ABSTRACT
Ever since the main developed countries became aware of the importance of trade in services for their economies and the "comparative advantages" this could bring for their share in world trade, the idea of creating a multilateral framework has been growing. This framework stemmed from the parallel drawn between trade in goods, and the positive result obtained from almost forty years of implementation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The experts' first reaction was to extend the GATT to services, that is to say, apply to trade in services the principles and rules incorporated in the General Agreement. These include non-discrimination, national treatment, transparency, dispute settlement and so forth. The application of the Most-Favoured-Nation Clause prevents discrimination between foreign products, while national treatment prevents discrimination between imports and the locally produced good in regard to internal taxation and other measures.
