This detailed and perceptive book examines the extent and scope of how rules for accession to the WTO may vary between countries, approaching the concerns that some countries enter with a better deal than others. Dylan Geraets critiques these additional ‘rules’ and aims to answer the question of whether new Members of the WTO are under stricter rules than the original Members, whilst analysing the accession process to the multilateral trading system.

Taking an integrated approach, the author combines the results of a Mapping Exercise of all 36 Protocols of accession with a legal analysis of the decisions by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body involving Protocols of Accession. In doing so, this book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the issue of Member-specific ‘WTO-Plus’ commitments in Protocols of Accession. Whilst addressing the institutional and historical aspects of the WTO accession process, it provides a vital update to the existing scholarship on WTO accession, offering coverage of all accessions including those of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Liberia.

Accession to the World Trade Organization will be invaluable reading for academics interested in WTO accession practice, as well as lawyers, practitioners and government officials in the field of WTO accession.