What is LegaCarta?


Launched in November 2005, LegaCarta provides assessment and technical assistance tools regarding a country’s position in relation to the main multilateral treaties that have an impact on international trade.

International Trade Centre (ITC)


The International Trade Centre (ITC), is a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (WTO) for operational, enterprise-oriented aspects of trade. ITC supports developing and transition economies, and particularly their business sector, in their efforts to realise their full potential for developing exports and improving import operations. To this end, it cooperates with other relevant agencies inside and outside the UN system, building upon each other’s comparative advantages and “best practices”.

LegaCarta is a multilingual Web-based tool that provides information on over 300 multilateral trade treaties and instruments most relevant to trade. Designed to assist primarily policy makers and trade promotion organisations in optimising their country´s legal framework on international trade by integrating trade into development strategies, it is a comprehensive tool that can also be used by researchers, analysts and international law and trade students.

Unique Features:


LegaCarta helps decision-makers (public/private) understand how key multilateral trade conventions and model laws impact on the national legal environment and assists them in making informed decisions in terms of ratification/adhesion. It operates within ITC’s strategic objective of supporting policymakers in integrating the business sector into the global economy.

LegaCarta covers key trade multilateral conventions in a broad range of issues such as contracts, customs, dispute resolution, environment, finance, illicit trade, intellectual property, investment, transport and telecommunications. It includes over 300 legal maps, full text of 244 multilateral trade instruments, explanatory notes for each instrument, updated tables of ratifications and with subscription, country analysis profiles and technical assistance.

It is country-based, with detailed systematic analysis of a country’s position, strengths and weaknesses regarding multilateral treaties.

LegaCarta’s new version has a very user-friendly interactive interface, where you can save, prioritise and organise your searches.

Millennium Development Goals:


LegaCarta was designed in the context of the United Nations´ Millennium Development Goal N° 8 which aims to “develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory”, and which includes “a commitment to good governance”. More concretely, LegaCarta is a tool that together with its technical assistance helps integrate trade into development strategies creating national legal frameworks conducive to trade addressing both trade and poverty.

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