General Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment

Most-favoured-nation (MFN) clauses are widely found in bilateral and multilateral treaties dealing with the treatment of persons, rights of establishment, trade in goods and services, investments, and protection of intellectual property rights. Art. I of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) consists of four paragraphs; Art. I:1 sets out the general MFN principle. An examination of whether a measure is consistent with Art. I:1 has traditionally involved an analysis of, among other things, (i) whether the measure is covered by Art. I:1; and (ii) whether the measure confers an "advantage, favour, privilege or immunity" to any product originating in or destined for another country. The scope of Art. I:1 is broad, extending to tariffs and almost any measures taken in connection with border charges. There are several important exceptions to the MFN principle. These are found, inter alia, in Arts XX (general exceptions) and XXI (security exceptions). Keywords: GATT; most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment