This Special Study was initiated by the Secretariat of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) focuses on the topic of Special and Differential Treatment for the developing Member countries under the WTO Agreements. The study was undertaken under the AALCO's Center for Research and Training, under the supervision of Dr. Li Zhenhua, Deputy Secretary-General, and prepared by Mr. R.Vidjea Barathy, Senior Legal Officer and Mr. R. Rajesh Babu, Legal Officer. The S&D treatment as a principle has long been recognized in the GATT and the WTO legal system. The main objectives of the S&D treatment was to foster the ability of developing country Members to become full participants in the multilateral trading system and reap the benefit of the WTO membership. This require, apart from special domestic policies, measures and laws, direct assistance for enhanced access to global and regional markets, domestic implementation of obligations, administrative and continuous compliance with obligations, and enforcement of their rights under the agreements. Further, resource constraints in the form of human, financial, and institutional shortfalls require technical, financial and various types of assistance to supplement domestic resources and establish or strengthen domestic institutions. Accordingly, the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO, in its preamble, recognizes the special "need for positive effort designed to ensure that developing country Members, and especially the least-developed among them, secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with their economic development". Apart from the broader recognition of this principle in the WTO Agreements, there is around 145 agreement-specific S&D treatment provisions spread across the different WTO Agreements. These provisions provide for favourable treatment in market access for developing country Members products, flexibility in implementation of commitments, technical assistance, and protect the special needs of the developing Members. However, the state of implementations of these S&D provisions has become a deep source of concern for the developing country Members. The actual working of the S&D treatment provisions has proved that it does not adequately take into account the development realities of the developing country Members. Even though the Committee of Trade and Development (CTD) had been entrusted with the task of strengthening the S&D provisions and the Members has proposed various amendments, no real progress has been achieved. The paper is structured as follows: Section II defines the concept of special and differential treatment as understood in international law, more specifically in international trade law; section III attempts to trace out the development of the concept of special and differential treatment in international trade law in general and General Agreement on Tariff and Trade, 1947 (GATT 1947) in particular; section IV provides a comprehensive overview of the S&D treatment provisions within the important WTO Covered Agreements; and a brief analysis and some comments are provided in section V.