1.  This Order may be cited as the European Communities (Definition of Treaties) (The Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation) Order 1995. It shall come into force in respect of the treaty specified in the Schedule to this Order on the date on which the treaty enters into force for the United Kingdom. This date will be notified in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes.

2.  The treaty specified in the Schedule to this Order is to be regarded as a Community Treaty as defined in section 1(2) of the European Communities Act 1972.

SCHEDULE

The Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation signed at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994(2).

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order declares the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation, signed on 15 April 1994 by the Community, the Member States and many other states, to be a Community Treaty as defined in section 1(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. The Agreement establishes the World Trade Organisation to provide a common institutional framework for the conduct of trade relations amongst its Members. The agreements and associated legal instruments included in Annexes 1, 2 and 3, the Multilateral Trade Agreements, are integral parts of the Agreement and bind all Members. The principal effect of declaring this Agreement to be a Community Treaty as so defined is to bring into play in relation to it the provisions of section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972 which provides for the implementation of treaties so specified.