IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/wotrrv/v5y2006i03p445-469_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A legal principle of special and differential treatment for WTO disputes

Author

Listed:
  • MITCHELL, ANDREW D.

Abstract

Based on the notion that the needs of developing countries are substantially different from those of developed countries, the principle of special and differential treatment (S&D) in the World Trade Organization (WTO) allows a certain degree of discrimination in favour of developing countries. This article considers the potential of this principle in resolving disputes within the WTO. S&D developed in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1947 and is today reflected in a series of provisions in various WTO agreements. The meaning of S&D as a broader principle could assist in interpreting such provisions. In addition, the principle of S&D could conceivably be used as part of the inherent jurisdiction of Panels and the Appellate Body in connection with procedural aspects of dispute settlement. However, the article concludes that, due to the incoherence of S&D, as well as the difficulties involved in distinguishing between developing countries and in advancing their interests as an amorphous group, S&D is presently of limited value as an independent principle in WTO dispute settlement.

Suggested Citation

  • Mitchell, Andrew D., 2006. "A legal principle of special and differential treatment for WTO disputes," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 445-469, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:wotrrv:v:5:y:2006:i:03:p:445-469_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1474745606002941/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Omphemetse S. Sibanda Sr., 2015. "Towards a Revised GATT/WTO Special and Differential Treatment Regime for Least Developed and Developing Countries," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 50(1), pages 31-40, February.
    2. Agus Surono & Maslihati Nur Hidayati, 2019. "Special and Differential Treatment in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture and the Benefits for Developing Countries," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:wotrrv:v:5:y:2006:i:03:p:445-469_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/wtr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.