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World Trade Organization Toolkit

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Non-Discrimination Principles

There are two principles of non-discrimination which are fundamental to the GATT: the Most-Favoured-Nation principle and the National Treatment principle. These principles of non-discrimination are fundamental not only to the GATT, but to all WTO Agreements (they are also incorporated in the General Agreement on Trade and Services ("GATS") and the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS")). They are the foundation of the WTO system.

The Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle as laid down in Article I of the GATT means that each Contracting Party must grant to every other Contracting Party the most favorable treatment that it grants to any country with respect to imports and exports of products.

• Learn more about the Most-Favoured-Nation principle

The principle of National Treatment set out in Article III of the GATT addresses another form of discrimination, namely that between imported and locally-produced goods. Article III requires that imported and locally-produced goods be treated equally. In other words, Members are prevented from adopting internal or domestic policies designed to favour their domestic producers vis-à-vis foreign producers of a given product, even though the latter may all be treated in a uniform way. A straightforward example of a violation of the national treatment principle is the imposition of stricter technical standards for imported goods than for like domestic goods.

• Learn more about the National Treatment principle

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