Transfer Pricing and the World Trade Organization Agreement: The compatibility of transfer pricing principles contained in Bilateral and Multilateral Tax Treaties with the WTO non-discrimination norms

The overall purpose of my research is to explore the potential overlaps, interactions, and conflicts between bilateral and multilateral tax treaties within international trade law and transfer pricing. More specifically, to determine whether WTO Members when applying transfer pricing principles contained in bilateral tax treaties based on the OECD Model Tax Convention and the Multilateral Convention to Implement Amount A of Pillar One (“OECD MLC”) are remaining compliant with their WTO obligations. In doing so, the research provides further contributions on the horizontal coordination between international trade law and transfer pricing. International trade law and transfer pricing are increasingly central to world politics, and it is essential that we obtain a better understanding of how these two areas of international law interact, overlap, and / or conflict. In the case of a treaty vs. treaty conflict, can such a conflict be justified? Countries can become WTO Members, OECD Members and / or members of the Inclusive Framework. These international bodies influence, coordinate, and / or harmonize legal reforms or formulate model laws (as is the case the OECD Model Tax Convention). Due to the lack of a single international parliament and countries operating and competing in a global context, countries need to accommodate multiple international organizations within public international law. The WTO Agreement cannot cover every policy area that touches on international trade. Thus, the research shows the importance of creating certainty within international trade law and transfer pricing through horizontal coordination between the OECD and the WTO. The research also builds upon the literature which shows that historically transfer pricing and international trade law have been developed in silos. The research concludes that there continues to be a lack of horizontal coordination between international trade law and transfer pricing during the drafting and implementation of the OECD MLC. The research shows instances of interactions, overlaps and conflicts between the transfer pricing principles contained in the OECD MLC and tax treaties based on the OECD Model Tax Convention with the non-discrimination norms contained in the GATT, the Subsidies Agreement, and the GATS. With that said, the conclusion reached in the research is that despite the identified overlaps, interactions, and conflicts, such instances were found to be justified in the research. However,