THE TEXT OF THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE

[Pages:105]THE TEXT OF

THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE

GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE

Text of the General Agreement

GENEVA, JULY 1986

PREFACE

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade came into force on 1 January 1948. This booklet contains the complete text of the General Agreement together with all amendments which have become effective since its entry into force. The text is identical to that published, since 1969, as Volume IV in the series Basic Instruments and Selected Documents. A guide to the legal sources of the provisions of the Agreement is provided in an appendix. An Analytical Index, containing notes on the drafting, interpretation and application of the articles of the Agreement has been prepared and published by the secretariat. A second publication, complementary to this one, contains the text of the agreements reached as a result of the Tokyo Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (19731979).

The General Agreement is applied "provisionally" by all contracting parties. The original contracting parties, and also those former territories of Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom which, after attaining independence, acceded to the General Agreement under Article XXVI:5(c), apply the GATT under the Protocol of Provisional Application, the text of which is reproduced in this volume. Chile applies the General Agreement under a Special Protocol of September 1948. The contracting parties which have acceded since 1948 apply the General Agreement under their respective Protocols of Accession.

For the convenience of the reader, asterisks mark the portions of the text which should be read in conjunction with notes and supplementary provisions in Annex I to the Agreement. In accordance with Article XXXIV, Annexes A to I are an integral part of the Agreement. The Schedules of tariff concessions annexed to the General Agreement (not here reproduced) are also, in accordance with Article II:7, an integral part of the Agreement.

By the Decision of 23 March 1965, the CONTRACTING PARTIES changed the title of the head of the GATT secretariat from "Executive Secretary" to "Director-General". However, in the absence of an amendment to the General Agreement to take account of this change, the title "Executive Secretary" has been retained in the text of Articles XVIII:12(e), XXIII:2 and XXVI:4, 5 and 6. The Decision of 23 March 1965 provides that the duties and powers conferred upon the Executive Secretary by the General Agreement "shall be exercised by the person holding the position of Director-General, who shall, for this purpose, also hold the position of Executive Secretary".

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

PREFACE ... .......... ......... ..... ..... ..... ........................................... ..................... ........................ .............. iii TEXT OF THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE

PREAMBLE .......... ......... ..... ..... ..... ........................................... ..................... ........................

1

PART I

Article I Article II

PART II

General Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment. ........................ .............. 2 Schedules of Concessions ......... ..................... ........................ .............. 3

Article III

Article IV

Article V Article VI Article VII Article VIII

Article IX Article X

Article XI Article XII

Article XIII

Article XIV Article XV Article XVI Article XVII Article XVIII

Article XIX

Article XX Article XXI Article XXII Article XXIII

National Treatment on Internal Taxation and

Regulation........................... .................... ....................... .............6 Special Provisions relating to Cinematograph

Films .................................... .................... ....................... .............8

Freedom of Transit .................. .................... ....................... .............8

Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties .......................

10

Valuation for Customs Purposes................ ....................... ............. 12 Fees and Formalities connected with Importation

and Exportation ................. .................... ....................... .............14 Marks of Origin ....................... .................... ....................... ............. 15 Publication and Administration of Trade

Regulations ......................... .................... ....................... .............16 General Elimination of Quantitative Restrictions ............ .............17 Restrictions to Safeguard the Balance of Pay-

ments ................................... .................... ....................... .............18

Non-discriminatory Administration of Quantita-

tive restrictions................... .................... ....................... .............21 Exceptions to the rule of Non-discrimination .................. ............. 23 Exchange Arrangements......... .................... ....................... .............24 Subsidies................................... .................... ....................... ............. 26 State Trading Enterprises ....... .................... ....................... .............27 Governmental Assistance to Economic Develop-

ment ..................................... .................... ....................... .............28 Emergency Action on Imports of Particular Pro-

ducts .................................... .................... ....................... .............36 General Exceptions.................. .................... ....................... .............37 Security Exceptions ................. .................... ....................... .............38 Consultation............................. .................... ....................... .............39 Nullification of Impairment... .................... ....................... .............39

VI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART III

Page

Article XXIV

Territorial Application _ Frontier Traffic _ Cus-

Article XXV Article XXVI Article XXVII Article XXVIII Article XXVIII bis Article XXIX

toms Unions and Free-trade Areas ....... ....................... .............41 Joint Action by the Contracting Parties..... ....................... .............44 Acceptance. Entry into Force and Registration ................ .............45 Withholding or Withdrawal of Concessions .................... ............. 46 Modification of Schedules...... .................... ....................... .............46 Tariff Negotiations .................. .................... ....................... .............48 The Relation of this Agreement to the Havana

Charter................................. .................... ....................... .............49

Article XXX

Amendments............................ .................... ....................... .............50

Article XXXI

Withdrawal .............................. .................... ....................... .............51

Article XXXII

Contracting Parties.................. .................... ....................... .............51

Article XXXIII

Accession .................................. .................... ....................... ............. 51

Article XXXIV

Annexes .................................... .................... ....................... .............

52

Article XXXV

Non-application of the Agreement between Partic-

ular Contracing Parties ..... .................... ....................... .............52

PART IV TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

Article XXXVI

Article XXXVII

Article XXXVIII

Annexes A to G _

Annexe H

_

Annexe I

_

Principles and Objectives ....... .................... ....................... .............53 Commitments .......................... .................... ....................... ............. 55 Joint Action .............................. .................... ....................... .............56 Relating to Article I ................. .................... ....................... .............58 Relating to Article XXVI ........ .................... ....................... .............60 Notes and Supplementary Provisions ....... ....................... .............62

PROTOCOL OF PROVISIONAL APPLICATION ......................... .................... ....................... .............77 APPENDIX . ........ ......... ..... .... ..... ........................................ .................... ....................... .............79

I. Source and Effective Date of GATT Provisions................. ....................... .............81

II. Key to Abbreviations used in this Appendix and to Provisions in Supplementary Agreements affecting the Application of Certain Portions of the General Agreement...... .................... ....................... .............89

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