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Seychelles’ membership terms agreed – next stop: General Council

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Seychelles’ membership terms agreed – next stop: General Council

Seychelles’ membership terms agreed – next stop: General Council
Seychelles’ WTO accession package adopted. Photo credit: WTO

WTO members negotiating Seychelles’ accession agreed on the terms of the country’s WTO membership on 17 October 2014, concluding 18 years of negotiation. This decision still requires the formal approval of all 160 WTO members in the General Council in December.

Being a WTO member means a balance of rights and obligations:

  • The right to enjoy liberalized trade based on multilateral rules with other WTO members and to use the WTO’s dispute settlement system; and
  • The obligation to apply WTO rules and to open its markets according to the membership deal.

Seychelles’ draft accession package, spelling out the country’s terms of membership, contains:

  • the draft Working Party Report outlining its reformed trade regime and its commitments as a WTO member to ensure conformity with WTO rules;

  • Seychelles’ draft market access concessions and commitments on goods and specific commitments on trade in services (contained in “schedules”);

  • a draft decision by the WTO’s General Council, the WTO’s top decision-making body after the Ministerial Conference; and

  • Seychelles’ draft Protocol of Accession (document to be signed by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo and Seychelles’ Government representative following the December General Council session, subject to domestic ratification).

“I welcome the hard work undertaken by WTO members and the Government of Seychelles to complete this accession process”, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo declared. “It is particularly timely as the world is marking the International Year of Small Island Developing States. The WTO provides a vital platform for small economies like Seychelles to make their voice heard at the global level. I am confident that joining the WTO will prove to be a big step forward for the development of the Seychelles and their integration into the global economy.”

H.E. Pierre Laporte, Minister of Finance, Trade and Investment for Seychelles, said: “WTO membership was an extremely important step forward for Seychelles. Accession was only a stepping stone for us to pursue our reforms. In fact, reform was an on-going process. In addition, our efforts during the accession process had enhanced and strengthened [Seychelles'] regulatory framework and trading system, WTO Membership will provide Seychelles with a platform to continue to reform its trade regime. It will open Seychelles' economy further to the benefits of a more open trading system and complement Seychelles' efforts toward further integration both in the region and the multilateral trading system.” His opening and closing remarks are available here.

Working Party Chairperson Ms Hilda Al-Hinai stated: “Seychelles’ WTO accession is a strong, positive and clear signal to its trading partners, including to other Small Island Developing States, for its commitment to engaging with the global economy in the framework of the rules-based multilateral trading system.”

Overview of Seychelles’ commitments

The quality of the accession accord of Seychelles provides significant improvements in market access opportunities for all WTO Members, under the Most-favoured-nation principle under which countries cannot discriminate between their trading partners. Taken together, its commitments further liberalize its trade regime and provide impetus for its continued integration in the global economy. The deal also offers a transparent and predictable environment for trade and foreign investment, ensuring fair competition and increased consumer welfare.

Market access for goods and services

As part of the accession negotiations, Seychelles concluded eight bilateral agreements on market access for goods and nine bilateral agreements on market access for services.

On goods, Seychelles has undertaken tariff concessions and commitments that “bind” tariff rates for all products on average at 9.5 per cent. For agricultural products, this average is 16.9 per cent while for non‑agricultural products the average is 8.3 per cent.

Seychelles committed to join the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) upon accession, a WTO plurilateral agreement providing for participants to completely eliminate duties on IT products covered by the ITA Agreement.

On services, Seychelles has made specific commitments in 11 services sectors, including 97 sub‑sectors.

Bilateral Deals

Seychelles’ bilateral market access deals were:

On goods with: Canada, the EU, Japan, Mauritius, Oman, South Africa, Thailand and the US.

On services with: Canada, the EU, Japan, Mauritius, Oman, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and the US.

Following the conclusion of all bilateral market access negotiations between interested Members and the acceding government, the WTO Secretariat consolidates the results of all concluded, signed and deposited bilateral agreements into a Schedule of Concessions and Commitments on Goods (“Draft Goods Schedule”) and a Schedule of Specific Commitments on Services (“Draft Services Schedule”). The Schedules are the “Final Market Access Offers” by the acceding governments which, when adopted, become available to all WTO Members.

Rules Package

On its rules Package, Seychelles’ Accession Working Party Report contains 40 specific commitment paragraphs. From the date of accession, Seychelles has committed to fully apply all WTO provisions with recourse to transitional periods only for sanitary and phytosanitary measures (food safety and animal and plant health), technical barriers to trade (product standards and certification) and transparency. Seychelles will initiate negotiations to accede to the Government Procurement Agreement within 12 months of its accession, a WTO plurilateral agreement covering the procurement of goods, services and capital infrastructure by Governments and other public authorities.

Further accession-specific commitments

  • State-owned and State-controlled enterprises will make purchases and sales which are not for the Government’s own use in accordance with commercial considerations. Companies from other WTO members will be afforded adequate opportunity to compete for participation in purchases or sales of Seychelles’ State enterprises. Seychelles will notify any of its enterprises falling within the scope of the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XVII of the GATT 1994.

