Transcript International Trade Law Lecture 1: International

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International Trade Law
WTO (Lecture 12)
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Prof.ssa M.E. de Leeuw, Ph.D., Dr., Università di Ferrara
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International Trade Law
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E-mail: [email protected]
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Place: Via Ercole I d’Este 37, class 6
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Cell: 333-2059733
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Lezioni: Tuesday and Thursday
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Question hour: Tuesday 13.00-14.00
(after class, same room)
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Time: 11.00-13.00
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Requirement: commercial law ”
Crediti: 6
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Course Website:
Internal Trade Law (in lingua inglese)
http://www.unife.it/giurisprudenza/giuri
sprudenza/studiare/International%20Tr
ade%20Law%20%28in%20lingua%20i
nglese%29%20
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The World Trading system (WTO)
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The WTO trade rules:
The agreement creating the WTO (umbrella agreement);
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Goods: GATT 1994- General agreement for tariffs and trade (annex 1A), [GATT 1947 plus
decisions/waivers]
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Services: GATS- General agreement for trade in services (annex 1B);
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IPR: TRIPS- Trade related aspects of IPR (annex 1C)
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Dispute settlement (annex 2);
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Trade Policy reviews (annex 3).
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Special
agreements
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GATT:
· Agriculture
· Health regulations for farm products (SPS)
· Textiles and clothing
· Product standards (TBT)
· Investment measures
· Anti-dumping measures
· Customs valuation methods
· Preshipment inspection
· Rules of origin
· Import licensing
· Subsidies and counter-measures
· Safeguards
Services (GATS):
· Movement of natural persons
· Air transport
· Financial services
· Shipping
· Telecommunications
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Principles of the WTO system*
The trading system should be ...
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without discrimination - “most-favoured-nation” and “national treatment”;
freer- lift barriers
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predictable —no arbitrarily raised barriers; tariff rates and market-opening commitments are
“bound”;
more competitive — discouraging “unfair” practices;
more beneficial for less developed countries - giving them more time to adjust, greater
flexibility, and special privileges.
*From WTO home page.
1. Market Access: Tariffs
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The basic rules underlying the GATT:
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Principle of bound tariffs (“bindings”), art. II- rationale trade offs.
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Principle of reciprocity/tariffs concessions: (re)negotiations or rounds ”
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MS cannot collect on the imported products more than the level tariffs than
the “bound rate”, but less they can, i.e. “applied rate”.
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Country schedules and list of applied tariffs
Art
II:
Binding
Tariffs
Rates
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The products described in Part I of the Schedule relating to any contracting
party, which are the products of territories of other contracting parties, shall,
on their importation into the territory to which the Schedule relates, and
subject to the terms, conditions or qualifications set forth in that Schedule, be
exempt from ordinary customs duties in excess of those set forth and
provided therein. Such products shall also be exempt from all ”other duties or
charges of any kind imposed on or in connection with the importation in
excess of those imposed on the date of this Agreement or those directly and
mandatorily required to be imposed thereafter by legislation in force in the
importing territory on that date.
2. Market Access: MFN principle
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Art I GATT:
“any advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by
any contracting party to any product originating in or
destined for any other country shall be accorded
”
immediately and unconditionally to the like product
originating in or destined for the territories of all other
contracting parties”
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MFN multilateralization the approach of bilateral agreements;
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result free-riding.
3. Market Access: Quotas
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Prohibition of non-tariffs restrictions, e.g. quantative restrictions: art. XI
“No prohibitions or restrictions other than duties, taxes or other charges,
whether made effective through quotas, import or export licences or other
measures, shall be instituted or maintained by any contracting party on
the importation of any product of the territory of any other contracting
party
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or on the exportation or sale for export of any product destined for the
territory of any other contracting party.”
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Exceptions:
 art.
XI.2 (e.g. fish, and temporary restrictions)
 Art.
XIII for legally imposed quantative restrictions counts MFN.
