Abstract
The intellectual keystone of the GATT-WTO multilateral trade system is that economic development is best achieved through non-discriminatory trade patterns, the progressive reduction of tariffs, and the elimination of nontariff barriers that block trade flows. Still, non-discrimination is not a shibboleth in the GATT-WTO system. To cite just one example, the scores of regional trade arrangements that have proliferated over the past decade honor the MFN obligation in the breach. And so it is with developing countries under GATT 1994 and the WTO MTAs. During the initial GATT-ITO negotiations in 1947 the view was accepted that the principle of equality of treatment among countries is inappropriate when countries are not economic equals. Within the GATT-WTO system, the concept of preferential treatment of developing countries (or special and differential treatment in GATT parlance) made its way into the permanent legal structure of GATT 1947 and its many subsidiary agreements. In a nutshell, the rules requiring MFN treatment of imported goods regardless of origin were altered in the case of imports from developing countries.1
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
For analyses of the role of developing countries in the GATT-WTO system, see WTO, High Level Symposium on Trade and Development, Background Document (1999); Robert E. Hudec, Developing Countries in the Gatt Legal System (1987); Diana Tussie, The Less Developed Countries and the World Trading System: A Challenge to the Gatt (1987); Abdulqawi Yusuf, Legal Aspects of Trade Preferences for Developing States: A Study in the Influence of Development Needs on the Evolution of International Law (1982); F.V. Garcia-Amador, the Emerging International Law of Development: A New Dimension of International Economic Law (1990); World Bank, the Uruguay Round and the Developing Economies (Will Martin and L. Alan Winters eds. 1995); John H. Jackson, World Trade and the Law of GATT § 25.1–25.7 (1969); Kenneth W. Dam, the GATT: Law and International Economic Organization 376–85 (1970); Bartram S. Brown, Developing Countries in the International Trade Order, 14 N. Ill. U.L. Rev. 347 (1994); Note, Developing Countries and Multilateral Trade Agreements: Law and the Promise of Development, 108 Harv. L. Rev. 1715 (1995); Robert E. Hudec, GATT and the Developing Countries, 1 Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 67 (1992).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (1984)
Ellen Frey-Wouters, The European Community and the Third World: The Lome Convention and Its Impact (1980)
F.V. Garcia-Amador, The Emerging International Law of Development: A New Dimension of International Economic Law (1990)
Branislav Gosovic, UNCTAD: Conflict and Compromise (1972)
Robert E. Hudec, Developing Countries in the GATT Legal System (1987)
OECD, The Generalized System of Preferences: Review of the First Decade (1983)
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, A Guide to the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (1996)
Diana Tussie, The Lessdeveloped Countries and the World Trading System: A Challenge to the GATT (1987)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, The History of UNCTAD 1964–1984 (1985)
The Uruguay Round and Beyond: The Final Report from the Ford Foundation Supported Project on Developing Countries and the Global Trading System (John Whalley ed. 1989)
World Bank, The Uruguay Round and the Developing Economies (Will Martin & L. Alan Winters eds. 1995)
Abdulqawi Yusuf, Legal Aspects of Trade Preferences for Developing States: A Study in the Influence of Development Needs on the Evolution of International Law (1982)
Bartram S. Brown, Developing Countries in the International Trade Order, 14 N. ILL. U.L. Rev. 347 (1994)
Robert E. Hudec, GATT and the Developing Countries, 1 Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 67 (1992)
Ndiva Kofele-Kale, The Principle of Preferential Treatment in the Law of GATT: Toward Achieving the Objective of an Equitable World Trading System, 18 Cal. W. Int’l L.J. 291 (1987–88)
Nina J. Lahoud, The “Non-Discriminatory” United States Generalized System of Preferences: De Facto Discrimination Against the Least Developing Countries, 23 Harv. Int’l L.J. 1 (1982)
Gregory O. Lunt, Graduation and the GATT: The Problem of the NICs, 31 Colum. J. Transnat’l L. 611 (1994)
Douglas E. Matthews, Lome IV and ACP/EEC Relations: Surviving the Lost Decade, 22 Cal. W. Int’l L.J. 1 (1991)
Kele Onyejekwe, GATT, Agriculture, and Developing Countries, 17 Hamline L. Rev. 77 (1993)
Kele Onyejekwe, International Law of Trade Preferences: Emanations from the European Union and the United States, 26 St. Mary’s L.J. 425 (1995)
Abdulqawi A. Yusuf, “Differential and More Favourable Treatment”: The GATT Enabling Clause, 14 J. World Trade L. 488 (1980)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kennedy, K. (2005). Special and Differential Treatment of Developing Countries. In: Macrory, P.F.J., Appleton, A.E., Plummer, M.G. (eds) The World Trade Organization: Legal, Economic and Political Analysis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22688-5_34
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22688-5_34
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-22685-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-22688-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawLaw and Criminology (R0)