World Trade Organization

Economic · WTO

The multilateral trading system has run from the same Geneva offices since 1948. The World Trade Organization opened on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing a treaty that had run provisionally for forty-seven years. Membership is open to any state or separate customs territory with full autonomy over its external commercial relations, which is why Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan hold seats of their own.

Questions about WTO

Which countries belong to the World Trade Organization?

The catalogue files 159 of them, on membership recorded in each country's own record. Four are not sovereign states on this site's own reading: Hong Kong and Macau are filed as dependencies of China, and Taiwan carries disputed sovereignty. The European Union is a member as well, beside its member states, and it is a group rather than a country so it holds no page of its own here.

How can Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan be members if they are not sovereign states?

Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement opens accession to any state or separate customs territory with full autonomy over its external commercial relations, and an explanatory note extends the word country in the agreement to cover such a territory. Hong Kong and Macau were GATT contracting parties before 1995 and carried the status across on 1 January 1995. Taiwan acceded on 1 January 2002 under a customs territory name.

What changed when the WTO replaced the GATT?

The GATT of 30 October 1947 was a tariff agreement applied provisionally, with an interim commission for an organisation that was never created. The Marrakesh Agreement of 15 April 1994 supplied the organisation: a membership, a secretariat, a Ministerial Conference, coverage of services and intellectual property, and a dispute procedure whose panels can be appointed without the respondent's consent. The 1947 text survives inside the system as GATT 1994.

Why can a WTO panel report no longer be appealed?

Because the Appellate Body has nobody sitting on it. It needs three of its seven persons to hear an appeal, appointments require consensus, and from 2017 that consensus was withheld. Two of the three remaining terms expired on 10 December 2019 and the last on 30 November 2020. An appeal filed since then cannot be heard, which leaves the panel report unadopted rather than overturned.

How does a country join the WTO?

It applies under Article XII, and a working party is formed that any member may join. The applicant answers questions on its trade regime and negotiates schedules of concessions on goods and services, bilaterally with interested members, before the package is approved by the Ministerial Conference and accepted at home. Terms differ from one accession to the next. Timor-Leste's membership took effect on 30 August 2024.

Sources

Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization · World Trade Organization. Article IV on the Ministerial Conference, Article IX on consensus and voting, Article XI on least-developed members, Article XII on accession, and the explanatory note on the word country.
The GATT years: from Havana to Marrakesh · World Trade Organization. The talks from December 1945, the 23 contracting parties, the signature of 30 October 1947, the Protocol of Provisional Application and the failure of the Havana charter.
Members and Observers · World Trade Organization. The membership list with dates, and the rule that an observer government other than the Holy See must begin accession negotiations within five years.
Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes · World Trade Organization. Article 17 on the Appellate Body and the three persons needed for an appeal, and Article 25 on arbitration.
Dispute settlement: Appellate Body · World Trade Organization. The standing body of seven persons, and the expiry of the last sitting member's term on 30 November 2020.
Trade facilitation · World Trade Organization. Adoption at Bali in December 2013 and entry into force on 22 February 2017 on acceptance by two thirds of the membership.
Fisheries subsidies · World Trade Organization. Adoption on 17 June 2022 and the two-thirds threshold reached at a ceremony on 15 September 2025.
Doha WTO Ministerial 2001: Ministerial Declaration · World Trade Organization. The declaration adopted on 14 November 2001 that launched the Doha Development Agenda.
Accessions: Timor-Leste · World Trade Organization. The working party from 2016 and the date membership took effect, 30 August 2024.
Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization · World Trade Organization. The charter agreed at Havana in March 1948, covering employment, commodity agreements, restrictive business practices and investment.