NO TIME to watch all the knowledge clips again? Afraid of missing some points when you watch the knowledge clips? This is a document for you.
This is document is my own LECTURE NOTES, it covers all the knowledge clips throughout the semester, with detail explanation from the professors. It also ...
International Trade Law
● Week 1 Introduction
Video 1 Foundation of WTO Law
Outline
- Contextual elements
- Global trends and patterns
- WTO- Think
- WTO institutional structure
- Sources of WTO Law
Questions to address today:
- What is the role of the WTO in international trade?
- What is the historical background of the WTO and the WTO agreements?
- What is the organizational structure of the WTO?
Some people think that the WTO is evil, it does not serve in interest of developing countries
Cost of protectionism
- The global income loss from agricultural distortions worldwide may be equal to over 120
billion
- Especially in developed countries, support to agriculture is estimated to be roughly 1
billion per day
- Over 60% of farmer’s income in OECD countries is the result of state subsidies
The Social Dilemmas
Increasing market access, but Choices for the individual
Distributional dilemma As a consumer
Values dilemma As worker
State goals dilemma As a member of economic class
What policy goals affect trade regulation As a resident of a community
As a citizen, personal values
Video 2: Global trade: trends, patterns and change. What role for the WTO in the years to
come?
The changing shape of global trade
- In 1992, North America and Europe are important trade flow
- In 2014, trade becomes more dimensional
,World trade remains highly concentrated
- Some countries are very active in global trade
Trend: China and India will be the biggest economies in the world by 2050
Trade superpower?
US-China trade war
Video 3: WTO Think
WTO Economic Rationale
- Economic theory is the basis for WTO Law
- Comparative/absolute advantage
- Protectionism/ special interest groups
- Terms of trade/ prisoner’s dilemma (link)
- Nuanced by Blanchard
- Embedded liberalism?
Video 4: The Advent of GATT 1947
Bretton Woods Institutions 1944
- International monetary fund
- International bank for reconstruction and development (now the World Bank)
- And what about beggar -thy- neighbour policies?
→ ITO/ Havana Charter
- Prep conference london 1946, New York 1847, Geneva 1947
- The GATT 47 was conceived as an interim agreement, pending entry into force of ITO,
no status of international organization (agreed to have a WTO)
- Entry into force only by means of provisional protocol of application (PPA), later
Protocols of accession
The Doha Round (Doha Development Agenda)
- Ministerial Conferences Seattle (1999) fails
- Ministerial Conference Doha (Qatar): Launch of DDA 2021
- Ministerial Conference Cancun fails
- Ministerial Conference HK (2005)
- July packages (2006 and 2008)
- 2 Geneva MCs
- Room for optimism? The Bali package and the plurilateralism
- The trade facilitation agreement and the Nairobi packages
- The Buenos Aires MC
- The e-commerce launch of negotiations in Davos (2019)
, - The 16 member interim appeal mechanism (Davos 2020)
Contemporary Problems
- DDA mainly relates to liberalization of trade in agriculture
- Little interest in additional market access after Uruguay Round
- Single undertaking backfired: Deadlock in one area led to comprehensive failure
- Developing countries mainly defensive, amount to almost 50% of word exports
Video 5: Structure of the WTO
Goals of the organization
- Raising standards of living
- Ensuring full employment, growing volume of real income and demand, and increasing
production
- Allowing for sustainable development
Function
- Facilitates the negotiation and conclusion of commercial agreements
- Spurs compliance and policies or restraint by Members with an evolving code of trade
conduct
- Offers to smaller Members a first rate opportunity to influence, depending on their
bargaining power, the regulation of international trade
- Promotes trade growth, diminishing at the same time the inherent systemic uncertainty
through the development of a system for resolving and avoiding trade disputes; promote
interactions between states
Structure
- 3 basic components: 1. Members, 2. Secretariat, 3. Judiciary with a standing appellate
body
- But powers are distributed in an uneven matter (Member-driven)
Members
- Compose the main legislative, executive and judicial bodies
4 roles of members
1. Ministerial conference
2. General council
3. Dispute settlement body
4. Trade policy review body (trade policy of other members)
Secretariat
- Headed by general director
- Chosen by Ministerial conference
- Term determined by MC
- Chooses secretariat staff
- Staffed by international civil servants
, - Loyalty is with organization, not with home country
- Possesses organizational memory, how things work
- Assists dispute settlement panels
→ Legal and economic research
→ Often drafts factual summary of panel reports
→ Directs training programs for developing country representatives
- Short of the European Commission? Not really.
Membership
- Art. 9 and 10 WTOA set out two types of WTO Membership
- Original membership
- Membership through accession
Membership is not limited to states
- Hong Kong and Taiwan are not a state even though it’s controversial
Accession to the WTO
- Membership through accession
- Membership can be gained, but it is not automatic
- Accession has 2 aspects
→ Fulfilling criteria of membership
→ Completing process of accession
The role of private sector and NGOS
- They cannot bring a case in front of the WTO
- Main beneficiaries of WTO rules and commitment
- They can lobby in trade negotiations
- Rights and obligations are derived
Video 6: sources of WTO Law
Authoritative Sources (3.2 DSU)
- Texts of the agreements
- Texts of incorporated international legal instruments, e.g. art. 1:3 TRIPs
Helpful but not necessarily authoritative
- Panel/ Appellate body reports
- General principles of international law
- Customary international law
- Teachings of eminent authority
Other international agreements
- If integrated, just like WTO Agreements’ texts
- If accepted by all Members, perhaps relevant, e.g. EC- Biotech panel report
- If not accepted by all, may be disregarded
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