. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/COMTD/N/11
3 February 2000
(00-0426)
Committee on Trade and Development Original:  French
TREATY ON THE WEST AFRICAN ECONOMIC
AND MONETARY UNION (WAEMU)
Notification by Senegal
The following communication, dated 27 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Senegal, with the request that it be circulated to Members of the WTO.
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The Treaty establishing the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) was
signed on 10 January 1994 in Dakar (Republic of Senegal) by the Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso,
the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, the Republic of Mali, the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Senegal
and the Togolese Republic.  The Permanent Mission of Senegal wishes to request the Secretariat to
bring the above-mentioned Treaty and subsequent texts to the notice of the WTO.1
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau joined the WAEMU on 2 May 1997, as the eighth member of
the Union.
The Permanent Mission would point out that the information set out below is supplied to the
WTO Secretariat pursuant to the Decision of 28 November 1979, under the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), on Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller
Participation of Developing Countries, known as the "Enabling Clause".
The signature of the WAEMU Treaty was the first measure of support for the change in parity
of the CFA franc, the common currency of member States of the West African Monetary Union
(WAMU).  The WAEMU Treaty thus supplements the Treaty on Monetary Union by dealing with
issues relating to economic integration, in order to provide the common currency with the properfoundation needed for its consolidation and its stability.
The Treaty provides for full economic integration covering all sectors of the member States'
economies.  Its main aim is to "strengthen the competitiveness of economic and financial activities in
member States, within an open and competitive market with a rationalized and harmonized legalstructure".
Article 4 of the Treaty specifies the objectives assigned to the WAEMU, as follows:- Ensure convergence in the performance and economic policies of member States
through the establishment of a multilateral supervisory system;
- create between the member States a common market based on the free movement of
persons, goods, services and capital and the right of establishment of self-employed
                                                     
1 The text of the Treaty is reproduced as document No. WT/COMTD/23.WT/COMTD/N/11
Page 2
persons or of employees, as well as a common external tariff and a common trade
policy;
- coordinate national sectoral policies through the implementation of common actions,
in particular in the following areas:  human resources, urban and regional planning,transport and telecommunications, the environment, agriculture, energy, industry and
mines;
- harmonize legislation in member States, particularly tax regimes, to the extent
necessary to ensure the proper functioning of the common market.
Since launching its operational activities in August 1995, the WAEMU Commission, on the
instructions of the Conference of Heads of State and the Council of Ministers, has defined and
implemented various projects, all of which are convergent and designed to accelerate the process of
economic integration within the WAEMU area.  They involve:
- Establishment of a customs union;- multilateral supervision of national macroeconomic policies;- harmonization of legislation:  domestic indirect tax regimes, legal, accounting and
statistical framework of public finance, community investment code, accountinglegislation (SYSCOA), regional financial markets;
- formulation and implementation of common sectoral policies.With regard to the customs union in particular, its effective entry into force is scheduled for
1 January 2000, with a common external tariff (C ET) and total exemption from customs duties and
other duties and charges of equivalent effect for products originating in the union.
Other community texts are being prepared, dealing inter alia  with customs valuation, the
Anti-Dumping Code, rules of origin of the uni on, the Customs Code, and community legislation on
competition.
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