Exceptions to and the Fate of the Most – Favoured – Nation Treatment Obligation under the GATT and GATS

Fotoh, Alexander Achia (2012): Exceptions to and the Fate of the Most – Favoured – Nation Treatment Obligation under the GATT and GATS.

Abstract

The Most – Favoured – Nation (MFN) treatment obligation is provided in the WTO agreements and particularly the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereinafter referred as GATT) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (hereinafter referred as GATS) for a purpose namely: to ensure equality in trade and services between WTO member states with a view to liberalize and multilateralize trade. But this purpose seems to have been defeated, alternatively improved by factors conflicting with the aforesaid purpose as well as other new emergence requiring consideration. This paper briefly examines concerns in this regard and settles on MFN retreat as a step-back development on MFN treatment obligation.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Exception Fate Most-Favoured-Nation GATT and GATS
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F1 - Trade

References

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Report by the Consultative Board to the Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, The Future of the WTO: Addressing Institutional Challenges in the New Millennium (the ‘Sutherland Report’) (WTO,2004), para.39.