17 December 2011: At the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), members approved Samoa’s accession package, making it the fifth Least Developed Country (LDC) to join the Organization. As part of its accession package, Samoa undertook several commitments.

Samoa committed that, from the date of accession, it will fully apply all WTO provisions, and did not require recourse to any transitional period except on intellectual property rights (IPR), transparency, customs valuation, the import ban on left-hand drive vehicles, vehicles older than 12 years, and turkey tails and turkey tail products, as well as tax treatment of imported and domestic primary products.

Samoa also committed to fully implement the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) no later than 1 July 2013, and to fully implement the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement by June 2012. Also, from the date of accession, Samoa agreed not to maintain any subsidies, including export subsidies. It also agreed to bind its agricultural export subsidies at zero upon accession. Regarding goods, it will apply an average final bound rate of 21 percent.

Speaking upon the adoption of Samoa’s membership, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said that Samoa’s joining (along with Vanuatu’s earlier in 2011) demonstrated that it is possible for small islands in the Pacific to join the WTO, although the process is long and winding. He added that their membership process had shown that “there are specificities to small, vulnerable island states that must be taken into account when negotiating trade rules,” and that the rules governing LDCs’ accessions can and must be further simplified.

Samoa has until 15 June 2012 to ratify its accession package. [WTO News] [SIDS Policy & Practice Story on Vanuatu’s WTO Membership]