goods, and interim agreements
leading to one or the other;
¨
Paragraph
2(c) of the so-called Enabling Clause (i.e., the 1979 Decision on
Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller
Participation of Developing Countries) refers to preferential trade
arrangements in trade in goods amongst developing country Members; and
¨
Article V of GATS governs RTAs in the area of trade
in services, for both developed and developing country Members.
In
addition, the Transparency Mechanism — negotiated in the Negotiating
Group on Rules established under the Doha Development Agenda — provides for the
early announcement of any RTA. Each of the above mentioned sets of rules
provide for the notification of RTAs to the WTO; notified RTAs are considered
by Members on the basis of a Factual Presentation drafted by the WTO
Secretariat in consultation with the parties to the RTA. See the dedicated webpage on the WTO General Council
Decision on
The consideration of RTAs shall be
carried out by the WTO Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA), except for those RTAs that are notified under the Enabling
Clause, which are considered by the WTO Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) meeting in dedicated session.
The
parties to an RTA can notify several types of RTAs:
¨
A
Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as defined in Paragraph 8(b) of Article XXIV of GATT 1994;
¨
A
Customs Union (CU), as defined in Paragraph 8(a) of Article XXIV of GATT 1994;
¨
An
Economic Integration Agreement (EIA), as defined in Article V of GATS; or
¨
A "Partial Scope" Agreement (PS). "Partial Scope" which is not
defined or referred to in the WTO Agreement, means that the agreement covers
only certain products. Partial scope
agreements are notified under paragraph 4(a) of the Enabling Clause.
¨
Early
Announcement
Under the Transparency Mechanism,
Members participating in new negotiations aimed at the conclusion of an RTA shall
endeavour to inform the WTO Secretariat of such negotiations. Members which are
parties to a newly signed RTA shall convey to the Secretariat information on
the RTA.
¨
Notification
WTO Members entering into RTAs are
required to notify such RTA to the WTO, either under Article XXIV of the
GATT 1994 or the Enabling Clause (for RTAs covering trade in goods), or under
Article V of the GATS (for RTAs covering trade in services). In a case of an RTA covering both goods and
services, two notifications are required. The notification should be made
following ratification of the RTA and before the application of preferential
treatment between the parties.
¨
Notification
of Changes
Any changes affecting the
implementation of an RTA, or the operation of an already implemented RTA,
should be notified to the WTO as soon as possible after the changes occur.
¨
Subsequent
reporting
At the end of the RTA's
implementation period, the parties shall submit to the WTO a short report on
the realisation of the liberalization commitments contained in the RTA.
¨
Factual
Presentation (FP)
The Factual
Presentation is a document prepared on the responsibility of the WTO
Secretariat in conformity with Article 7 (b) of the Transparency Mechanism in full
consultation with the parties to serve as the basis for the consideration of an
RTA by the WTO Membership. It
describes the trade environment, the main characteristics of the agreement, and
its impact on market access in the parties to the RTA. The parties are required to submit trade and
tariff line information as specified in Annex I of the Transparency Mechanism, within
a specified period (usually 10 weeks but 20 weeks for agreements exclusively
between developing countries) after notification. The status of the Factual Presentation may be
either already "distributed" (i.e. issued as an official WTO
document); "not distributed"; or "on hold" if, for example,
specific commitments in services have not yet been agreed.
¨
Factual
Abstract (FA)
The Factual Abstract is a short
summary of the main features of the agreement, prepared by the WTO Secretariat
in conformity with Article 22(b) of the Transparency Mechanism. It is prepared for older agreements for which
an examination has already been completed by the
¨
The
case of agreements notified to the
In the case of agreements notified
to the
¨
Questions
and Replies
Before an agreement is considered
by WTO Members, they may submit questions in writing to the parties to the agreement. The parties are expected to provide written
answers to these questions in advance of the meeting to consider that RTA. A document containing the questions and
replies submitted by Members and the parties is issued three working days in
advance of the CRTA or the CTD meeting where the RTA is to be considered.
¨
Standard
Format for information on RTAs
The objective
of the Standard Format for Information on RTAs was to facilitate and
standardize the provision of initial information by parties to regional trade
agreements. As of 2006, the practice of
submitting standard formats has been discontinued and superseded by the
transparency provisions of the Transparency Mechanism.
¨
Biennial
report
Paragraph 9
and 11 of the Understanding on the
Interpretation of Article XXIV of the
The Regional Trade Agreement
Information System (RTA-IS) is a comprehensive database of all RTAs notified to
the
The
RTA-IS contains information only on those agreements that have been
notified, or for which an early announcement has been made, to the WTO. Information on the content of these
agreements and the parties thereto reflects information provided by the parties
to the WTO. Therefore, membership to the
agreement may not be up to date if changes have not been notified by the
parties; similarly, any subsequent change, any additional protocol etc. to the
agreement will be available in the database only to the extent that it has been
notified. For further
information, please consult either the RTA Parties' website(s) or
contact the RTA Section (see "Contact RTA Section").
