What is a document symbol?

The unique and most commonly-referred to identifier of a WTO official document. The symbol is the counterpart of the call number or shelf number that is used commonly in libraries to identify books and other loan items. Based on the WTO Document Nomenclature (or classification scheme), the symbol can be more or less complex according to the series in which the document is being issued, its subject or its type.

Examples of WTO document symbols:

G/L/71
GPA/SPEC/2/Rev.1
IP/C/W/15
OFFICE(00)/39
S/ENQ/9
WT/CTE/W/31

Each symbol is made up of a combination of letters, numbers and suffixes. Letters are used to identify collections, series, types and the status of documents while numbers are used to indicate sequential order. Three-letter ISO standard codes are also used to identify Members (e.g. POL for Poland, ZWE for Zimbabwe, etc.). All documents are numbered in chronological order of issue and some documents may have more than one symbol.

Example 1

IP/C/W/34/Add.3/Suppl.3

Explanation: the third supplement to the third addendum to the thirty-fourth working document issued by the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (part of the Intellectual Property document collection):

IP = Collection
C = Series
W = Type
34; 3; 3 = Sequential numbers
Add.; Suppl. = Status

Example 2

WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/7/Add.2/Corr.1

Explanation: the first corrigendum of the second addendum to the seventh document relating to Latvia issued in the WTO Accession special series (part of the World Trade Overseeing Bodies document collection):

WT = Collection
ACC; SPEC = Series
LVA = ISO country code
7; 2; 1 = Sequential numbers
Add.; Corr. = Status