ABSTRACT

Since 1 January 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has provided the all-embracing framework for the conduct of its members in a broad range of trade-related policy areas. The WTO replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), established in 1947, and aims at the realization of similar objectives, operates on the basis of the same principles and encompasses all the results achieved in the GATT rounds of multilateral trade negotiations. As laid down in the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, which resulted from the Uruguay Round of the GATT, the main objective of the WTO is to contribute to the welfare of its members, and particularly of developing countries, by improving the functioning of the multilateral trade system. This objective is meant to be realized through the liberalization of world trade and the creation of a transparent, reliable and fair rules-based system for trade relations. Among its most essential principles are ‘general most-favoured-nation treatment’ and ‘national treatment on internal taxation and regulation’, as laid down in Article I and Article III of the GATT respectively. Article I refers to non-discrimination between imports from different member countries in the trade regime of a member country, while Article III refers to nondiscrimination between domestic supply and imports from member countries after customs clearance. Many GATT-WTO articles deal with circumstances and conditions allowing countries to intervene in trade flows by levying import tariffs and using subsidies to protect or support domestic producers and consumers for reasons related to unfairness of competition, safety and health, and emergency conditions. More specifically, a substantial number of articles stipulate exceptions made for developing countries, and particularly for least-developed countries in order to support their development process.