Law Commons^™

Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes: The Kimberly Process And The Morality Exception To Wto Restrictions, Karen E. Woody

Karen Woody

This Article analyzes the events predicating the Kimberley Process and examines the validity of the Kimberley Process in relation to international trade obligations. Part I describes the background of conflict diamonds and their role in African wars. The section outlines the need for regulation in the diamond industry and examines how other attempted measures at curbing the illicit diamond trade have fallen short. Part II details the Kimberley Process and its guidelines. This section analyzes the relevant U.S. legislation passed in 2003, the Clean Diamond Trade Act. Part II also suggests that because the Kimberley Process ("KP") is predicated upon …

Developing An International Carbon Tax Regime, Steven Specht

Steven Specht

As atmospheric CO2 remains in the range of 400 ppm, it is necessary to find new international coordination to deal with climate change. The best way forward is an international regime of harmonized domestic carbon taxes. By agreeing to a minimum amount of taxation on domestic, point-source producers, money can be set aside for adaptation costs and alternative means of energy production. Finally, such a plan will overcome the problem of non-participation of countries in agreements like the Kyoto Protocol. As this is a treaty dealing with economics and trade, countries can place taxes on imports of non-participatory countries under …

Developing Countries And Multilateral Trade Agreements: Law And The Promise Of Development, Chantal Thomas

Chantal Thomas

No abstract provided.

Disciplining Globalization: International Law, Illegal Trade, And The Case Of Narcotics, Chantal Thomas

Chantal Thomas

No abstract provided.

Subsidies And Countervailing Duties In The Gatt, John W. Evans

John Evans

No abstract provided.

“Gatting” The New Climate Treaty Right: Leveraging Energy Subsidies To Promote Multilateralism, Deepa Badrinarayana

Deepa Badrinarayana

The Interaction Of Tax And Non-Tax Treaties, Robert A. Green

Robert A. Green

This background note consists of two parts. Part one provides an overview of the extent to which tax matters are currently covered in non-tax treaties. This discussion focuses on the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT)/World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement and the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA) (which cover direct tax measures only to a limited extent) and the European Community (EC) treaty (which covers direct tax measures more broadly). Part two outlines the issues raised when tax matters are covered in non-tax treaties.

Antilegalistic Approaches To Resolving Disputes Between Governments: A Comparison Of The International Tax And Trade Regimes, Robert A. Green

Robert A. Green

No abstract provided.

A History Of Gatt Unfair Trade Remedy Law--Confusion Of Purposes, John J. Barceló Iii

John J. Barceló III

This paper presents an analytical history of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy law in GATT and its member countries. In recent years this body of ‘unfair trade remedy’ law has flourished in the western trading system. Important trading countries have adopted new or expanded anti-dumping and anti-subsidy laws and imposed trade-blocking remedies under them more frequently than ever before. I try to explain in this essay how and why these laws--which I view as protectionist--have prospered and become so rooted in GATT and its member countries.

Subsidies, Countervailing Duties And Antidumping After The Tokyo Round, John J. Barceló Iii

John J. Barceló III

No abstract provided.

Canada And The United States: A Changing Relationship In A Changing World, Panel Discussion And Prognostications, John J. Barceló Iii

John J. Barceló III

No abstract provided.

Subsidies And Countervailing Duties--Analysis And A Proposal, John J. Barceló Iii

John J. Barceló III

The author recommends a new scheme for regulating the use of government subsidies and countervailing duties in international trade, an area presently regulated by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. He contends that these rules should be based to a large extent on principles of free trade and economic efficiency. In addition to setting out proposed regulations, the author analyzes the strength and weaknesses of free trade theory and of the present GATT rules regarding subsidies and countervailing duties.

Antidumping Laws As Barriers To Trade--The United States And The International Antidumping Code, John Barceló Iii

John J. Barceló III

No abstract provided.

Product Standards To Protect The Local Environment--The Gatt And The Uruguay Round Sanitary And Phytosanitary Agreement, John J. Barceló Iii

John J. Barceló III

No abstract provided.