The information is presented in
the form of an "ID-Card", which displays all the factual information
available on a given agreement: its
signatories, date of signature and entry into force, a link to the website
where the text of the agreement and its annexes can be found, the WTO process that
has taken place regarding that agreement, etc.
A list of the RTA Provisions covered by the agreement is provided for the
vast majority of RTAs (a glossary which indicates the approach that has been
taken for each of the topics selected is available as a separate document). Also, the tariff and trade data that have
been received from the parties for the preparation of the Factual Presentation
is included in the ID-Card.
¨
In
addition to notified agreements, the RTA-IS also contains available information
on early announcements of those agreements that have not yet been notified.
¨
By
default, the information that is presented by the RTA-IS concerns those
notified RTAs that are in force, but it is also possible to retrieve
information on RTAs notified but not yet in force and on inactive RTAs.
The RTA-IS also allows the user to
retrieve and export pre-defined WTO reports of all RTAs in force, already
sorted by date of entry into force etc.
The Summary Tables provide detailed
figures on the number of RTAs notified to the
¨
The search by country/territory also
makes available a number of background WTO documents on WTO Members' trade laws,
policies, or trade environment, such as the Trade Profile, the Tariff Profile
or the most recent Trade Policy Review.
¨
Allows
the user to select any country/territory, either by clicking on the map or on a
drop-down list and retrieve details of all RTAs that have been notified or
early announcements.
¨
Allows
the user to select a combination of search parameters to obtain a list of RTAs
meeting those parameters. The user can
then click on the RTA name to obtain its ID Card. For example, the user can select the
following criterion: Type of Agreement = Economic Integration Agreements (EIA);
the list will show all notified agreements that are: either EIAs (for trade in
services only); or EIAs and Customs Unions, or EIAs and Free Trade Agreements
(for agreements covering trade in goods and services). It is also possible to search by multiple
criteria, e.g. all FTAs, signed by a given country, with a specific year of
entry into force. Please note that the search by criteria facility is
structured around an "AND" rule basis, meaning that only those RTAs
meeting ALL parameters selected will show.
¨
This
option allows the selection of an RTA from the list of short RTA titles in
alphabetical order. The user can also
search by a specific string of characters, for example typing "
¨
The
short RTA titles are not the full titles of the agreements, which can be found
under the Text of the Agreement. In the
short titles, the United States is replaced by "US", and the European
Union by "EU". Therefore, the
user must search by US and not by "United" to generate a list of
agreements to which the
The list of RTAs generated by a
search can also be sorted using any of the field names at the top of the screen
in either ascending or descending order.
Each
signatory to an RTA, whether a WTO Member or not, is considered to be part of
one of the following regions:
Region |
Members |
|
Bermuda,
Canada, Mexico, United States of America, and territories in North America n.e.s. |
|
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados,
Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat,
Netherlands Antilles, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and British
Virgin Islands. |
|
Belize, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama |
|
Argentina, Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru,
Suriname, Uruguay and other countries and territories in South America n.e.s. |
|
Albania,
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, UNMIK,
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and
territories in Europe n.e.s. |
The |
Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Moldova,
Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. |
|
Algeria,
Egypt, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco and Tunisia; and Sub-Saharan Africa
comprising: Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire,
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,
Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo; Central Africa: Burundi, Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and Sao Tome and Principe; Eastern Africa:
Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius,
Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and
Uganda; and Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe; and territories in Africa
n.e.s. |
The |
Bahrain;
Iraq; Islamic Republic of Iran; Israel; Jordan; Kuwait; Lebanon; Palestine;
Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Syrian Arab Republic; United Arab Emirates; Yemen;
and other countries and territories in the Middle East n.e.s. |
|
Brunei
Darussalam; Cambodia; China; Christmas Island; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region of China (Hong Kong, China); Indonesia; Japan; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Macao, China;
Malaysia; Mongolia; Myanmar; Philippines; Singapore; Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan,
Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Taipei, Chinese); Thailand;
Timor-Leste; Viet Nam; Other East Asia, n.e.s |
|
Afghanistan; Bangladesh; Bhutan; India; Maldives;
Nepal; Pakistan; Sri Lanka |
|
Australia;
Fiji; Kiribati; New Zealand; Papua New
Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; and other countries
and territories in Oceania |
Term |
Definition |
Accession |
The
RTA is an accession (i.e. Accession = Yes) if the agreement provides for a
new signatory to adhere to an existing agreement. In that case, the existing agreement
appears under "related agreements" |
Agreement title |
Shortened
title of the agreement, or acronym. The full title of the
agreement can be found in the official text of the agreement. |
Consideration status |
Stage reached
in process of consideration of the RTA in the WTO, including
the underlying documentation. The consideration status can be one of the
following: 1. FA
distributed: the Factual Abstract has
been issued. 2. FA not
distributed: the Factual Abstract has not been issued. 3. FP
distributed: the Factual Presentation
has been issued. 4. FP not
distributed: the Factual Presentation has
not been issued. 5. FP
on hold: the Factual Presentation is
on hold. 6. No
report: no report has been issued for
this RTA. 7.
