International Trade Law Defining Trade terms Dictionary of International Trade • REF K3943 .B488 2008 INCO terms (published by the ICC) • This publication.
Download
Report
Transcript International Trade Law Defining Trade terms Dictionary of International Trade • REF K3943 .B488 2008 INCO terms (published by the ICC) • This publication.
International Trade Law
Defining Trade terms
Dictionary of International Trade
• REF K3943 .B488 2008
INCO terms (published by the ICC)
• This publication is KEY if you are working
on international sales of goods; we do not
have the new 2010 edition, so get a sense
of the types of terms used here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incoterm
SICE (OAS) Glossaries of Trade Terms
• http://www.sice.oas.org/Glossaries_e.asp
Int’l Trade – Secondary Sources
BNA’s International Trade Reporter
BNA’s WTO Reporter
• Available through links found here:
http://lawlib1.lawnet.fordham.edu/eresourc
es/erlinks/trade.html
WorldTradeLaw.net
TradeLawGuide
Legal framework of int’l trade
Most countries members of WTO
• Many countries also have bilateral or
regional trade agreements
Trade agreements generally have
dispute resolution mechanisms
Trade obligations may affect/supplant
national law
WTO – An IGO?
International legal status created by:
• Marrakesh Agreement
Legislative body:
• Ministerial Conference which meets at
least once every two years
Dispute Settlement Body
Executive body:
• WTO Secretariat, headed by a DirectorGeneral
WTO history
Began in 1995, built on GATT
GATT began in 1947
GATT intended as tariff-cutting
agreement.
“Rounds” are series of negotiations
intended to cut tariffs.
3 main principles of GATT/WTO
convert all trade barriers to tariffs
• transparent
• easier to administer
most-favored-nation (MFN)
• any favorable trade treatment must be
given to all members
national treatment
• imports treated equally with domestic
WTO: 6 components
trade in goods –1994 GATT agreement
–all bound
product standards –all bound
GATS –trade in services—not all bound
TRIPs –all bound
plurilateral agreements (e.g., gov’t
procurement) –some bound
dispute resolution –all bound
Researching WTO law
Learned Handy on WTO and GATT law:
http://lawlib1.lawnet.fordham.edu/resear
ch/gatt_wto.pdf
NYU Guide to WTO/GATT:
http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/
wtoguide.html
treatises for background, concepts,
details [use the research guides to
locate key titles in our catalog]
WTO dispute resolution process
“request for consultations” = complaint
panel
appellate body (appeals routine)
loser must bring itself into compliance
• if not, winner can retaliate
WTO dispute resolution process
Locating WTO dispute panel
decisions
WTO website best place to find decisions
Also available here:
• “Official” source for decisions: Dispute
Settlement Reports [K4600.A53 W67, lag time
currently 3 years]
• Lexis [International law >Find Statutes,
Regulations & Administrative materials &
regulations >Regulations & Agency Decisions
>Agency Decisions >GATT panel and World
Trade Organization decisions, 1948-]
• Westlaw [WTO-DEC]
WTO site
The official WTO website contains:
• documents from 1995
– use Stanford’s GATT site for GATT documents
(pre-1995):
http://gatt.stanford.edu/bin/search/simple
• treaties
• WTO Analytical Index — Guide to WTO
Law and Practice (travaux and
interpretation)
– http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/ana
lytic_index_e/analytic_index_e.htm
• reports, news, statistics
Locating WTO decisions
Can be found in full text on the WTO
site in the “Dispute Resolution” section,
but notoriously cumbersome and
difficult to actually download full text
documents
• Follow the directions in the following slides
on how to get to the page
Begin at the WTO website (http://www.wto.org) and then mouse
over “Trade Topics”, mouse over “Dispute Settlement” and then
select the “Dispute Settlement Gateway”
Click on “Dispute Settlement” on the next page (with the globe) and then
scroll down the page until you see the toolbar on the right-hand side that is
titled “The Disputes”. Select the most appropriate way of locating the case
you are looking for based on the info you have.
