Methodology

Counting procedures

Various sections of this website present information about the number of procedures that have been followed, including by type(s) of change(s) to the Goods Schedules. Because some procedures may involve more than one type of change and to ensure that the information is available under all the relevant sections, each section has taken account of the relevant procedures.  For this reason, the overall sum of the totals in each section of the website will not tally with the total number of procedures.

For example, a rectification procedure to correct a problem in the ITA concessions of a Member will appear both under the rectification of errors and the ITA sections, but will be counted as one procedure under the section of the 1980 Procedures and the Member's profile. 

Viewing procedures

Procedures are identified in all tables by the WTO official document symbol of the initial document.  When viewing a procedure you will access the entire collection of its documents.  This collection of documents includes any attachments as well as Addenda, Revisions or Corrigenda that were issued subsequently.  If the procedure has been certified, you will access the certification files too with their collection of documents and attachments.

Documents within procedures that have not yet been certified are restricted. You must have access credentials to WTO documents online to download them.  The link to the relevant document(s) through WTO documents online is available by clicking the external link symbol available in all tables.  

Once the procedures are certified the documents become derestricted therefore publicly available. In this case, you can download them directly from the site by clicking the (+) sign and the entire collection of documents will be displayed. You can also download the entire set of documents by clicking download set.  

In this section, you will find a definition of each type of status used in the following sections of the website:

Initial Schedules

• In-force:  The Schedule is currently in force.
• ​Reservations:  The Member has proposed  a full new Schedule that has not yet been certified.
• Withdrawn:  The GATT contracting party or the WTO Member have a Schedule that was either withdrawn in the context of other procedures or ceased to be in force for other reasons.  

1980 Procedures

• Certified:  A draft change was submitted under the 1980 Procedures, which were certified by the Director-General.  These procedures usually circulate under the WT/Let series.
• Within 3 Months:  A draft change was submitted under the 1980 Procedures, but the three-month deadline for comments has not elapsed yet.
• Reservations: A draft change was submitted under the 1980 Procedures and one or more Members objected the change. 
• Domestic procedures:  A draft change was submitted under the 1980 Procedures and the Member requested that it not be certified until notice is given that those domestic procedures have been fulfilled.  
• Withdrawn:  A draft change was submitted under the 1980 Procedures, but the proposed changes were subsequently withdrawn explicitly or implicitly through the submission of another procedure. 

Article XXVIII

• Ongoing:  A renegotiation procedure was launched, typically under the G/SECRET series, and the Member has not concluded the procedures under Article XXVIII. The conclusion of these procedures would normally entail the submission of the relevant bilateral agreements and a final report. This constitutes the Step-1 of the Article XXVIII renegotiations.  Step-2 refers to the procedure under the 1980 Procedures to modify the Schedule of concessions in order to reflect the results of such renegotiations.
• Replaced:  A renegotiation procedure under Article XXVIII that was launched and was subsequently replaced by another renegotiating procedure.  Many of these cases involve a request for authorization to renegotiate under Article XXVIII:4 that was then followed by a procedure under Articles XXVIII:1 or XXVIII:5 of the GATT.
• ​Unknown status:  Refers to renegotiation procedures under Article XXVIII that were launched in the GATT, before the establishment of the WTO, in which their status remains unknown.  
• Concluded: A renegotiation under Article XXVIII of the GATT in which the renegotiating Member has submitted a "final report" informing Members of the conclusion of the relevant procedures.  For purposes of this website, this is considered the conclusion of "Step 1" of the renegotiations.  Step-2 refers to the procedure under the 1980 Procedures to modify the Schedule of concessions in order to reflect the results of such renegotiations. 

Pre-WTO

• Not concluded:  refers to a pre-WTO procedure that was initiated under the GATT 1947 and there is no record of its conclusion.
• Unknown status:  refers to renegotiations under Article XXVIII of the GATT in which there is no record of  conclusion.

Initial Schedules

For completeness and historical accuracy, this website displays all Schedules of concessions that have existed since the provisional entry into force of the GATT 1947, some of which are no longer in force. 

The "Schedule status" filter allows to select the Schedules that are inactive, which refers to Schedules that were withdrawn in the WTO context (identified with "withdrawn" in the Status column) or to historical Schedules that ceased to be in force before the entry into force of the WTO Agreement (identified with "N/A" in the Status column).

The category of active includes all Schedules of concessions that are currently in force, as well as new Full Schedules that have been submitted under the 1980 Procedures but that have not yet been certified.