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41 J. World Trade 683 (2007)
GSP Tariffs and Conditionality: A Comment on EC - Preferences

handle is hein.kluwer/jwt0041 and id is 691 raw text is: Journal of World Trade 41(4): 683-698, 2007. © 2007 Kluwer Law International. Printed in The Netherlands. GSP Tariffs and Conditionality: A Comment on EC-Preferences Maureen IRISH1 Conditionality attached to preferential tariffs has long been criticized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and many developing countries as reflecting unilateralism, extraterritoriality and protectionism. The Appellate Body's decision in EC-Preferences appears to permit World Trade Organization (WTO) Members to treat different beneficiary countries differently and attach conditions to the grant of preferences. In its interpretation of the Enabling Clause, however, the Appellate Body identified certain requirements that limit the use of conditionality. In order to comply with the clause, it may be that any conditions will need to be directed toward the well-being of beneficiary countries. Conditional preferences that respond to the interests of the preference-granting countries may be inconsistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article I. Article I of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) contains the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, which requires WTO Member countries to make any favourable trade treatment of goods from one WTO Member immediately and unconditionally available to imports from all other WTO Members.2 As an exception to MFN, in the customs law of countries applying Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) tariffs, goods imported from developing countries receive preferential rates that are lower than the duties on imports from other WTO Members.3 The current authorization for such preferences is contained in the Enabling Clause, which permits developed countries to accord differential and more favourable treatment to developing countries, without according such treatment to other I Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor; e-mail: <mirish@uwindsor.ca>. This comment is based on a paper presented at the conference on Human Rights in a Globalizing Era?, organized by the Centre for Studies in Social Justice, University of Windsor, August 2005. For comments on an earlier draft, I thank Marcia Valiante of the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor and Rorden Wilkinson of the Centre for International Pohtics, Department of Government, University of Manchester. I am grateful for support from the Canadian-American Research Centre for Law and Policy at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor. I would particularly like to express my appreciation to Annette Demers, Reference Librarian, Paul Martin Law Library, University of Windsor. 2 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, done 30 October 1947, into effect provisionally 1 January 1948, into effect 1 January 1995, Annex 1A, Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (GATT Secretariat, The Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Legal Texts (Geneva: WTO, 1994), p. 486), Article 1:1. 3 WTO law does not contain definitions of the terms developed country or developing country. The least-developed countries are those recognized as such by the United Nations (Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, Article XI(2)). Copyright 2007 by Kluwer Law International. All rights reserved No claims asserted to original government works.

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