An Evaluation of the State of Qatar's Obligations and Commitments to the World Trade Organization by Reference to the Trade Policy Review of 2014

Qatar became a contracting party to GATT 1994 at the end of the Uruguay Round pursuant to the procedures of Article XXVI:5(c), prior to which it applied the GATT on a de facto basis. Qatar confirmed its commitments on goods and services as part of the Uruguay Round, in which it bound all tariffs on goods and made specific commitments in six services sectors. Qatar enacted Decree No. 24 of 1995 in order to ratify Qatar's acceptance of the WTO Agreements. However, Qatar has not joined the Plurilateral Civil Aircraft Agreement [CAA], or Government Procurement Agreement, [GPA], but became a participant in the Information Technology Agreement [IFA] in 2013. As a founding member Qatar did have to agree to a Schedule of [Specific] Commitments, but this was essentially “rubber-stamped”, rather than robustly negotiated. Qatar has undergone two Trade Policy Review (TPR) processes in 2005 and 2014. We examine Qatar's 2014 TPR; identifying and examining outstanding issues and comment on the extent to which these can be interpreted as a failure by Qatar to fulfill its Specific Commitments