Bilateral Investment Agreements
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on behalf of the PA, has signed international trade agreements, which refer implicitly or explicitly to World Trade Organization rules. These include the following:
- Paris Protocol Agreement with Israel (1994) – free trade in products between Israel and Palestinian markets
- Technical and Economic Cooperation Accord with Egypt (1994)
- Trade Agreement between the PA and Jordan (1995)
- Duty Free Arrangements with the United States (1996)
- The EuroMed Interim Association Agreement on Trade and Co-operation (1997)
- Interim Agreement between European Free Trade Area (EFTA) states and the PLO (1997)
- Joint Canadian-Palestinian Framework for Economic Cooperation and Trade (1999)
- Agreement on Commercial Cooperation with Russia – extends MFN status
- Greater Arab Free Trade Area, to which PA is a party (2001)
- Free Trade Agreement with Turkey (2004)
- Trade Agreement with the EU – duty free access for Palestinian agricultural and fishery goods (2011)
- Free Trade Agreement with Mercosur (2011)
- Unilateral acts by other Arab trade partners extending preferential treatment to trade with Palestine.
Since 1996, duty-free treatment has been available to all goods exported from the West Bank/Gaza to the United States, provided they meet qualifying criteria as spelled out in the U.S.- Israel Free Trade Area (FTA) Implementation Act of 1985, as amended. The duty-free benefits accorded under the FTA exceed those benefits which would be provided under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). It is worth noting that the benefits for imports to the Palestinian territories provided in all of the trade agreements listed above are subject to application by the GOI, since all goods destined for the West Bank or Gaza must enter through Israeli-controlled crossings or ports. The GOI generally applies duties and tariffs consistent with its trade agreements, not with the PA’s trade agreements.