  • Seychelles will make sure that any price control measures that the Government introduces would be applied in a WTO-consistent fashion, including by taking account of the interests of importing and exporting WTO Members.

  • Seychelles will ensure that business entities are not hindered by anti-competitive practices in their respective markets and that the benefits derived from effective competition are sustained. Seychelles will also ensure that the market is fair, accessible, efficient, and sustainable through increased consumer welfare and improved consumer awareness.

  • Seychelles will provide for the right to appeal administrative rulings to an independent tribunal on WTO matters, including those on trade regulations, subsidies, customs valuation, intellectual property rights and domestic regulation in services.

  • Sub-central authorities have no autonomous authority over issues of subsidies, taxation, trade policy, or any other measures covered by WTO provisions. Provisions of the WTO Agreements, including Seychelles’ Protocol, will be applied uniformly throughout its Customs territory and other territories under its control, including in regions engaging in border trade or frontier traffic, special economic zones, and other areas where special regimes for tariffs, taxes and regulations were established. When apprised of a situation where WTO provisions are not being applied, or are applied in a non-uniform manner, the central authorities will act to enforce WTO provisions without requiring affected parties to petition through the Courts.

  • Any natural or legal person, regardless of physical presence or investment in Seychelles, will be granted the right to be the importer of record.

  • All other duties and charges (ODCs) are bound at zero in Seychelles’ Schedule of Concessions and Commitments for Goods (Goods Schedule).

  • Import tariff rate quotas, if introduced, will be administered in compliance with WTO rules.

  • Fees and charges for services rendered by the Government will be applied in accordance with WTO rules and information regarding the application and level of such fees will be published.

  • Seychelles will apply its domestic taxes in a non-discriminatory manner to imports regardless of country of origin and to domestically-produced products.

  • Seychelles will not apply quantitative restrictions on imports or other non-tariff measures – such as licensing, quotas, prohibitions, bans and other restrictions – having equivalent effect, without justification under WTO rules. Import prohibitions and restrictions will be administered in compliance with WTO rules.

  • Seychelles will apply its customs valuation laws, regulations and practices, including those to prevent under-valuation of goods, in conformity with WTO rules.

  • WTO rules on rules of origin, preshipment inspection, trade-related investment measures, free zones and the transit of goods will be applied in accordance with the relevant WTO provisions from the date of accession.

  • Trade remedies: upon accession, Seychelles will apply anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures in accordance with WTO rules.

  • Seychelles will apply all fees and charges for services rendered to exports in accordance with WTO rules. All laws and regulations governing export measures, including prohibitions, export licensing requirements and other export control requirements will be applied in accordance with the relevant WTO provisions from the date of accession. Seychelles will not provide any subsidies prohibited under the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

  • Any subsidy programmes in place or established after accession within the territory of Seychelles would be administered in conformity with the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. Upon accession, Seychelles will provide a subsidy notification to the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.

  • Seychelles will progressively implement the provisions of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. Full implementation shall be completed by December 2015.

  • Seychelles will not maintain or apply any export subsidies for agricultural products. Agricultural export subsidies are bound at zero in Seychelles’ Schedule of Concessions and Commitments on Goods.

  • Upon accession, Seychelles will start negotiations to join the WTO purilateral Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft.

  • Seychelles will apply the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights from the date of its accession to the WTO. Upon accession, Seychelles will also notify the establishment of a centralized Intellectual Property Office (IPO) – a “one‑stop shop” for the promotion and simplification of registration requirements of patents, trademarks and copyrights. Seychelles will join the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) before the end of 2015.

  • Transparency: Seychelles will submit the initial notifications required by the WTO Agreements upon accession. All laws, regulations or other measures related to trade would be promptly published and notified. Within two years of accession, Seychelles will establish a website – easily accessible to WTO members, individuals and enterprises – on which it will publish all regulations and other measures pertaining to or affecting trade in goods, services and TRIPS prior to their enactment. Seychelles will provide a reasonable period of no less than 30 days for comments on trade regulations/laws. Seychelles will also provide periodic reports to WTO members on developments in its programme of privatization. In relation with trade in services, Seychelles will publish all laws, regulations and other measures, as well as a list of all organizations responsible for authorizing, approving or regulating services activities for each services sector.

  • Seychelles will observe all WTO provisions in its participation in preferential trade agreements, and will adhere to notification requirements related to free trade areas, customs unions and other preferential trade arrangements.

Next steps

Seychelles’ accession package will be forwarded to the General Council – to be held in December 2014 – for formal adoption by all 160 WTO members.

The final step before Seychelles becomes a WTO member would be the ratification of the Accession Package by Seychelles’ Parliament by 1 June 2015.

Seychelles will become a full-fledged member 30 days after it notifies the WTO of the ratification.

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