- Non- discrimination:
a) Firstly, every member country will grant the most favored nation (MFN) treatment to all its trading partners.
– No country should discriminate between its trading partners.
– Every time a country lowers a trade barrier or opens up a market, it will be applicable to the products and services originating from all the countries.
b) Secondly, no member country should discriminate between it’s own and foreign products, services or nationals once they duly enter into the country.
– But the country can set transparent and simple conditions like custom duty and other conditions for the foreign products, services or nationals to enter into the country.
- Free Movement of Foreign Products, Services or Nationals:
– Member countries should negotiate to convert non-tariff and other trade barriers into tariff barriers and bring down and set limit for tariff trade barriers.
- Transparency:
– Under WTO non-tariff and other trade barriers are converted into tariff barriers and an upper bound is set for the tariff barriers.
– This makes the foreign companies, investors and governments confident that the non-tariff and other trade barriers will not be imposed in future and tariff barriers will not be raised above the bound set for it.
4.Special and Differential Treatment:
– Developing countries and Least Development Countries (LDCs) get more time for adjustment and greater flexibility in rules.