Since Laos has opened negotiation and applied to join the WTO in 1997 there were several activities that Laos has completed with, since that time Laos has competed 10 meetings of Working Party, The first WP was held in October 2004 focused on 263 questions, The 2^nd WP in November 2006 with 101 questions, The 3^rd WP in November 2007 consisted of 94 questions, The 4^th WP in July 2008, The 5^th WP in July 2009 with 50 questions, The 6^th WP in September 2010 there were 107 questions asked, The 7^th WP held in June 2011 with 136 questions, The 8^th WP held in march 2012 with 122 questions discussed, The 9^th WP held in June 2012 with 48 questions and The last 10^th WP was held in September 2012 there were 74 questions asked. It showed that since its application to join WTO in 1997 Laos has responded to more than 1,100 questions (10 sets of questions and answers) form WTO and also be a ware to submission of other requirement documentations: legislation, checklists, notification, submission of revised goods and service offers. In addition, Laos has concluded bilateral negotiation on goods and services with some of WTO member countries with Japan and China in 2010, South Korea Canada Australia EU Chinese Taipei in 2011 and then United States and Ukraine in 2012. By the time the government has also reviewed and adopted more than 90 laws, decrees, decisions, regulations and notification related to WTO accession in order to provide apparently comfortable and be right with the case of WTO’s member.

Goods Average bound rates on agriculture goods 19.3% and industrial goods 18.7% (applied rates: 18.4% and 10.0 respectively); Services: Open 79 sub-sectors (form 160 sectors), Cambodia open 96 sub-sectors (2004) and Vietnam open 98 sub-sectors (2007)

Way forwards; Summit the general Council on 26 October 2012: The Report of the Working Party on the Accession of Lao PDR, Concession and Commitments on goods, Specific Commitments on Services; National Assembly ratifies in December 2012; Full member 30 days after officially notifying WTO;; Business: Professional Service open 7 sub-sectors, Computer Service open 5 sub-sectors, Research & Development open 1 sub-sector, Other business open 9 sub-sectors; Communications: Courier Services open 1 sub-sector, Telecoms Services open 15 sub-sectors; Construction Services open 5 sub-sectors; Distribution Services open 4 sub-sectors; Private Education Services open 4 sub-sectors; Environment Services open 5 sub-sectors; Financial Services: Insurance Services opens 4 sub-sectors, Banking & other Financial Services open 8 sub-sectors; Hospital Services open 1 sub-sector; Tourism Services open  3 sub-sectors; and Transportation Services: Air Transportation Services open 3 sub-sectors; Import-Export rights receive a transition period of 2 years; Safeguard 5 years; Publish through the official Gazette 3 years; Implement SPS Agreement on 1 January 2015; Implement TBT Agreement on 1 January 2015; and Implementing TRIPS especially on relating to public health concerning the protection of potent will receive a transition period until 31 December 2016

News by: Bounnam