Its scope of application usually includes: the private economic rights of foreign citizens, the domestic tax payable by foreign products, the conditions of railway transit, the handling of ships by ports, the registration of trademarks, the protection of copyright and invention patent rights, and so on. But it usually does not include coastal navigation rights, territorial sea fishing rights, land purchase rights and retail trade rights. The application of the principle of national treatment in 1.GATT 1994
The national treatment of GATT system has a small scope of application, which is only applicable to the trade of goods, more specifically, only applicable to the domestic tax of imported goods and the government's laws and regulations on imported goods. Article 3 of GATT text is a clause of "domestic tax and national treatment of domestic laws and regulations" According to the provisions of this article, the domestic tax or other domestic expenses directly or indirectly levied by each member on imported goods from any other member shall not be higher than that of similar products in its own country; In terms of laws, regulations and rules on the sale, promotion, purchase, transportation, distribution or use of imported goods from the time they enter the importer's territory through the customs, the treatment they enjoy should be no less than that enjoyed by similar goods in China. The purpose of including this national treatment clause in GATT is to prevent the government from implementing protectionism and interference in imported goods, to ensure that all members enjoy the benefits brought by tariff concessions, and to ensure that imported goods have the same competitive conditions as domestic similar goods.
The national treatment provisions of GATT specifically apply to the following three aspects:
(1) Domestic taxes and other fees. Domestic tax refers to the business tax, value-added tax, consumption tax and various additional taxes levied by the government on imported goods; Other expenses refer to the storage fees, freight, insurance fees and related service fees that should be borne by imported goods in the circulation process. According to the provisions of the national treatment clause, the governments of member countries must apply the tax types, tax rates, collection methods, collection procedures and preferential tax reduction and exemption applicable to domestic similar goods to imported goods. Any higher tax rate or charging standard for imported goods, or more complicated collection procedures, or more inconvenient collection methods, etc. , it will increase the cost of imported goods, make them in a different position from domestic similar goods, and lead to unfair competition.