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4. Market Access: National Treatment
National treament: Art. III
“The contracting parties recognize that internal taxes and other internal
charges, and laws, regulations and requirements affecting the internal
sale, offering for sale, purchase, transportation, distribution or use of
products, and internal quantitative regulations requiring the mixture,
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processing or use of products in specified amounts or proportions,
should
not be applied to imported or domestic products so as to afford protection
to domestic production” (par. 1)
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Goal- to prevent protectionism
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Like products: competitiveness
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Market access: Developing countries
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GATT Enabling Clause 1979: deviation to art. I GATT (MFN)
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Scope: limited to trade to goods
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It allows GATT/WTO members to offer lower than MFN tariffs
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to developing countries (e.g. the EU GSP system); no
reciprocity
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Non-discrimination clause; no discrimination among similar
developing countries.
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Special and general exceptions
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Safeguard measures- art. XIX and specific agreement
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Article XX- general exceptions; public morals, human, animal or plant life
and health etc.., subject to conditions (good faith):
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“Necessity test”: value at issue, efficacy of the measures, trade restrictiveness;
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No disguished restrictions and no arbitrary discriminations
 Trade
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and evironment- US shrimp case
Other exceptions: art. XXI (security interest) and waivers
Art.
XX:
general
exception
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“Subject to the requirement that such measures are not
applied in a manner which would constitute a means of
arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between the countries
where the same conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction
on international trade, nothing in this agreement shall be ”
construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by any
contracting party of measures:
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A) necessary to protect public morals;
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B) necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health
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G) relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources…..
Exception:
RTA
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Art. XXIV WTO: for countries that sign regional trade
agreements in the form of custom union or FTA. Two
conditions:
 no
increase in trade barriers against third parties
 lead
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to elimination of tariffs and non-tariffs barriers on trade
between MS countries
Unfair
competition
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Art. XIX GATT: raise trade barriers in answer to unfair
trade: anti-dumping and anti-subsidy.
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GATS
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Art. XIX: The aim is to achieve liberalisation;
Member schedules;
GATS: part III specific commitments:
 National treatment (art. XVII):
 In the sectors inscribed in its Schedule, and subject to any conditions and
qualifications set out therein, each Member shall accord to services and service
suppliers of any other Member, in respect of all measures affecting the
supply of
”
services, treatment no less favourable than that it accords to its own like services and
service suppliers.
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Market access (art. XVI):
 (par.
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1) With respect to market access through the modes of supply identified in
Article I, each Member shall accord services and service suppliers of any other
Member treatment no less favourable than that provided for under the terms,
limitations and conditions agreed and specified in its Schedule.
 (Par. 2): categories of restrictions which may not be adopted, unless specified in
schedules
MFN principle (general and unconditional obligation): art. II
GATS
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Provisions on tranparency (art. III); make available
laws/regulations
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Provisions on national regulation:
“In sectors where specific commitments are undertaken,”
each Member shall ensure that all measures of general
application affecting trade in services are administered in a
reasonable, objective and impartial manner” (art. VI(par.
1)).
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Provisions on exceptions, RTAs, security;
TRIPS
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TRIPS contains min. standards building on existing international agreements;
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Aims of TRIPS:
 “Desiring
to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade, and
taking into account the need to promote effective and adequate protection
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of intellectual property rights, and to ensure that measures and
procedures to enforce intellectual property rights do not themselves
become barriers to legitimate trade” (preamble)
 Article
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7 and 8: objective and principles.
National treatment (art. III- exceptions exist) and MFN (Art. IV- limited
exceptions exists)
Institutional
aspects
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Ministerial Conference: highest authority (ministers meet 1 per 2 years);
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Day to day work:
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General Council
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The Dispute Settlement Body
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The Trade Policy Review Body
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Goods Council, Services Council and TRIPS Council; they have subsidiary bodies dealing
with specific subjects.
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Committees on e.g. trade and development, the environment, regional trading
arrangements, and administrative issues (total 6)
Informal meetings