University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Law.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. Access is restricted indefinitely. The hardcopy may be available for consultation at the UTS Library.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. Access is restricted indefinitely. ----- The "like products" rule is a non-discrimination policy tool that represents the
core of the World Trade Organization (hereinafter "WTO") trade liberalization
system. It is meant to lead to consistent outcomes, in terms of trade benefits, for all
countries at all developmental levels. The WTO seeks to achieve its trade
liberalization objectives through the adoption of a non-discrimination policy under the
Most Favored Nation Treatment (MFN) principle in Article I of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GA TT") and the national treatment principle in
Article III. To see how effective 'like products" rule works in actual trade practice it
is necessary to look at a free trade example (Jordan-U.S free trade). The thesis
includes a comparative analysis of pharmaceutical industries in both countries.
Examination of free trade between the two countries under the "like products" rule
will show the impact of economic or technological differences on the ability of the
countries to benefit from free trade based on the "like products".
The pursuit of the trade liberalization objectives underpinned by the MFN and the
national treatment principle is essentially dependent on a proper definition and
articulation of what constitutes a "like product". In spite of the significance of the
"like products" concept, its scope and definition is far from clear. The GA IT
Agreement included no explanation as to the criteria to determine likeness among
products and the issue of finding appropriate criteria was and still remains a major
difficulty when applying Article III to a trade conflict.
Interpretation of the "like products" term has been subject to scholarly and judicial
discussion, however, scholarly analysis related to interpretation of likeness is still
limited. Attempts to address the interpretation of likeness by the WTO Dispute
Settlement Body (hereinafter "DSB") (the Panel and Appellate Body) has not made
any significant difference to the issue.
This thesis seeks to examine the "like products" rule in Article III of GA IT as a
normative concept and to determine whether its effects are consistent with
GA IT/WTO development objectives of raising standards of living, sustainable
growth and economic efficiency. In particular, the thesis examines whether the
application of the rule is capable of producing consistent outcomes, in terms of trade
benefits and competitiveness, to countries at all developmental levels.
The thesis seeks to conclude that the current case-by-case analysis approach (brought
by the 1970 Working Party report on Border Tax Adjustments) to determine the
concept of likeness has failed to provide a unified definition to what can be
considered as "like products". The existence of economic and technological inequality
undermines the functioning of the "like products" rule. The Jordan-U.S free trade
example of the pharmaceutical industry in relation to "like products" rule obviously
confirms in practice that economic power and the technological gap between
countries can alter the outcome of the application of the "like products" rule.
This thesis has 12 chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction. Chapters 2-6 will examine
the "like products" interpretation in Article III of GA TI/WTO in light of the DSB
decisions and the relevant scholarly discussion. Chapters 7-8 are devoted to an
analysis to the GA TT export-led growth model and relationship between national
treatment and competition. The thesis examines the Jordan-U.S Free Trade
Agreement and specifically pharmaceuticals trade in chapters 9-11. The analysis of
Jordan-U.S free trade example will reveal whether the application of "like products"
rule leads to consistent outcomes in terms of trade benefits for all sides regardless of
developmental level. Chapter 12 is the conclusion
