Finding Belgian chocolates in Papua New Guinea is perhaps the perfect example of globalization and trade liberalization, but the whole web of trade issues behind the curtains is what puts to test the trading order established under the World Trade Organization(WTO). The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs 1994 (hereinafter ‘GATT 1994’) inherited the detailed framework for trade in goods based on the tripod of bound tariffs and the non–discriminatory application of tariff protection by way of the most favoured nation (MFN) principle and national treatment obligations. The only GATT–permissible protection is customs duties although there are other ‘business’, ‘non–business’, and ‘institutional’ exceptions to GATT.2 The complicated schematics of the application of customs duties have been the source of several disputes between the WTO members. This article examines certain customs issues and related disputes as also the tariff classification disputes that have arisen before the WTO dispute settlement body.
Global Trade and Customs Journal