WORLD TRADE RESTRICTED WT/ACC/LBR/3 20 April 2011 ORGANIZATION (11-2062) Working Party on the Original: English Accession of Liberia ACCESSION OF LIBERIA Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime In a communication circulated in document WT/ACC/LBR/1 on 25 June 2007, the Government of the Republic of Liberia applied for accession under Article XII of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO). The General Council established a Working Party on 18 December 2007 (document WT/ACC/LBR/2 refers) with the following terms of reference: "To examine the application of the Government of the Republic of Liberia to accede to the WTO Agreement under Article XII, and to submit to the General Council recommendations which may include a draft Protocol of Accession." In accordance with the established procedures (document WT/ACC/1), the Secretariat is circulating the attached Memorandum on the Foreign Trade Regime received from the Government of the Republic of Liberia. WTO Members wishing to submit questions on the Memorandum are invited to do so by 20 May 2011 for transmission to the Liberian authorities. _______________ WT/ACC/LBR/3 Page i TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................1 II. ECONOMY, ECONOMIC POLICIES AND FOREIGN TRADE ......................................2 1. Economy ....................................................................................................................................2 (a) General description...................................................................................................................2 (b) Current economic situation......................................................................................................4 2. Economic Policies......................................................................................................................6 (a) Main directions of the ongoing economic policies..................................................................6 (b) Monetary and fiscal policies.....................................................................................................7 (c) Foreign exchange and payments system .................................................................................9 (d) Foreign and domestic investment policies ..............................................................................9 (e) Competition policies................................................................................................................13 3. Foreign trade in goods and services ......................................................................................13 4. Domestic trade in services including value and composition of foreign direct investment................................................................................................................................15 5. Information on financial movements related to nationals working abroad, remittances, etc........................................................................................................................16 6. Information on growth in trade in goods and services over recent years and forecasts for years to come.....................................................................................................16 III. FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING AND ENFORCING POLICIES AFFECTING FOREIGN TRADE IN GOODS AND TRADE IN SERVICES .........................................17 1. Powers of executive, legislative and judicial branches of government...............................17 2. Government entities responsible for making and implementing policies affecting foreign trade ............................................................................................................................18 3. Division of authority between central and sub-central governments.................................18 4. Legislative programmes or plans to change the regulatory regime ...................................19 5. Laws and Legal Acts...............................................................................................................20 6. Description of judicial, arbitral or administrative tribunals or procedures .....................20 IV. POLICIES AFFECTING TRADE IN GOODS ...................................................................20 1. Import Regulations .................................................................................................................20 (a) Registration requirements for engaging in importing.........................................................20 (b) Characteristics of national tariff ...........................................................................................22 (c) Tariff quotas, tariff exemptions.............................................................................................24 (d) Other duties and charges, specifying any charges for services rendered ..........................24 (e) Quantitative import restrictions, including prohibitions, quotas and licensing systems .....................................................................................................................................26 (f) Import licensing procedures ..................................................................................................26 WT/ACC/LBR/3 Page ii (g) Other border measures...........................................................................................................27 (h) Customs valuation...................................................................................................................27 (i) Other customs formalities ......................................................................................................27 (j) Pre-shipment inspection .........................................................................................................32 (k) Application of internal taxes on imports...............................................................................32 (l) Rules of origin .........................................................................................................................33 (m) Anti-dumping regime..............................................................................................................33 (n) Countervailing duty regime ...................................................................................................33 (o) Safeguard regime ....................................................................................................................34 2. Export Regulations .................................................................................................................34 (a) Registration requirements for engaging in exporting..........................................................34 (b) Customs tariff nomenclature, types of duties, duty rates, weighted averages of rates..........................................................................................................................................34 (c) Quantitative export restrictions, including prohibitions, quotas and licensing systems .....................................................................................................................................34 (d) Export licensing procedures...................................................................................................34 (e) Other measures .......................................................................................................................35 (f) Export financing, subsidy and promotion policies...............................................................35 (g) Export performance requirements........................................................................................35 (h) Import duty drawback schemes ............................................................................................35 3. Internal policies affecting foreign trade in goods.................................................................36 (a) Industrial policy, including subsidy policies.........................................................................36 (b) Technical regulations and standards, including measures taken at the border with respect to imports ...........................................................................................................36 (c) Sanitary and phytosanitary measures...................................................................................37 (d) Trade-related investment measures ......................................................................................39 (e) State-trading practices............................................................................................................39 (f) Free zones ................................................................................................................................39 (g) Free economic zones ...............................................................................................................40 (h) Trade-related environmental policies ...................................................................................40 (i) Mixing regulations ..................................................................................................................41 (j) Government-mandated counter-trade and barter...............................................................41 (k) Trade agreements leading to country-specific quotas allocation........................................41