General Agreement on Trade in Services
National treatment is a basic principle of GATT/WTO that prohibits discrimination between imported and domestically produced goods with respect to internal taxation or other government regulation. The principle of national treatment is formulated in Article 3 of the GATT 1947 (and incorporated by reference in GATT 1994); Article 17 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); and in Article 3 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The aim of this trade rule is to prevent internal taxes or other regulations from being used as a substitute for tariff protection.