Law Commons^™

A Technological Approach To Reforming Japan's Consumption Tax, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Significant change has been forecast for the Japanese Consumption Tax. Revenue needs are pressing, and the Consumption Tax appears to be underutilized. Should the rate be doubled from 5% to 10%, or more? If so, will rate increases necessitate further structural changes – recasting this annual credit-subtraction levy into a European style credit-invoice VAT? These options have not proven to be politically palatable, but they are directions that have been under active consideration.

On October 1, 2013 the Japanese Cabinet Office announced that the Consumption Tax would rise from 5% to 8% effective April 1, 2014. The rate will increase …

Financial Crisis Containment, Anna Gelpern

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article maps financial crisis containment - extraordinary measures to stop the spread of financial distress - as a category of legal and policy choice. I make three claims.

First, containment is distinct from financial regulation, crisis prevention and resolution. Containment is brief; it targets the immediate term. It involves claims of emergency, rule-breaking, time inconsistency and moral hazard. In contrast, regulation, prevention and resolution seek to establish sound incentives for the long term. Second, containment decisions deviate from non-crisis norms in predictable ways, and are consistent across diverse countries and crises. Containment invariably entails three kinds of choices: choices …

East Asia Institutionalizes: China, Japan And The Vogue For Free Trade, Timothy Webster

Faculty Publications

In the past decade, East Asia has taken steps to increase regional integration. This paper examines the vogue for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) currently raging in China and Japan. After mapping the regional links that knit East Asia together during the 1990s and 2000s, the focus then shifts to the specific trade agreements that China and Japan have signed. Both countries exhibit a particular FTA “style;” Japan has adopted a more orthodox and comprehensive approach to its treaties, while China has shown greater flexibility and gradualism when dealing with FTA partners. It is still unclear whether these efforts will lead …

Bilateral Regionalism: Paradoxes Of East Asian Integration, Timothy Webster

Faculty Publications

Like many other countries, China and Japan have recently signed a spate of Free Trade Agreements with countries in the Asia Pacific. This paper analyzes both countries’ styles of integration. While China favors multidisciplinary engagement (politics, security, economics), Japan is mainly interested in deepening economic integration with the countries in which it has already established transnational production lines. After analyzing individual FTAs signed by China and Japan, the paper ends by predicting that China’s multifaceted approach will promote greater integration in the Asia Pacific, and a more robust profile for China in regional affairs.

Are Your Click-Wrap Agreements Valid?—Internet Contracting In The Global Electronic Age: Comparative Perspectives For Taiwan, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

Addresses the issue of standard terms in click-wrap and shrink-wrap licenses generally and in some detail how the laws of Taiwan, Germany, the European Union, the United States and Japan.

Further Thoughts On The Role Of Regulatory Purpose Under Article Iii Of The General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade: A Tribute To Bob Hudec, Donald H. Regan

Articles

My topic in this article is the role of regulatory purpose under Article III of the GATT, and I regard Bob [Hudec] as the patron saint of efforts to establish the relevance of purpose. His famous "Requiem for an 'Aims and Effects' Test" may have been called a requiem, but it was reluctant and sceptical. Bob thought dispute settlement tribunals ought to consider the regulator's purpose, and he thought they would do so, whatever they said. As decisions on Article III accumulate, we are in the process of learning that he was right on both counts.

The Role Of Dispute Settlement In World Trade Law: Some Lessons From The Kodak-Fuji Dispute, John Linarelli

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Private And Governmental Barriers Affecting International Market Contestability: Current And Prospective Remedies, Massimo G. Manzoni

LLM Theses and Essays

Several interesting developments indicate that world attention is increasingly focusing on a "novel" category of trade barriers: non-tariff and non-border barriers. Following the Uruguay Round (the eighth round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, "GATT"), scholars and officers of international organizations have expressed hope that international market contestability will become a major goal of future international policy negotiations. Their studies have focused on the links between trade policy and competition policy, and have concluded that anticompetitive business practices are a potent barrier to international market contestability and might cause a loss of confidence in the free …

More Lessons From Japan: End Industrywide Collective Bargaining?, Robert H. Lande, Richard O. Zerbe Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

The number of books and articles discussing Japanese management techniques with an eye to transplanting them to the United States is staggering. Americans understandably are impressed by Japanese efficiency and like to think the adoption of some of their techniques will aid our own industries. Often these proposals seem fanciful and fail to recognize the many differences between the two countries, their economic systems and cultures.

Government Trade Policy And The Professional Regulation Of Foreign Lawyers, Sydney M. Cone Iii.

Articles & Chapters

This paper discusses United States government trade policy and the regulation of foreign lawyers. Although the expression "trade policy" implies a settled course of action adopted and followed by the United States government, in the area of legal services the formulation of government trade policy has been a rather fortuitous occurrence. Further, while the term "regulation," particularly in the context of the legal profession, suggests a recognizable and ordered system, the rules and procedures for the regulation of foreign lawyers in various jurisdictions do not fall readily into any pattern; instead they appear to be quite random. The regulation of …

Western Ideology, Japanese Product Safety Regulation And International Trade, David S. Cohen

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

For the purposes of this paper, the barriers to an open Japanese market will be divided into two categories: Direct Official Barriers, and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs). The first category consists of positive restraints on imports such as tariffs and quotas. In response to Western criticism the Japanese government has, since the early 1960s, undertaken measures to dismantle gradually the aggressive protectionist wall which may have been necessary to revive the Japanese economy after the Second World War. In fact, in terms of quotas and tariffs, many observers presently consider Japan to be less protectionist than many North American and European …