CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ WTO IN CONTEXT OF BREXIT cause a quite difficult situation for the UK, since this process would require renegotiations of the UK’s schedule of commitments. And because the WTO rules on changes of the schedules are based on its members’ consensus, the UK would be required to seek approval of all other remaining members of the WTO. 18 In other words, in this scenario, any individual WTO member could block the UK’s new schedule of concession, and consequently its membership in the organisation. Contrary to the above presented views, it is argued here that the UK is currently a full member of the WTO, and it will remain to be a WTO member even after it leaves the EU. The starting point of the membership analysis is Article XI:1 of the WTO Agreement, which provides: “ The contracting parties to GATT 1947 as of the date of entry into force of this Agreement, and the European Communities, which accept this Agreement and the Multilateral Trade Agreements and for which Schedules of Concessions and Commitments are annexed to GATT 1994 and for which Schedules of Specific Commitments are annexed to GATS shall become original Members of the WTO .” 19 (Emphasis added). The first condition of Article XI:1 of the WTO Agreement is met, since the UK was the Contracting Party of the GATT 1947. Specifically, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947) had been binding for the UK since 1st January 1948 and the country belonged to the 23 founding members of the GATT 1947. The UK had continuously been a party to the GATT 1947 until 1 January 1995, when the GATT 1947 was replaced by the WTO Agreement. 20 With regard to the condition of acceptance of the WTO Agreement, the UK ratified the WTO agreement on 30 December 1994, 21 thus it can be concluded that it accepted the WTO agreement in compliance with Article XIV of the WTO agreement. Analysis of the last conditions – the annex of the contracting party schedules to GATT 1994 – may cause the most complications. This is because while it is true that the schedules were not annexed by the EU members themselves to GATT 1994, it was the EU which annexed the schedules for its members, the UK included. 22 However, such a procedure, when one member annexed the schedules for another member, was not only allowed but even envisaged by Article XI:1 of the WTO Agreement. Article XI:1 clearly states “…and for which Schedules of Concessions and Commitments are annexed to GATT 1994 .” The linguistic interpretation leads to a conclusion that the wording of Article XI:1 does not require the contracting party of the WTO agreement to annex the schedules by itself, though that is also a possibility. But Article XI:1 contains a second option; that the schedules of its original members could have been annexed for it by a different member. 23 in Europe – Exit Scenarios and Their Implications on Trade Relations , 7 January 2014, Graduate Institute Trade and Investment Law. 18 Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) and Article II of the GATT 1994. 19 Article XI:1 of the WTO Agreement. Available at: https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/04-wto.pdf. 20 WTO, Press brief, fiftieth anniversary of the multilateral trading system. Available at: https://www.wto.org/ english/thewto_e/minist_e/min96_e/chrono.htm, and https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/gattmem_e.htm. 21 Ibid. 22 Schedule LXXX. Available at: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/schedules_e/goods_schedules_table_e. htm#fnt-vii. 23 BARTELS, Lorand, Understanding the UK’s position in the WTO after Brexit (Part I – The UK’s status and its schedules, 26 September 2016, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. Available at: http://www.ictsd.org/opinion/understanding-the-uk-0.

499