Global Laws, Local Lives: Impact Of The New Regionalism On Human Rights Compliance, Stephen J. Powell, Patricia Camino Pérez

Stephen Joseph Powell

Continuation of the brisk pace of international economic growth with its necessarily increased use of natural resources—often at unsustainable levels—and its higher levels of pollution—often at the cost of citizen health—combine with the rules of the global trading system to threaten human rights to health, to freedom from forced or child labor, to non-discrimination, to a fair wage, to a healthy environment, even to democratic governance and participation in the political process. As a result, in recent years a growing number of economists begrudgingly acknowledge the incontrovertible—although presently dysfunctional—linkage between trade and human rights and the need to integrate these …

Is The Wto Quietly Fading Away?: The New Regionalism And Global Trade Rules, Stephen J. Powell, Trisha Low

Stephen Joseph Powell

While scholars and governments alike view the liberalization of international trade as a positive development, they disagree on the medium that will accomplish this objective with the highest economic returns. Some experts believe that multilateralism through the 150+ member World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only way to achieve truly open and efficient trade. Others view multilateralism as but an aspiration and find that regionalism offers the only viable prospect for the meaningful further opening of markets. In light of what we label the "new regionalism," our paper explores in detail the positive and negative effects of regional trade arrangements …

The Cotton And Sugar Subsidies Decisions: Wto's Dispute Settlement System Rebalances The Agreement On Agriculture, Stephen J. Powell, Andrew Schmitz

Stephen Joseph Powell

As far back as David Ricardo's shattering insight as to comparative advantage in 1817, agriculture has enjoyed special favor in trade. The unique place of farming was so well established by the time the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") was negotiated that GATT's tight disciplines on government interference with free trade not only exempted government protections to growers, but in fact were drafted to be fully consistent with the agricultural policies of the major signatories. While it would be an exaggeration to argue that GATT' s first half century was without impact on agricultural benefits, the sector …

Sex And Globalization, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

For some time now, I have focused on a mission to bring together the separate discourses of the human rights and trade fields -- certainly not to blend them, but to raise awareness of their myriad interconnections. Indeed, human rights and trade are interlocking pieces of the puzzle we call international law and cannot possibly remain sequestered in the "splendid isolation" in which they have existed since their inception as disciplines. In any study of globalization, especially if one endeavors to pursue its benefits for all persons, not just the elite around the world, one must be aware of and …

A Twentieth Amendment Parable, John C. Nagle

John Copeland Nagle

The twentieth amendment receives virtually no attention in modern American constitutional law. Adopted in 1933, the primary purpose of the amendment was to eliminate lame-duck Congresses. The proponents of the amendment argued that lame-ducks were subject to nefarious influences and that allowing lame-duck legislation contradicted the voice of the people in the most recent election. But the text of the twentieth amendment simply moved the date on which the newly elected President and Congress took office from March to January, and does not expressly prohibit lame-duck legislation. The framers of the amendment could not conceive of Congress meeting during the …

International Trade And Economic Relations In A Nutshell, 5th Edition, Ralph Folsom, Michael Gordon, John Spanogle, Michael Van Alstine

Michael P. Van Alstine

This guide on international trade and investment examines the legal rules governing international trade. Initial chapters deal with the legal and practical environment for multinational enterprises (MNEs) engaged in international trade and investment. The work then analyzes the principal international institutions involved in international trade: the World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF); the essential rules governing the regulation of international trade, including in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); the system for dispute resolution within the WTO under its Dispute Settlement Body (DSB); restrictions on, and other regulation of, imports, including tariff rates, customs classification …

The Conventional Morality Of Trade, Chin Leng Lim

Chin Leng Lim

This chapter is concerned with the kinds of moral and political arguments that developing countries have made in the name of global justice. Claims for the direct global redistribution of resources have not loomed large in international trade law and regulation. To be sure, they were raised during the failed negotiations for an International Trade Organization (ITO), but the principal tension that has come to the fore in trade law and policy debate is that between the formal rules of nondiscrimination under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the developing countries’ calls for exceptions to those rules. …

