Explain any three of the main principles of GATT 1947?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The main principles of GATT 1947 were as follows: (1) Trade discrimination was forbidden. Each contracting state had to accord the same trading privileges and benefits (or most-favored-nation status) to all other contracting states equally; and, once foreign trade goods were imported into one contracting state from another, the foreign goods had to be treated (according to the national treatment principle) the same way as domestic goods. (2) With some exceptions, the only barriers that one contracting state could use to limit the importation of goods from another contracting state were customs tariffs. (3) The trade regulations of contracting states had to be transparent, that is, published and available to other contracting states and their nationals. (4) Customs unions and free trade agreements between contracting states were regarded as legitimate means for liberalizing trade so long as they did not, on the whole, discriminate against third-party states that were also parties to GATT. (5) GATT-contracting states were allowed to levy only certain charges on imported goods: (a) an import tax equal in amount to internal taxes, (b) anti-dumping duties to offset advantages obtained by imported goods that were sold below the price charged in their home market or below their actual cost, (c) countervailing duties to counteract foreign export subsidies, and (d) fees and other proper charges for services rendered.