Referencing - International Law: WTO agreement

WTO documents date from 1 January 1995 onwards.

This guidance applies whether you found the document in print or online.

title | (date) | treaty reference number

Footnote and bibliography:
e.g. Agreement on Agriculture (15 April 1994) LT/UR/A-1A/2

To pinpoint, follow the citation with the relevant term or abbreviation and a number. To pinpoint several articles or paragraphs, insert a dash between the numbers:
e.g. Agreement on Agriculture (15 April 1994) LT/UR/A-1A/2 arts 4-5

• Do not include 'The' at the beginning of the title
• Use capitals for the major words
• Include details of amendments in the title, if necessary.

The date is always given in (round brackets).

The preferred source for WTO agreements is the WTO Online Database.

The treaty reference number may not be given in the document itself, but should be located in information about the document (as in the example, left).

WTO agreements are divided into articles and paragraphs.

These divisions are referenced using either a term (e.g. article 4) or an abbreviation (e.g. art 4) as follows:

• In a footnote, use the abbreviation
• In the text of your work, use either the term or the abbreviation but...
• Use the term at the beginning of a sentence
• When referring to paragraphs, always use the abbreviation.

If citing a paragraph as part of an article, use only the abbreviation for the article. For example, paragraph 2 of article 3 of the Agreement on Agriculture is referenced as follows: Agreement on Agriculture (15 April 1994) LT/UR/A-1A/2 art 3(2).