Trade And Sustainable Development, Padideh Ala'i

Padideh Ala'i

Rules Of Origin As International Trade Hindrances, Hatem Mohamed Mabrouk

Hatem Mohamed Mabrouk

This paper talks about the usage of Rules of Origin (RoO) as protectionist apparatuses in different regional trade areas, as the North American Free Trade Area, the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the South African Development Community, and the usage of RoO as trade-diverting tools. In addition, the paper talks about the spaghetti-bowl phenomenon, with an emphasis on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation region, and clarifies how to achieve a proper harmonization of both non-preferential and preferential RoO as a solution to overcome the previously mentioned odds facing international trade. Moreover, the paper suggests the adoption of more solutions as …

The U.S.-Ec Dispute Over Customs Matters: Trade Facilitation, Customs Unions, And The Meaning Of Wto Obligations, Daniel H. Erskine

Daniel H. Erskine

The article addresses a current WTO dispute between the United States and the European Communities on selected customs matters. The article discusses the necessity for a uniform WTO agreement on trade facilitation, as well as analyzes the apparent inconsistency between the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article X’s mandate for WTO Members to uniformly, impartially, and reasonably administer municipal customs laws and Article XXIV’s allowance of individual members of a customs union to substantially apply common commercial regulations and laws in relation to non-members of the customs union. The article concludes that an agreement between WTO Members on …

The Seduction Of The Appellate Body: Shrimp/Sea Turtle I And Ii And The Proper Role Of States In Wto Governance, J. Kelly

Patrick Kelly

The Article proposes new interpretations of GATT Article XX to minimize the harmful effects of recent WTO jurisprudence that threaten to undermine the goals of the trading system and diminish the role of states in policymaking. In the Shrimp/Turtle cases the WTO's Appellate Body (AB) utilized an evolutionary methodology to interpret the conservation of exhaustible natural resources exception in Article XX(g) to permit the unilateral regulation by one country of how goods are produced (PPMs) in other countries. Such an expansive approach to interpretation permits wealthy nations with large markets to unilaterally impose their preferred environmental policies, and presumably other …

Resolving Trade Disputes, The Mechanisms Of Gatt/Wto Dispute Resolution, Daniel H. Erskine

Daniel H. Erskine

The World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body grew out of decades of experience and the frustrations of sovereign nations regarding the method of settling international conflicts between states over tariff and trade issues. This article discusses the historical development of the World Trade Organization’s dispute resolution system. The first section analyzes a number of agreements and proposals entered into and put forward during the period from 1947 through 1990. The second section addresses the instrument which inaugurates the World Trade Organization’s current dispute settlement procedure and further describes a number of submissions by nations for improvements to the mechanism.

Trade In Electronic Commerce Services Under The Wto: The Need To Clearly Classify Electronic Transmissions As Services And Not Tariff-Liable, Ernesto A. Hernandez-Lopez

Ernesto A. Hernandez

Written in 2001, this essay asks: should the World Trade Organization (WTO) classify electronic transmissions as a service, and thus tariff-free under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), or should the WTO classify electronic transmissions as a good, and thus subject to tariffs under the General Agreement on Trade (GATT)?

First, for the sake of legal certainty, the WTO should take the appropriate steps to definitively classify electronic transmissions as a service and classify them as not tariff liable. Not tariff liable means a good is not subject to custom duties. Electronic transmission refers to "digitalized information transmitted …

Trade In Electronic Commerce Services Under The Wto: The Need To Clearly Classify Electronic Transmissions As Services And Not Tariff-Liable, Ernesto A. Hernandez-Lopez

Ernesto A. Hernandez

Written in 2001, this essay asks: should the World Trade Organization (WTO) classify electronic transmissions as a service, and thus tariff-free under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), or should the WTO classify electronic transmissions as a good, and thus subject to tariffs under the General Agreement on Trade (GATT)?

First, for the sake of legal certainty, the WTO should take the appropriate steps to definitively classify electronic transmissions as a service and classify them as not tariff liable. Not tariff liable means a good is not subject to custom duties. Electronic transmission refers to "digitalized information transmitted …