Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Developing Countries in the WTO System
- 1 The Legal Status of Special and Differential Treatment Provisions under the WTO Agreements
- 2 Trade Preferences to Small Developing Countries and the Welfare Costs of Lost Multilateral Liberalization
- 3 China in the WTO 2006: “Law and Its Limitations” in the Context of TRIPS
- 4 Developing Countries in the WTO Services Negotiations: Doing Enough?
- 5 Developing Countries and the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights: Current Issues in the WTO
- 6 Participation of Developing Countries in the WTO – New Evidence Based on the 2003 Official Records
- 7 Developing Countries and GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement
- 8 Representing Developing Countries in WTO Dispute Settlement Proceedings
- 9 Compensation and Retaliation: A Developing Country's Perspective
- 10 A Preference for Development: The Law and Economics of GSP
- 11 The GSP Fallacy: A Critique of the Appellate Body's Ruling in the GSP Case on Legal, Economic, and Political/Systemic Grounds
- 12 Is the WTO Doing Enough for Developing Countries?
- Index
1 - The Legal Status of Special and Differential Treatment Provisions under the WTO Agreements
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Developing Countries in the WTO System
- 1 The Legal Status of Special and Differential Treatment Provisions under the WTO Agreements
- 2 Trade Preferences to Small Developing Countries and the Welfare Costs of Lost Multilateral Liberalization
- 3 China in the WTO 2006: “Law and Its Limitations” in the Context of TRIPS
- 4 Developing Countries in the WTO Services Negotiations: Doing Enough?
- 5 Developing Countries and the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights: Current Issues in the WTO
- 6 Participation of Developing Countries in the WTO – New Evidence Based on the 2003 Official Records
- 7 Developing Countries and GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement
- 8 Representing Developing Countries in WTO Dispute Settlement Proceedings
- 9 Compensation and Retaliation: A Developing Country's Perspective
- 10 A Preference for Development: The Law and Economics of GSP
- 11 The GSP Fallacy: A Critique of the Appellate Body's Ruling in the GSP Case on Legal, Economic, and Political/Systemic Grounds
- 12 Is the WTO Doing Enough for Developing Countries?
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Since the creation of the multilateral trading system about sixty years ago, developing countries as a group have not benefited significantly from it. Although their share in world trade has increased to 25 percent, the major beneficiaries are such countries as Brazil, Chile, China, India, and South Korea. The majority of developing countries, especially the least-developed countries (LDCs), have seen their share in world trade stagnate or decline. According to the WTO Secretariat, the share of world trade held by the forty-nine countries making up this group has continuously declined over the years to less than 0.5 percent, confirming their marginalisation in the multilateral trading system.
The lack of active participation of LDCs and of most developing countries in the multilateral trading system and the global economy has been a source of concern for the WTO. This concern is reflected in the second indent to the preamble of the WTO Agreement, which relevantly provides that Members of the WTO “[recognize] that there is need for positive efforts designed to ensure that developing countries, and especially the least developed among them, secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development.” The Director-General of the WTO, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, has on numerous occasions expressed his commitment to the integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading system and the global economy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- WTO Law and Developing Countries , pp. 12 - 35Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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