Recently, there has been a surge in bilateral and regional trade arrangements between developed and developing countries, which are known as North-South RTAs. Under the current legal system of the WTO, North-South RTAs are governed by Article XXIV of the GATT or Article V of the GATS, which means such RTAs must be reciprocal and must cover substantially all the trade. On the other hand, there is another category of rules on RTAs based on the so-called Enabling Clause, which, in exceptional circumstances, provides special and differential treatment (SDT) for RTAs among developing countries. This paper considers the applicability of the SDT concept to North-South RTAs by examining why rules on RTAs and the concept of SDT were incorporated into the GATT/WTO legal framework so as to permit the derogation of most-favored-nation (MFN) obligations.
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Paper provided by Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) in its series IDE Discussion Papers with number
197.
Length: Date of creation: Mar 2009 Date of revision: Publication status: Published in IDE Discussion Paper. No. 197. 2009. 03 Handle: RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper197
Find related papers by JEL classification: F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
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