> Overview: a navigational guide
> Tariffs: more bindings and closer to zero
> Agriculture: fairer markets for farmers
> Standards and safety
> Textiles: back in the mainstream
> Services: rules for growth and investment
> Intellectual property: protection and enforcement
> Anti-dumping, subsidies, safeguards: contingencies, etc
> Non-tariff barriers: red tape, etc
> Plurilaterals: of minority interest
> Trade policy reviews: ensuring transparency
Basic principles: national treatment, MFN, and balanced protection back to top
As in GATT and GATS, the starting point of the intellectual property agreement is basic principles. And as in the two other agreements, non-discrimination features prominently: national treatment (treating one’s own nationals and foreigners equally), and most-favoured-nation treatment (equal treatment for nationals of all trading partners in the WTO). National treatment is also a key principle in other intellectual property agreements outside the WTO.
The TRIPS Agreement has an additional important principle: intellectual property protection should contribute to technical innovation and the transfer of technology. Both producers and users should benefit, and economic and social welfare should be enhanced, the agreement says.