Ukraine's Membership in the World Trade Organization

Abstract

The WTO is a multilateral organization that seeks to ensure that international trade relations are governed by the rule of law and not by the rule of power. It comprises a network of contractual rules and commitments capable of being monitored and enforced multilaterally. Ukraine’s accession to the WTO has been marked by notable achievements in the areas of legislation and bilateral agreements with member-states regarding market access. Outstanding issues in Ukraine’s accession include agriculture, industry policy, trade-related investment measures (TRIMs), technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, and intellectual property rights. While completion of the process relies on Ukraine’s efforts alone, progress is being made and is expected to reach a successful conclusion.

Keywords

• Ukraine’s accession to the WTO
• Working Party on the Accession of Ukraine
• legislation
• bilateral market access agreements
• agriculture
• industry policy
• trade-related investment measures (TRIMs)
• technical barriers to trade (TBT)
• sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures