In accordance with Article XII of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, an accession to the WTO is being carried out on terms to be agreed upon between the government of an applying country and the WTO.

The process of Ukraine’s accession to the WTO started on 30th of November 1993 with forwarding the official application of the Government of Ukraine on its intention to join the Organization to the GATT Secretariat.

There had been 17 formal meetings and a succession of informal meetings of the Working Party for consideration of the application of Ukraine for the accession to the WTO. At the last meeting, held on January 25, 2008, members of the Working Party adopted the “accession package” of Ukraine: the Report of the Working Party, the schedules of market access commitments of Ukraine in goods and services, a draft decision of the WTO General Council and a draft Protocol of Accession.

On February 5, 2008, the accession package was considered and approved by the WTO General Council. The President of Ukraine and Director General of the WTO signed the Protocol of Accession of Ukraine to the WTO.

On April 10, 2008, the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine approved the Law of Ukraine No. 250-VI “On Ratification of the Protocol of Accession of Ukraine to the World Trade Organization”.

On April 16, 2008, the President of Ukraine signed the Law on the ratification of the Protocol and the same day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine sent an official notification about this to the WTO. Starting from that day, the countdown of the 30 days, i.e. the official period from the notification to the membership in the WTO, started.

On May 16, 2008, Ukraine became the 152nd member of the World Trade Organization.

Ukraine’s WTO accession has expanded business development opportunities and created a number of benefits for Ukrainian companies, among which are improvement of the regulatory environment, trade without discrimination in foreign markets for goods and services, the possibility of settling trade disputes etc.

Ukraine implements all its accession commitments, as contained in the Protocol on Ukraine’s accession to the WTO, as well as takes an active part in the current Doha Development Agenda negotiations aiming at facilitating integration of other countries into the world economy.

Detail information on Ukraine's accession and participation in the WTO