Assessing the Evolution of GATT/WTO Structures Designed to Regulate the Growth and Functioning of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs)

Regional Trade Agreements (RTA) are entered into by countries to provide more favourable trading terms amongst member countries. Certain countries in a particular region may decide to go into such agreements so that they can allow for more favourable trading terms other than the trade terms enjoyed under World Trade Organization (WTO). These RTAs emerged from the WTO as immediate aftermath of the Cancun failure, which led major players in the WTO system to suggested that in order to make progress, they would turn to the negotiation of regional trade agreements in lieu of pursuing talks in the WTO multilateral system. The WTO seeks to ensure that the RTAs are successful by putting in place some structures in the form of procedural systems to follow in order to adopt and implement the RTAs. Notable among these systems is the notification of the RTA by member countries to the WTO. Whether these systems are working towards the achievement of the RTAs’ objectives is a questions of fact which this paper seeks to explore.