Special and differential treatments for developing countries in WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism

Abstract

The term Special and Differential Treatment (S&D) is used throughout WTO agreements to describe a number of provisions aimed at providing preferential treatment to developing and least developed member states in the multilateral trading system. The WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) recognises the limitations of this member group and provides them with privileges and legal assistance to promote their active and effective participation in the dispute settlement mechanism. This article classifies S&D provisions in the DSU and reviews the practises of interpreting and applying them. Against that background, the author makes some recommendations for Vietnam to utilise these preferential treatments as a developing member state of the WTO.