National treatment
National treatment is a principle in
While this is generally viewed as a desirable principle, in custom it conversely means that a state can deprive foreigners of anything of which it deprives its own citizens. An opposing principle calls for an international minimum standard of justice (a sort of basic
Though support for national treatment was expressed in several controversial (and legally non-binding) United Nations General Assembly resolutions, the issue of expropriations is almost universally handled through treaties with other states and contracts with private entities, rather than through reliance upon international custom.
National treatment only applies once a product, service or item of intellectual property has entered the market. Therefore, charging customs duty on an import is not a violation of national treatment even if locally-produced products are not charged an equivalent tax.[2]
GATT/WTO
National treatment is an integral part of many World Trade Organization agreements. Together with the most favoured nation principle, national treatment is one of the cornerstones of WTO trade law. It is found in all 3 of the main WTO agreements (GATT, GATS and TRIPS).[2]
National treatment is a basic principle of GATT/WTO that prohibits discrimination between imported and domestically produced goods with respect to internal taxation or other government regulation. The principle of national treatment is formulated in Article 3 of the GATT 1947[4] (and incorporated by reference in GATT 1994); Article 17 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); and in Article 3 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The aim of this trade rule is to prevent internal taxes or other regulations from being used as a substitute for tariff protection.[5]
A good summary is found in Japan-Alcohol[6] which states; "[a] national treatment obligation is a general prohibition on the use of internal taxes and other internal regulatory measures so as to afford protection to domestic production".
See also
- Most favoured nation
- Special and differential treatment
- Privileges and Immunities Clause (United States Constitution, Article IV)
References
- ^ "The national treatment standard". LawTeacher.com. 2013-11-01. Archived from the original on 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
- ^ a b c d "Principles of the trading system". World Trade Organization. Archived from the original on 2000-08-17. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
- ISBN 978-3-540-88742-3.
- ^ The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/gatt47_01_e.htm
- ^ CRS Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition - Order Code 97-905 Archived 2011-08-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Report of the WTO Appellate Body 1994 http://www.worldtradelaw.net/reports/wtoab/japan-alcohol(ab).pdf