Le principe du respect de la situation particulière des pays en développement et de l'assistance au développement

THE PRINCIPLE OF RESPECTING THE PARTICULAR SITUATION OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND OF ASSISTING DEVELOPMENT The paper first examines to which extent the particular situation of developing countries has given rise to specific rules derogating in their favor from general principles of equality and reciprocity in the area of international trade of goods and services and technolgy transfer, such as the concept of preferential treatment regarding customs and tariffs, the specific exceptions regarding protection of and access to intellectual property, the particular rules on services, investment and agricultural products etc. It then summarily reports on the existing principles of development assistance regarding both private and public assistance, in particular those prevailing in the EU-ACP Convention. In a second part the paper analyzes the legal underpinnings of these specific rules and principles, criticizing in part their conceptual form of exceptions and advocating their complementary nature by reference to a formal principle of non-discrimination, since they represent legitimate rules of differentiation according to existing differences. In that respect the author also points to differences among developing countries,which have resulted in further differentiation of treatment in particular areas. By way of conclusion the author proposes to reconsider the concept of a New Economic Order as a way to overcome the hypocritical method of carrying on exceptional rules which mirror a permanent problem that can be overcome only by rules of adequate treatment.