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Journal of International Economic Law Advance Access originally published online on November 3, 2006
Journal of International Economic Law 2006 9(4):779-821; doi:10.1093/jiel/jgl029
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Journal of International Economic Law Vol. 9 No. 4 © Oxford University Press 2006, all rights reserved

From Progressive Liberalization to Progressive Regulation in WTO Law

Thomas Cottier*

* Of the Board of Editors. Professor of European and International Economics Law at the University of Berne; and Director of the World Trade Institute, a National Centre of Competence and Research at the University of Berne, Switzerland.


  Abstract

This paper addresses conceptual problems of special and differential (S&D) treatment of developing countries (DCs). Observing that past and present avenues have largely failed, it suggests the concept of progressive regulation in the field of prescriptive rules. Based on the idea of progressive liberalization, it develops a new concept of graduation inherent to substantive rules and suggests taking recourse to individual scheduling of commitments. Learning from the idea of progressive liberalization, commensurate to diverging levels of development, it is submitted that graduation, based on recourse to economic factors within substantive rules, and scheduling of additional commitments could replace traditional perceptions of S&D treatment and render World Trade Organization (WTO) more responsive to the needs of developing Member States of the WTO. As an example, this paper applies these concepts to the problem of patenting pharmaceutical products.


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