The Special and Different Treatment Principle at WTO and the urge for new parameter of development

Abstract

WTO member countries are divided into three categories: developed, least developed and developing countries. While the least developed countries are those determined by the UN criteria, based on the HDI (Human Development Index), developing countries are free to proclaim themselves as developing or least developed. Considering the difficulties faced these countries in opening up their markets, fulfilling their obligations and benefitting from the rights provided by WTO agreements, the organization has opened up exceptions to the special and differential treatment principal applied to these countries. The context in which the WTO emerged in the 1990s differs from the current scenario, in which emergent states arose, such as China and Brazil, with strong economic power. In an organization where decision-making depends on the consensus of all members, the difficulties faced due to the dynamism of international economy are evident. In this sense, the present work intends to demonstrate the urge to adopt specific development parameters to reach new commercial agreements. Therefore, the performance of the main developed and developing WTO members on trade defense measures and the use of the Dispute Settlement Body will be analyzed in order to demonstrate that the HDI is not adequate to determine the categories of development at WTO.