Report adopted: a report has been
issued and adopted for this RTA. Items 6 and 7 relate only to those RTAs notified during the GATT
years. |
Coverage |
Goods, or services, or both, as notified by
the signatories to the agreement. |
Composition |
Bilateral
(two signatories) or plurilateral (three or more
signatories) to the agreement. |
Cross Regional |
The
signatories to the agreement belong to at least two regions. |
Party Type |
This
field indicates if one Party is an RTA, or if all parties are RTAs. |
Related agreement |
Another
agreement with the same signatories but a change of scope, for example an
additional agreement to include services or the same agreement with new
signatories (Accession). |
Signatories, original |
The
original signatories are the entities that signed the agreement. |
Signatories,
current |
The current signatories are those entities
that are currently party to the agreement. These signatories appear "as
notified by the Parties" and may not always reflect the current real
membership of some plurilateral RTAs which were
notified a long time ago and have not since been updated by the parties. |
Status |
The
current status of the agreement as notified by the parties, can be one of the
following: 1. Early announcement-Under negotiation: early announcement to the WTO of an RTA
that is under negotiation. 2. Early announcement-Signed: early announcement
of an RTA that has been signed but is not yet in force. 3. Not yet in force: the RTA is notified but is
not yet in force. 4. In Force:
the RTA is, or will soon be, in force for all Parties. 5. Inactive: the RTA is notified as no longer being in force. |
Trade-related data |
Tariff
and trade data that have been used to compile the statistics presented in the
Factual Presentation. |
Type of agreement |
The type of agreement notified by the
parties can be one of the following: 1. Customs Union 2.
Free Trade Agreement 3.
Partial Scope Agreement 4.
Economic Integration Agreement 5.
Free Trade Agreement & Economic Integration Agreement 6.
Partial Scope & Economic Integration Agreement 7. Customs Union & Economic
Integration Agreement |
Notification
under |
The WTO provisions invoked when the
agreement is notified by the parties are: 1. 2. Enabling
Clause 3. GATS Art. V |
WTO Members |
Indicates whether or not all parties to
the RTA are WTO Members |
·
Why is there a difference between
the number of RTA notifications and physical RTAs?
WTO rules provide for notification
of trade in goods and trade in services aspects of RTAs separately. The number
of notifications can thus exceed the number of physical RTAs.
·
Where do I get the underlying data
for the Graphs provided in the RTA IS ?
The
underlying data for all Graphs provided in the RTA IS is available for download in excel format in the
top-right hand corner of the page.
·
Why does the total number of ID
Cards contained in the RTA-IS not correspond to the total number of physical
RTAs given in the Summary Tables [http://rtais.wto.org/UI/publicsummarytable.aspx]?
WTO
rules provide for accessions to existing Agreements to be notified separately.
These accessions are reflected in separate "ID Cards" in the RTA
Database.
·
What are "inactive RTAs"?
How do I get information on these RTAs?
"Inactive
RTAs" refer to those RTAs, previously in force and notified to the
GATT/WTO, which are no longer in force to date.
By
default, the information that is presented by the RTA Database concerns those
notified RTAs that are still in force, but it is also possible to retrieve
information on inactive RTAs by using the "Search by Criteria"
facility: select "inactive" in the Status of Agreement and generate
the search.
·
Where do I get the latest
available data on RTAs notified to the WTO and currently in force?
The
Summary Tables contained in the RTA IS [http://rtais.wto.org/]
are the main source to provide up-to-date information on WTO figures on RTAs.
It
is important to note that WTO statistics on RTAs are based on notification
requirements rather than on physical numbers of RTAs. Thus, for an RTA that
includes both goods and services, we count two notifications (one for goods and
the other services), even though it is physically one RTA. Accessions to
existing Agreements are also counted separately.
Nevertheless, figures on the physical number of RTAs (counting goods
and services together), are provided in the last "summary table".
·
Where
can I find the consolidated list of all the "RTA Provisions covered by the
RTA" and their respective definitions?
The topics selected are based on
those that appear most frequently in RTAs today. The consolidated list of all
topics (and sub-topics) selected is available as a separate document, in the
form of a glossary, available for download in the top-right hand corner of each
tab dedicated to the "RTA Provisions covered by the RTA". This glossary
also indicates the approach that has been taken for each of the topics
selected.
·
What are the "Trade-related
data" excel files provided in the ID Cards?
The tariff and trade data excel
files compile the statistics received from the parties of an RTA for the
preparation of the Factual Presentation. Consequently, these files are only
available for those RTAs which have been subject to a Factual Presentation.
·
What is the Preferential Tariff
Analysis?
This helps users to extract the preferential
tariff commitments made by a party within different RTAs for different partners
for selected products. The tariff information provided in the RTA-IS is taken
from the tariff liberalization schedules provided by the parties in accordance
with the Transparency Mechanism for RTAs. Users should be aware that actual preferential
rates may differ from those available here.
Any
feedback on this database, including any problem encountered with the content
or the user interface, should be reported to the RTA Section:
Regional
Trade Agreements Section
Trade
Policies Review Division
World
Trade Organization
154,
rue de Lausanne
CH-1211
Geneva 2
Email: rta@wto.org
__________
[1] On