Aircraft

The Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (Aircraft Agreement) requires Signatories to eliminate tariffs on civil aircraft, engines, flight simulators, and related parts and components, and to provide these benefits on a nondiscriminatory basis to other signatories. In addition, the Signatories have agreed provisionally to provide duty-free treatment for ground maintenance simulators, although this item is not covered under the current agreement.

It entered into force on January 1, 1980, and is one of two WTO plurilateral agreements (along with the Agreement on Government Procurement) that are in force only for those WTO Members that have accepted it.

The Aircraft Agreement

The Aircraft Agreement also establishes various obligations aimed at fostering free market forces. For example, signatory governments pledge that they will base their purchasing decisions strictly on technical and commercial factors.

There are 32 Signatories to the Agreement:

• Albania
• Canada
• Chinese Taipei
• Eqypt
• European Union
  • 20 Member States are also Signatories to the Aircraft Agreement in their own right: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom

  Those WTO Members with observer status in the Committee are:

  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Bangladesh
  • Brazil
  • Cameroon
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Gabon
  • Ghana
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Israel
  • Republic of Korea
  • Mauritius
  • Nigeria
  • Oman
  • Russian Federation
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • Sri Lanka
  • Tajikistan
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine

  In addition, International Monetary Fund and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are also observers.