The relevant provisions for accession to the WTO do not provide an adequate legal basis for the process. Its inherent flaws have resulted in demands on acceding countries which are invariably onerous and bear little or no relation to their size, significance or development status. This book uses econometric tools to conduct a comparative assessment of commitments in the goods and services sectors. For the services sector, the authors find that at all three levels of services classification the commitments of post-Uruguay Round acceding countries far exceed those of their WTO member counterparts. In the goods sector, apart from the much greater binding coverage rate, the bound tariff rate for acceding countries is much lower than their WTO member counterparts. The book also provides country specific commitment comparisons after controlling for the level of economic development of the countries. In conclusion, the authors make brief recommendations for reform of the process of accession, in light of the costs incurred by applicant countries in the process.
- ISBN10 085092832X
- ISBN13 9780850928327
- Publish Date 1 May 2006
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 26 March 2012
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Commonwealth Secretariat
- Edition Economic Paper 73 ed.
- Format Paperback
- Pages 88
- Language English