###

THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

Table 4.3. GATS commitments of acceding and original WTO members

in selected sectors
Original members

Acceded members
(n = 127)

(n = 25)

Rental/leasing services

37 (29.1)

21 (84.0)

Research and development services

35 (27.6)

19 (76.0)

Courier services

32 (25.2)

22 (88.0)

Sewage services

27 (21.3)

22 (88.0)

Refuse disposal services

27 (21.3)

21 (84.0)

Secondary education services

21 (16.5)

20 (80.0)

Higher education services

20 (15.7)

22 (88.0)

Rail transport services

20 (15.7)

15 (60.0)

Real estate services

20 (15.7)

9 (36.0)

Primary education services

19 (15.0)

16 (64.0)

Audiovisual services

18 (14.2)

12 (48.0)

News agency services

14 (11.1)

13 (52.0)

Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural services

13 (10.2)

10 (40.0)

Internal waterways transport

12 (9.4)

6 (24.0)

Social services

8 (6.3)

10 (40.0)

Pipeline transport services

5 (3.9)

10 (40.0)

Postal services

5 (3.9)

8 (32.0)

Space transport

2 (1.6)

2 (8.0)

Source: Tabulated from data on the WTO Services Database at http://tsdb.wto.org/default.aspx.

Notes: Numbers and percentages of members in each category making commitments in a given sector; listed in descending
order of commitments made by original members. Acceded countries do not include the five members that completed their
accessions in 2012 and for which full data are not yet available.

acceding countries are at least twice as likely as the existing to have made commitments, and in
most sectors the disparity was at least three-to-one. A few sectors may suffice to illustrate this
point. One of the widest disparities is in postal services, a sector that in many countries is
reserved to the state and where only 3.9 per cent of the existing WTO members made
commitments in the Uruguay Round. By contrast, nearly one third of the acceding members
made commitments in this sector. A similar pattern may be seen in the related field of courier
services. The disparities are also wide in education services. Only 15.0 per cent to 16.5 per cent
of the existing members made commitments here, varying according to the level of education at
issue, whereas 64.0 per cent to 88.0 per cent of the acceding countries did so.

Least-developed countries
WTO rules draw a distinction between the broad group of developing countries and the
subgroup of LDCs, with the 34 WTO members (as of 2013) that are defined to fall in the latter
category being exempted from some requirements or otherwise treated differently. That
distinction is not as sharp in the case of accessions, however, with the process having been at
least as lengthy and demanding for several LDCs as it has been for the other developing and
transitional economies that acceded from 1996 to 2012. The commitments made by LDCs have
often been as substantive as those demanded of other acceding members.