Legal Research On The National Treatment System In The WTO

The principle of national treatment is the footstone of the non-discrimination principle in WTO, and it is one of the three backbones of WTO. From temporary GATT to formal WTO, the national treatment always presents the liberty, equality and human rights, which are the progressional legal spirits. So with the development of economic globalization and WTO system, the scope of national treatment system has expanded from goods trade to service trade, intellectual property and investment measures.Since Dec.11, 2001, the china has been the member of WTO. In the one hand, the protocol of Chinese entry into the WTO demands Chinese government to implement the national treatment system as soon as possible. In the other hand, the domestic economic development is the impetus to the fulfillment of national treatment. Therefore, the problem of national treatment in china presses for solution. It is very practical to research the national treatment system in WTO and give some advise for implementing national treatment in China. These also are the aims of this article. Except for the introduction and epilogue, there are three chapters in the article that has 42,000 words. In the chapter one, I introduce the history, definition and characters of national treatment. In my opinion, the national treatment based on sovereignty theory is not absolute, but the national treatment based on reciprocity has been the international custom.The chapter two is about the national treatment system in GATT/WTO agreements. Firstly, because the article 3 of GATT1947 is the most important legislation in the national treatment system, I demonstrated that the report of panel developed the definition of national treatment in WTO from a plenty of cases in GATT and WTO. Secondly, some new agreements of Uruguay Round have expanded the scope of national treatment, such as GATS, TRIPS, and TRIMS. Lastly, I write the value of national treatment in WTO new round and forecast the trend of national treatment.After all, the WTO system regulates the obligation of government in the membership state. So, in chapter three, the focus of argument is how to implement the WTO national treatment system in china. Some formerly laws that are transitional need to be revised and adjusted, but there are some legal obstacles in Chinese society. Moreover, in order to conquer these obstacles, I give some suggestions.In the last part of this article, I do the conclusion: implementing the national treatment in China is a gradual process that must be on the domestic economic status.