Abstract
Differential treatment favouring developing countries is an important manifestation of solidarity. However, granting differential treatment to developing countries, especially emerging powers, has become contentious. This chapter provides an overview of differential treatment in international law, with a specific focus on international trade and climate change law. It concludes that doing away with differential treatment will adversely affect the role of solidarity in international legal relations. Accordingly, a hierarchical form of differential treatment that is in tune with the concept of solidarity could provide a way forward to resolve the current impasse.
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Notes
- 1.
Williams 2009, p. 497.
- 2.
For instance, in the WTO Special and Differential Treatment provisions provide “special rights” to developing countries in general, with some provisions aiming at favourable treatment for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). See World Trade Organization (n.d.) Special and differential treatment provisions. https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/devel_e/dev_special_differential_provisions_e.htm. Accessed 15 April 2022. On the other hand, in the case of the UNFCCC the divisions of States into annex and non-annex countries is understood as a division between developed and developing countries. See Rajamani 2008; Stone 2004; Williams 2009; Deng and Chen 2016.
- 3.
Office of the United States Trade Representative 2019.
- 4.
See, e.g., Hardin 1974.
- 5.
Ibid.
- 6.
- 7.
MacDonald 1996, p. 290.
- 8.
Cullet 1999.
- 9.
Williams 2009.
- 10.
- 11.
Article 16(4) of the Constitution of India states, “Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State”. In the case of the USA affirmative action is used to benefit groups like women and minorities. See CNN (2019) Affirmative Action Fast Facts. https://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/12/us/affirmative-action-fast-facts/index.html. Accessed 12 January 2020.
- 12.
Dann 2010, p. 61.
- 13.
Carozza and Crema 2014.
- 14.
MacDonald 1996.
- 15.
Pronto 2015, p. 954.
- 16.
Examples can be cited of the Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted 5 June 1992, entered into force 29 December 1993, 1760 UNTS 79, Article 16; Charter of the United Nations, signed 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945, 1 UNTS XVI, Article 55; and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 9 May 1992, entered into force 21 March 1994, 1771 UNTS 107, Article 11.
- 17.
See Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights n.d.
- 18.
Dann 2010.
- 19.
MacDonald 1996.
- 20.
De Jonge 2014.
- 21.
- 22.
Bolaños 2010.
- 23.
See, e.g., Anghie 2004, p. 96.
- 24.
- 25.
For an illustration of legal relations based on ‘less than full reciprocity’, see WTO Ministerial Conference 2001a, para 16.
- 26.
MacDonald 1996.
- 27.
Cullet 1999.
- 28.
Ibid.
- 29.
De Jonge 2014.
- 30.
See International Monetary Fund (n.d.) IMF Members’ Quotas and Voting Power, and IMF Board of Governors. https://www.imf.org/en/About/executive-board/members-quotas. Accessed 2 December 2021.
- 31.
Whalley 1999, p. 1069.
- 32.
Bedjaoui 1979.
- 33.
Magraw 1990. It is important to mention here that Magraw differentiates between differential treatment and contextual treatment. The former grants more favourable treatment to developing countries by adopting different obligations, while the latter differentiates between States by qualifying and contextualizing similar obligations that apply to all.
- 34.
WTO Secretariat 2013.
- 35.
Within the WTO, a member state designates itself as a developing country, subject to challenges from other members. See World Trade Organization (n.d.) Who are the developing countries in the WTO? https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/devel_e/d1who_e.htm. Accessed 8 September 2022.
- 36.
ICJ, Continental Shelf (Tunisia/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Separate Opinion of Judge Jiménez de Aréchaga, 24 February 1982, 1982 I.C.J. Reports 100, para 24.
- 37.
Francioni 2013, para 3.
- 38.
See, e.g., Cullet 1999, p. 554.
- 39.
- 40.
Examples can be cited of Article 9 of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, signed 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1996, 1867 UNTS 493 (SPS Agreement) and Article 11 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, entered into force 1 January 1995, 1868 UNTS 120 (TBT Agreement).
- 41.
Cullet 1999.
- 42.
This is reflected in the Principle 07 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted after the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, which provides that the Earth’s ecosystem is to be protected through cooperation and on the basis of common but differentiated responsibilities. See Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted 14 June 1992, UN Doc A/CONF.151/26 Vol I, 31 ILM 874 (1992 Rio Declaration).
- 43.
Cullet 1999, p. 578.
- 44.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 9 May 1992, entered into force 21 March 1994, 1771 UNTS 107 (UNFCCC).
- 45.
Cullet 2008.
- 46.
See UNFCCC, Article 3(1).
- 47.
- 48.
UNFCCC, Article 4(2)(b).
- 49.
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed 11 December 1997, entered into force 16 February 2005, 2303 UNTS 162.
- 50.
Kyoto Protocol, Article 3(1).
- 51.
See, e.g., Cullet 2008.
- 52.
Conference of the Parties (2015) Paris Agreement, adopted 12 December 2015, entered into force 4 November 2016, UN Doc FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev/1 (Paris Agreement).
