International Trade Law Commons^™

Market Power And The Ftc, John C. Hilke

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Although the DOJ/FTC Merger Guidelines provide a firm foundation for analyzing changes in prospective market power resulting from a proposed merger, the analysis does not focus on detecting or measuring market power that may already exist in the market. Further, antitrust enforcement is focused on anti-competitive mergers and unfair forms of competition. From an antitrust perspective, a firm that lawfully acquired market power does not commit an antitrust offense merely by exercising that power, unless it engages in unfair methods of competition to protect that power.

Commercial Arbitration In The U.S.: The Arbitrability Of Disputes Arising From Statute-Based Claims, Sylvie Frankignoul

LLM Theses and Essays

A leading contemporary expert in arbitration has explained: "The concept of arbitrability determines the point at which the experience of contractual freedom ends and the public mission of adjudication begins. In effect, it establishes a dividing line between the transactional pursuit of private rights and courts' role as custodians and interpreters of the public interest." 1 A major part of the arbitrability doctrine deals with the kind of claims that can fall within the scope of agreements for private dispute resolution. Arbitration clauses are an integral part of the parties' transactions. Nevertheless, the American judiciary historically has refused to enforce …

Cross-Border Bank Branching Under The Nafta: Public Choice And The Law Of Corporate Groups, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines a question left unresolved after the negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): whether the banks of the member countries should be permitted to engage in the business of banking in the other member countries simply by branching across national borders. Under present law, the United States permits branching subject to extensive restrictions, while Canada and Mexico permit access to their banking markets only by acquisition or establishment of institutions chartered in their countries. While the NAFTA does not provide for unfettered branching across national borders, article 1403(3) of the NAFTA left the issue of …

International Cooperative Enforcement Agreements And Antitrust Extraterritoriality In The 21st Century, Basil Dominic Udotai

LLM Theses and Essays

It is the focus of this thesis to critically evaluate the cooperative enforcement option proffered by the US authorities with a view to judging its attractiveness to other nations and its adequacy in solving problems posed by extraterritoriality in today's highly liberalized economy. In this regard, we shall see that the various models of cooperative enforcement arrangements adopted within the United States have failed to result in productive bilateral cooperation. This is due in large part, to the commitment of individual countries to satisfying national interests over cooperative obligations arising under the agreements. Because of these insufficiencies, the thesis reiterates …

Why The Wto Should Require The Application Of The Evidentiary Threshold Requirement In Antidumping Investigations Tara Gingerich , Tara Gingerich

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Language And The Globalization Of The Economic Market: The Regulation Of Language As A Barrier To Free Trade, Stacy A. Feld

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The European Union has devoted recent efforts to establishing an integrated global economy, free of barriers or hindrances, primarily through Article 30 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community, the central free movement of goods principle. By eliminating barriers to free trade, the European Union seeks to achieve a single globalized economy among its Member States. Not surprisingly, economic globalization in the European Union has given rise to an integration of political and cultural values among European nations. As a result of this "convergence of values," Member States have responded by enacting protectionist measures that reassert their regulatory autonomy over …

The Wto Legal System: Sources Of Law, David Palmeter, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

Modern discussions of the sources of international law usually begin with a reference to Article 38 (1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which provides:

The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply:

1. international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states;
2. international custom as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;
3. the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;
4. subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly …

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 …

Are Tuna And Dolphins The Same? A Rule Of Reason Approach To Resolve The Trade And Environment Conflict, Anantha K. Paruthipattu

LLM Theses and Essays

Trade and environment are both primary values in an ecologically and economically interdependent world; unleashing trade without regard to environmental impact is as detrimental as guarding the environment at the expense of trade and development. Tuna and dolphins have come to symbolize the policy struggle between trade and environment. In early 1990, the United States banned the import of tuna from Mexico and other countries that were fishing in a manner that damaged dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. Mexico challenged this ban before a GATT Panel, which ruled against the United States and held that the tuna ban …

U.S. Supreme Court Subordinates Enforcement Of Regulatory Statutes To Enforcement Of Arbitration Agreements, Christine L. Davitz

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Through a series of cases culminating with Vimar Seguros Y Reaseguros v. M/V Sky Reefer, the U.S. Supreme Court has developed a strong pro-arbitration stance regarding disputes arising out of international commercial contracts. This Note analyzes the Court's reasons for this stance and compares those reasons with the history and purposes of the Federal Arbitration Act and the New York Convention. The author concludes that the Court's reasons are at odds with the FAA and the New York Convention. The Note further articulates the dangers posed to U.S. public policies that are created by allowing arbitration of statutory claims. The …

National Laws And International Markets: Strategies Of Cooperation And Harmonization In The Enforcement Of Competition Law, Spencer Weber Waller

Cardozo Law Review

This Article contrasts how two leading competition law systems, the United States and the European Union ("EU"), have reacted to the growing internationalization of markets and the relative decline of the ability of any single jurisdiction to regulate transnational business behavior. For reasons unique to their respective histories, cultures, and politics, these two jurisdictions have adopted very different strategies for dealing with this problem.

