Answered By: Library Reviewer
Last Updated: Aug 19, 2023     Views: 3015

The Final Act of the Uruguay Round, signed in Marrakesh on April 15, 1994 includes roughly 60 agreements, annexes, decisions, and understandings, including the Marrakesh Agreement ("WTO Agreement") establishing the WTO, the GATT 1994, as well as other agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The rule for citing multilateral treaties for which the U.S. is a party is found in Rule 21.4.5(a)(ii) of The Bluebook which references a list of official U.S. sources to cite to in section (a)(i) of that same rule. Next, consulting the U.S. State Department's Treaties in Force, it can be determined that the Marrakesh Agreement has never appeared in either of the State Department's official publications of treaties entitled Treaties and Other International Acts (TIAS) or United States Treaties and Other Agreements (U.S.T.).

Thus, moving down the remaining list of acceptable sources in Rule 21.4.5(a)(i), the United Nations Treaty Series (U.N.T.S.) is next on the list.  The Marrakesh Agreement appeared in U.N.T.S. at 1867 U.N.T.S. 154 and also volumes 1868 and 1869The Bluebook Rule 21.4.5(a)(ii) allows for citation to U.N.T.S. when it has not appeared in an official U.S. treaty source, as is the case here.

Finally, it was also published in International Legal Materials (ILM) at 33 I.L.M. 1143 (1994).  The Bluebook also allows citation to an unofficial source (Rule 21.4.5(c)) when a treaty does not appear in an official U.S. source.  In various periodicals, the citation to I.L.M. is often used in addition to the citation to U.N.T.S.
 
Following this convention, the official citation for the Marrakesh Agreement would be:
 
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Agreement, Apr. 15, 1994, 1867 U.N.T.S. 154.
 

For more information about treaty research see A Guide to Treaty Research or the Treaties and International Agreements guide.

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