- 53.
Paris Agreement, Article 2(2). However, the said provision qualifies the CBDR principle with the phrase ‘in light of different national circumstances’. This effectively results in individual differentiation and makes CBDR dynamic because differentiation will evolve as per changes in national circumstances. See Rajamani 2016, p. 508.
- 54.
See for instance UNFCCC, Articles 4(4), 4(5); Paris Agreement, Articles 7(7), 11(3); and Kyoto Protocol, Article 11(2)(a).
- 55.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, signed 30 October 1947, entered into force 1 January 1948, 1867 UNTS 190 (GATT).
- 56.
GATT, Article XXXVII(1).
- 57.
GATT, Article XXXVII(1)(a).
- 58.
GATT, Article XXXVII(3)(a).
- 59.
GATT, Article XXXVII(3)(b).
- 60.
GATT, Article XXXVII(3)(c).
- 61.
GATT, Article XXXVII(3)(c).
- 62.
See for example SPS Agreement, Article 10.
- 63.
See Paris Agreement, Article 7.
- 64.
TBT Agreement.
- 65.
Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, entered into force 1 January 1995, 1868 UNTS 201 (Anti-Dumping Agreement), Article 15.
- 66.
See World Trade Organization 2000, paras 6.229 and 6228.
- 67.
UNFCCC, Article 4(8).
- 68.
See UNFCCC, Articles 4(9) and 4(10).
- 69.
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, entered into force 1 January 1995, 1869 UNTS 14, see Article 27.
- 70.
See WTO Ministerial Conference 2001b.
- 71.
Ibid.
- 72.
WTO Ministerial Conference 2015, para 34.
- 73.
See, e.g., Hurrell 2006, p. 2.
- 74.
- 75.
Mitchell 2006, p. 458.
- 76.
Kanth 2019.
- 77.
Office of the United States Trade Representative 2019.
- 78.
- 79.
Campbell 2016.
- 80.
United Nations Climate Change 2008a, p. 5.
- 81.
United Nations Climate Change 2008b, p. 87.
- 82.
Ibid.
- 83.
See Paris Agreement, Article 2(2).
- 84.
For details relating to change in the CBDR post-Paris Agreement, see Thakur 2021.
- 85.
Rajamani 2016, p. 508.
- 86.
Pauwelyn 2013.
- 87.
In the case of the WTO, a member self-designates itself as a developing country. This is subject to challenge by the other Member States. See World Trade Organization (n.d) Who are the developing countries in the WTO? https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/devel_e/d1who_e.htm. Accessed 18 November 2021. In the specific case of the UNFCCC law, as discussed above, the distinction between annex and non-annex states is considered synonymous with developed and developing countries. However, there is an absence of objective criteria for classifying a State as an annex or non-annex State (see Rajamani 2008). Accordingly, many States have expressed concerns relating to the absence of objective criteria for classification of States in the annex system of the UNFCCC. See, e.g., United Nations Climate Change 2001, para 3.
- 88.
- 89.
See e.g. UNFCCC, Article 4(3).
- 90.
Panagariya 2002.
- 91.
Cortez 2011, p. 15.
- 92.
See, e.g., Pauwelyn 2013.
- 93.
For instance, in its Human Development Report, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) ranks India at 131, Brazil at 84 and China at 85. For more details see United Nations Development Programme 2020. Further, in an era of globalization, the emergence of human solidarity is an emerging possibility. See, e.g., Wilde 2007.
- 94.
See, e.g., Wilde 2007.
- 95.
See, e.g., Dann 2010, p. 64.
- 96.
Cullet 1999.
- 97.
- 98.
Anghie 2004.
- 99.
For instance, there has been a perceptible change since 1974 in the law of development, and new Declarations focus on a reciprocal understanding of solidarity. See Dann 2010, p. 67.
- 100.
See, e.g., WTO Ministerial Conference 2001a, para 16. Further, the focus on Nationally Determined Contributions in the Paris Agreement signals a shift to less than full reciprocity.
- 101.
Jones 2006, p. 9.
- 102.
- 103.
See UNFCCC, Article 3(1).
- 104.
See United Nations Climate Change 2015.
- 105.
Upton 2015.
- 106.
For details about the Green Climate Fund, see About GCF. https://www.greenclimate.fund/about. Accessed 15 September 2021.
- 107.
Kumar 2015. The Governing Board of the GCF has members from developed and developing countries in equal strength. See Green Climate Fund Board members. https://www.greenclimate.fund/boardroom/board-members. Accessed 30 July 2020.
- 108.
See e.g. Agreement on Agriculture, entered into force 1 January 1995, 1867 UNTS 410, Article 15(2) and SPS Agreement, Articles 14 and 10(1).
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Ud Din, A. (2023). Differential Treatment for Developing Countries as a Manifestation of Solidarity: Overcoming New Challenges by Going Back to the Basics. In: Kassoti, E., Idriz, N. (eds) The Principle of Solidarity. Global Europe: Legal and Policy Issues of the EU’s External Action, vol 2. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-575-1_7
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