Special and Differential Treatment of Developing Countries in the GATT/WTO: Past, Present, Future

Special and differential treatment of developing countries is one of the main tools that the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) systems have used in the bid to integrate developing countries better into the international trade system. The adequacy and implications of using special and differential treatment as such a tool for integration is a central theme of enquiry in this book. The book presents an overview of the conceptual basis for granting special and differential treatment to developing countries and the development of the concept in the GATT/WTO. It also presents a critique of the concept of special and differential treatment highlighting, among others, the different views scholars have expressed on the subject. The controversial issue of using certain standards as conditionalities for developing countries to gain preferential access to developed country markets is critiqued with particular emphasis on the EC – Tariff Preferences case.