National treatment principle as an instrument for prevention of discrimination in case of 'like' products in the general agreement on tariffs and trade

• Main Author: Cvetković Predrag
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Law, Niš 2018-01-01
• Series: Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Nišu
• Subjects: national treatment; general agreement on tariffs and trade; World Trade Organization
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0350-8501/2018/0350-85011878083C.pdf

In the system of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the principle of national treatment is contained in Article III. This article articulates the principle which stipulates that the measures for regulation of internal market shall not be applied with the ultimate result of granting the protection to domestic products by discrimination of imported ones. The foregoing principle is more thoroughly regulated in Article III: 2 of the GATT, which defines the conditions for applying the principle of national treatment to internal taxes and other remunerations. The first sentence of Article III: 2 concerns the prohibition of discriminatory treatment of 'like' imported products by imposing internal taxes. The application of national treatment to 'like' products is conditioned by a two-step cumulative test which aims to determine the consistency of the internal taxation measure with the provision of Article III: 2. This test, generated in the practice of dispute settlement system established within the World Trade Organization, includes the following questions: a) whether imported products and domestic products are 'like' in the context of the first sentence of Article III: 2; and b) whether the imported product is more burdened with internal taxes than domestic products. If the answers to both questions are positive, there is a violation of the principle of national treatment (within the meaning of the first sentence of GATT Article III: 2).