Locating WTO decisions
If you want to find background
information on the cases by Agreement
or topic, try using the WTO Analytical
Index to locate a relevant case
• using a subject search for the topic,
• or search the annotated agreements to find
interpretative cases on almost every article
of the main WTO agreements
To use the WTO Analytical index, use the URL provided in the
previous slide to access the Index. Decide which way you wish to
use the Index—by the Agreement/Article, or by subject
Could you possibly
be looking for
information
regarding the
interpretation of
terms used in one
of these
Agreements?
Or are you looking for
cases/documents
related to an item like
bananas?
Other sources for WTO research
WorldTradeLaw.net
• Been around longer so interface is a bit
dated; can be difficult to navigate
• Key resource: Dispute Settlement
Commentaries
TradeLawGuide
• Newer, more practitioner-oriented
• Key resource: citator for WTO decisions
WorldTradeLaw.net
http://www.worldtradelaw.net
Secondary source that provides
commentary and links to primary source
WTO materials—often much easier to
retrieve documents on this site than the
WTO site
Some free information, some you have to
pay for
• Most useful product they produce are the
Dispute Settlement Commentaries (DSC)
– DSCs summarize the findings of a WTO panel/appeal
decision and then provide commentary on the
implications of the decision
Locate
DSCs
here
Subscription
stuff
Free stuff
TradeLawGuide
http://www.tradelawguide.com
More practitioner-oriented, but useful
source for tracing the process of a WTO
case
• Provides text of the DSB minutes as well as
negotiating history of the Uruguay Round
• Also provides a citator service that allows
you to “shepardize” a decision to see how
subsequent cases on a particular issue have
been resolved
Locate
annotated
agreements
Use “Short Titles”
kind of like the
Popular Name
table for finding
statutes
“Shepardize” previous decisions
Exercise #2
Locate a WTO case that discusses the
phrase “differences which affect price
comparability” in Article 2.4 of the WTO
Agreement
• Has this decision been cited subsequently
by a WTO dispute resolution body?
• Is there a Dispute Settlement Commentary
(DSC) available for this case?
Trade Agreements
permitted by WTO
multilateral (ex. NAFTA) or bilateral (ex.
Korea)
important because of stalled progress
on Doha roundcan’t get things done
together, do them yourself
US aggressively pursuing—NAFTA,
CAFTA-DR, in negotiations on
Colombia, Korea, Panama, Asia-Pacific
NAFTA
earlier CFTA (US-Canada)
decreases, then removes tariffs
Anti-dumping, countervailing duty
disputes (Chapter 19) — arbitration
before bi-national panels
investment disputes (Chapter 11)—
ICSID arbitration, UNCITRAL
Locating NAFTA Binational Panel
decisions
NAFTA Secretariat website
http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org
No official reporter, but in print consult:
North American free trade agreements
[looseleaf reporter, volumes including
treaties, disputes, and investor-state
arbitration KDZ944.A41992 L39]
Westlaw [NAFTA-BIP]
Lexis [International Trade > Cases >
Interpreting U.S. Law > NAFTA Panel
Review Decisions]
Locate NAFTA dispute panel decisions from the main NAFTA page
(URL provided in previous link) by looking under “Dispute
Settlement – Decisions and Reports” or using the graphical link on
the right hand side
Tariff schedules
Did they overcharge your client? Check
the tariff schedule:
• US Harmonized Tariff Schedule
– http://hts.usitc.gov/
• WTO schedule of concessions
– http://tariffdata.wto.org
• Other countries:
– Locate a country’s trade department site
Exercise #3
Did NAFTA ever adjudicate a dispute
involving the same material at issue in
the WTO in Exercise #2? If so, which
two countries were involved?
What is the Harmonized Tariff Schedule
number for this material generally
(generally don’t need to know the .xxx
decimal denomination for the particular
type of this material)