Women's Employment - United Nations Research Institute for Social ...

Female employment under export-propelled industrialization
(MFA). The nine developed-country signatories to this agreement
were Austria, Canada, the European Community (EC), Finland,
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. During
negotiations of the GATT Uruguay Round, it was decided to integrate
the MFA into the GATT (WTO) over a transitional period of 10 years
(in four phases) beginning on 1 January 1995. According to the
Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) of the Uruguay Round,
the MFA phase-out schedule is as follows:
1) At the beginning of the first phase on 1 January 1995, each
country would integrate products from the specific list in the
Agreement accounting for not less than 16 per cent of its total
volume of imports in 1990;
2) At the beginning of the second phase on 1 January 1998,
products accounting for not less than 17 per cent of the 1990
import volume would be integrated;
3) In the third phase starting on 1 January 2002, products
accounting for not less than 18 per cent of the 1990 import volume
would be integrated; and
4) The remaining 49 per cent of the volume of 1990 imports would
be integrated at the end of the transition period on 1 January
2005.
Following full integration, trade in these products will be
governed by the general rules of the WTO. In each of the four phases,
products for integration are chosen from the following categories: tops
and yarns, fabrics, made-up textile products and clothing. Importing
countries determine the schedule of integration.
During the transition period, quotas are increased for items
remaining outside the integration process according to the following
schedule:
1) From 1 January 1995, the annual growth rates applicable to
these quotas would be increased by 16 per cent;
2) From 1 January 1998, the annual growth rates applicable to
these quotas would be increased by 25 per cent; and
3) From 1 January 2002, the annual growth rates applicable to
these quotas would be increased by 27 per cent.
In 1994, the GATT Secretariat projected phenomenal growth in
world trade in textiles and apparel once the restraining rein of the
MFA was phased out. Annual growth rates from 1.2 per cent to 4.3
per cent for textiles, and 4.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent for apparel are
projected through 2005. As Table 14 shows, global trade in textiles
and apparel combined is expected to increase from approximately
US$ 199.5 billion in 1992 (base year) to between US$ 289.2 and 469.9
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