Brazil Seeks to Join Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft

The Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft discussed today (10 October) the process for reviewing Brazil’s application to join the WTO’s plurilateral Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft. This is the first accession request to be reviewed by WTO members in this Committee. All recently acceding members took part in negotiations in the context of their accession to the WTO.

Brazil submitted its application to accede to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft in June 2022, providing its proposed tariff commitments. Welcoming Brazil's request, the chair, Jean-Marie Meraldi of Switzerland, said he understood Brazil is currently preparing additional information regarding its application. He would organize a dedicated informal meeting for signatories to discuss the documents submitted by the Brazilian government, he added.

A total of 33 WTO members are signatories to the Trade in Civil Aircraft Agreement. The latest member to become a signatory was North Macedonia, which acceded to the Agreement in 2019.

The Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft entered into force on 1 January 1980. The main feature of the Agreement is that it obliges signatories to eliminate import duties on all aircraft, other than military aircraft, as well as on all other products covered by the Agreement. These include civil aircraft engines and their parts and components, all components and sub-assemblies of civil aircraft, and flight simulators and their parts and components.