The World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat has developed a typology to categorize various Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) provisions in WTO agreements. This typology is based on the aims and intended effects of such provisions. However, it fails to highlight their legal effects. A legal typology is particularly important because the developed Members note that the developing Members have taken advantage of the system through this treatment and intend to abolish SDT for certain advanced developing Members, whereas developing Members have called SDT a non-negotiable and treaty-embedded ‘right’. Moreover, developing Members have called for an effective operation of SDT provisions. These claims give rise to two questions: (i) do SDT provisions provide legal rights to developing Members? (ii) if so, what provisions confer differential treatment rights? In this article we devise a legal typology for SDT by distinguishing the provisions that confer rights and duties from provisions that constitute merely political commitments. We also consider the types, and the scope, of rights and duties that result in a special or differential treatment. Our results, inter alia, highlight that only 21% of SDT provisions oblige developed Members to provide differential treatment to developing Members. The rest are mere best-effort endeavors and political commitments. We provide our observations for this design feature and explain the underlying rationale of developing Members’ position on SDT. Lastly, we provide a blueprint to resolve the North–South deadlock.

中文翻译：

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世界贸易组织下的特殊和差别待遇：一种法律类型

世界贸易组织 (WTO) 秘书处开发了一种类型学，用于对 WTO 协议中的各种特殊和差别待遇 (SDT) 条款进行分类。这种类型是基于此类规定的目的和预期效果。但是，它未能突出其法律效力。法律类型尤其重要，因为发达成员注意到发展中成员通过这种处理利用了该系统，并打算为某些先进发展中成员废除 SDT，而发展中成员则称 SDT 是不可谈判的和嵌入条约的。正确的'。此外，发展中成员呼吁有效实施 SDT 条款。这些主张引发了两个问题：(i) SDT 条款是否为发展中成员提供了合法权利？(ii) 如果是这样，哪些条款赋予差别待遇权利？在本文中，我们通过将赋予权利和义务的条款与仅构成政治承诺的条款区分开来，为 SDT 设计了一种法律类型。我们还考虑导致特殊或差别待遇的权利和义务的类型和范围。除其他外，我们的结果强调，只有 21% 的 SDT 条款要求发达成员向发展中成员提供差别待遇。其余的只是尽力而为的努力和政治承诺。我们就这一设计特征提供我们的观察，并解释发展中成员对 SDT 的立场的基本原理。最后，我们提供了解决南北僵局的蓝图。