Trade And Environment: How Should Wto Panels Review Environmental Regulations Under Gatt Articles Iii And Xx, Kazumochi Kometani

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The article discusses a GATT/WTO panel report that the author disagrees with and it lays out the proposals that he would implement to modify the report.

Trade, Competition, And Intellectual Property--Trips And Its Antitrust Counterparts, Eleanor M. Fox

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the interface between TRIPS' protection of intellectual property rights and antitrust law, and the extent to which TRIPS invites a counterpart agreement that would internationalize intellectual property antitrust rules.

Professor Fox argues that TRIPS does not call for internationalizing antitrust law, and that even developing countries, which might find a greater need for antitrust protection against abuse of dominance after TRIPS, might be better served by developing and enforcing a national antitrust law of their own.

She argues that TRIPS does, however, contemplate some limits to antitrust, lest antitrust enforcement impair protections guaranteed by TRIPS. Professor Fox …

Introduction. Competition And Trade Policy: Europe, Japan And The United States, John O. Haley

Washington International Law Journal

With the successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the focus of international trade concern has shifted from elimination of formal, governmentally imposed trade barriers to complex, and often contradictory, interrelationships among national and regional competition and trade policies. The promise of future negotiations under the aegis of the new World Trade Organization on competition (antitrust) policy as a trade issue thus brings us full circle. The GATT was itself the product of extensive planning within the United States Department of State for the postwar international economy. An effective international competition …

Export Cartels And Voluntary Export Restraints Between Trade And Competition Policy, Ulrich Immenga

Washington International Law Journal

This article discusses the conflicts between trade regulation and competition policy. It begins with a survey of the effect of restrictive practices—particularly those like export cartels that are exempted from competition law regulation—and continues with a critique of national support and authorization for restrictive practices as well as protective state activities, including antidumping rules, rules against "unfair" trade practices, and voluntary export restraints. The article concludes with a summary of unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral approaches to a more effective international regime for competition policy. It also introduces the recommendation for a Draft International Antitrust Code, which was submitted to GATT.

An Antitrust Remedy For International Price Predation: Lessons From Zenith V. Matsushita, Harry First

Washington International Law Journal

The purpose of this article is to articulate a set of rules for an antitrust cause of action against international predatory pricing. The article develops these rules in the context of the antitrust and trade litigation brought in the United States and Japan against the Japanese televisions manufacturers between 1956 and 1986. The thesis of this article is that the litigation illustrates that antitrust enforcement should concentrate on exclusion from the home market rather than on low prices in the target market. The article also argues that antitrust should encompass a concern with the strategic use of market power to …

Competition Law And The Agenda For The Wto: Forging The Links Of Competition And Trade, Eleanor M. Fox

Washington International Law Journal

The Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is complete, and the agenda for the next round is being formulated. It is widely expected that issues of competition, the environment, and possibly labor will be on the agenda for the next round of the GATT. This article examines why it is that the world trading agenda may be thus expanding. Specifically as to competition law, it examines the history of devising world competition rules, the wisdom of revisiting the enterprise of doing so, and alternative approaches to competition in the GATT agenda. The article concludes with a …

Competition Law And International Trade: The European Union And The Neo-Liberal Factor, David J. Gerber

Washington International Law Journal

Ordoliberalism, a particular version of European Neo-Liberal thought, has played a central role in the relationship between competition law and trade policy with the European Union. The substantive component of this body of thought, which is based in Germany, emphasizes the importance of a transaction-based economy and economic freedom; the process component emphasizes the need for juridical processes in economic policy-making. Ordoliberalism has shaped European Union competition law and trade policy and their roles in European integration, and its weakening may cause major changes in that relationship.

Trips: Adequate Protection, Inadequate Trade, Adequate Competition Policy, Hanns Ullrich

Washington International Law Journal

This article analyzes the relationship between trade and competition policy with respect to intellectual property, focusing particularly on the inclusion into the Uruguay Round of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property ("TRIPS"). The article sets forth the traditional framework of protection as established by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1883. The TRIPS agreement provides new rules and principles to manage emerging problems in the field of industrial property. The main focus of this article is to analyze the effect that TRIPS will have on harmonizing (but not unifying) the system of intellectual property protection.

Using Section 337 Of The Tariff Act Of 1930 To Block Materially Different Gray Market Goods In The Common Control Context: Are Reports Of Its Death Greatly Exaggerated?, Margo A. Bagley

Faculty Articles

This Comment examines the primary reasons for trademark owners within the common control exception to revisit section 337 when faced with materially different gray market goods. Part One discusses the issues in and history of the gray market goods controversy, and the common control exception. Part Two focuses on section 337: how it works, its use in gray market goods cases, and how it has changed as a result of amendments in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994. Part Three traces the changes in the gray market landscape favorable …

U.S. Practices In Risk Assessment And Risk Management For Product Safety Under Article 2.2 Of The Agreement On Technical Barriers To Trade, Suckhong Ko

LLM Theses and Essays

Article 2.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) was applied to the GATT member countries in 1995. This article provides national product safety agencies with requirements for risk assessment and risk management. However, the terms used in the article are broad and open to interpretation. This paper argues that vast discretion and broad terms cannot solve technical barriers effectively; the “minimum requirements” standard within Article 2.2 of the TBT fails to consider those countries whose technology in product safety is inferior to that of developed countries. The United States has some of the strongest product safety measures, …

The World Trade Organization's Agreement On Government Procurement: Expanding Disciplines, Declining Membership?, Bernard Hoekman, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

The Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) – originally negotiated during the Tokyo Round – was renegotiated for the second time during the Uruguay Round. It is one of the WTO's so-called Plurilateral Agreements, in that its disciplines apply only to those WTO Members that have signed it. In contrast to most of the other Tokyo Round codes – e.g., the agreements on technical barriers to trade (standards), import licensing, customs valuation, subsidies, and antidumping – the GPA could not be 'multilateralized'. With the reintroduction of agriculture and textiles and clothing into the GATT, procurement has therefore become the major 'hole' …

Developing The Global Information Infrastructure, Seth D. Blumenfeld

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Intelsat: Transforming A Market Leader To Meet Changing Global Telecommunications, Irving Goldstein

Federal Communications Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Authority, Community And The Civil Law Commentary: An Example From German Competition Law, David J. Gerber

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bringing Down Private Trade Barriers- An Assessment Of The United States' Unilateral Options: Section 301 Of The 1974 Trade Act And Extraterritorial Applications Of U.S. Antitrust Law, Aubry D. Smith

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note examines how the antitrust and trade law options operate, with the two-fold purpose of providing some idea of their potential effectiveness and also suggesting what limitations, if any, should be placed on their use. Parts I and II analyze the mechanics of applying the antitrust and Section 301 remedies to eliminate foreign trade-restrictive business practices. In light of this discussion of how the two processes work, Part III considers whether they are likely to get out of control and suggests how they ought to be restrained. Part III finds that Section 301 is subject to a number of …

Competition And Antitrust Law In Central Europe: Poland, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, And Hungary, Carolyn Brezezinski

Michigan Journal of International Law

First, this article briefly introduces the antimonopoly laws and competition authorities created in the four post-communist Central European countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Second, this article outlines the obligations and harmonization programs of the competition authorities under the Europe Agreements recently signed by each country. Third, this article assesses the role and importance of the antimonopoly laws and competition authorities in the post-socialist economic reforms currently underway. Fourth, this article describes proposals to amend the antimonopoly laws based on the initial period of their implementation. Finally, this article attempts to assess the post-reform role of both …

The Nafta Investment Chapter And Foreign Direct Investment In Mexico: A Third World Perspective, Gloria L. Sandrino

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The investment provisions of NAFTA, which establish a liberal investment regime and a hospitable atmosphere for foreign investment amongst its signatories, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, represents a new chapter in Mexico's approach to foreign investment. This Article examines the significance of Mexico's shift to welcoming foreign investment and its concomitant acquiescence to traditional notions of expropriation and compensation espoused by more developed states. The author explores Mexico's historical love-hate relationship with foreign investment and its role over the years as leading voice for Third World concerns regarding the potentially exploitive nature of such investment. In this article, a …

The North American Free Trade Agreement: A Market Analysis, Leonard Bierman, Donald R. Fraser, James W. Kolari

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the subject of heated debate in the United States Congress. The central issue of the debate was whether NAFTA would have a positive or negative economic impact on the parties to the treaty. This Article is a direct empirical market analysis that measures the perceived economic impact of NAFTA on the parties to the agreement and other states. The authors use stock market event analysis to study the effect of NAFTA on different sectors of the economy of the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region. In doing so, the …

The World Trading System, Jagdish N. Bhagwati

Faculty Scholarship

The Uruguay Round is closing this week after a marathon of negotiations stretching well over seven years; so the timing of this panel is exquisite, from my viewpoint. The ceremony, besides, is in Marrakech, an exotic place that sets our minds racing with thoughts of "Casablanca," Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Indeed, one can imagine a movie being made of this historic occasion that will transform the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GAIT) into the World Trade Organization (WTO), with Peter Ustinov cast as Peter Sutherland, the brilliant and portly new director general of the GAIT who finally brought …