International Trade Law Commons^™

Books Received, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A Practical Guide to U.S. Taxation of Overseas Americans

By Thomas E. Johnson

London: Raftwain Ltd., 1977. Pp. 311. $25.00.

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The Impact of International Organizations on Legal and Institutional Changes in the Developing Countries

New York: International Legal Center, 1977. Pp. 275.

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U.S. Customs Tariffs and Trade

By Eugene T. Rossides

Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., 1977. Pp. 826. $45.00.

Nigeria: Still Safe For U.S. Investors?, Jerome F. Donovan

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Doing business in Nigeria has never been easy. Delays and frustrations are commonplace. Coupled with recent political changes, these formidable considerations may dissuade many potential investors from entering Nigeria. Nigeria, however, has an important role in international economics, which is sure to increase in significance. Thus, American businessmen may find that they cannot afford to ignore Nigeria, despite their inclination to do so. Nigeria's government has taken positive and far-reaching steps to encourage and protect foreign investment in order to better meet the country's economic, social, and political needs. Innovative American businessmen sensitive to local needs can certainly find their …

The Contemporary Evolution Of Intermodal And International Transport Regulation Under The Interstate Commerce Act, Paul S. Dempsey

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

n our era of rapidly diminishing impediments to the free flow of capital, goods, technology, and services between nations, transnational commercial activity has become extremely important to our national economy. New frontiers are being broken as raw materials and manufactured products move more freely between nations which have heretofore shared little in culture, history, religion, race, or economic and political philosophy. Certainly, governmental initiatives designed to eliminate trade inhibitions are responsible for much of this growth. Tariff walls are crumbling. The world economy is prospering. The interdependencies that flourish between members of the world community as a result of bilateral …

The Foreign Investment Climate In Nigeria, Bernard Blankenheimer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Foreign investment in Nigeria requires careful planning and attention to local requirements. For those investors willing to take the necessary time and effort the opportunities offered can be rewarding. The prospective American investor must inform himself of political, economic, and social conditions. He must adapt himself to dealing with Africans and must try to understand their social and cultural patterns and their historical evolution. In the past this was desirable, but not essential, since business contacts were predominantly European. Today it is critical.

Invitations by Nigerians for joint projects involving public participation need not be regarded as an overriding obstacle …

Government And Private Enterprise In Latin American Petroleum Development, Frank M. Lacey

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry on January 1, 1976, can be viewed in a sense as a culmination of more than half a century of striving on the part of Latin American republics to become the masters of their own most important resources, one that has seemed at times symbolic of their very destinies. It is a process that has involved nearly every major country in Latin America. It is one that has been resisted by the prevailing economic, political, and legal institutions, and in the course of which not only major business enterprises but nations as well …

The International Centre For Settlement Of Investment Disputes And Development Through The Multinational Corporation, C. F. Amerasinghe

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The multinational corporation (MNC) as a significant phenomenon in development economics has probably come to stay. The problem for developing countries is how to harness the MNC's power for their own development, and at the same time, limit its all-too-available capacity and potential for unlimited exploitation and influence. Clearly, as pointed out by the Report of the Group of Eminent Persons, there remains much to be done substantively through the medium of the international convention and international organization, both to promote the role of the MNC in development and to control its operations in such a way as to ensure …

Books Received, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A COMMENTARY ON THE FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW ACT

By Graeme C. Hughes

Toronto: Carswell, Ltd., 1975. Pp. 214. $20.65.

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THE EXPORT TRADE: THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE By Clive M. Schmitthoff

6th ed. London: Stevens & Sons,Ltd., 1975. Pp. 461. $28.75.

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FOREIGN DISINVESTMENT BY U.S. MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS: WITH EIGHT CASE STUDIES

By Roger L. Tourneden

New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975. Pp. 157. $15.00.

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THE GATT LEGAL SYSTEM AND WORLD TRADE DIPLOMACY

By Robert E. Hudec

New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975. Pp. 399, $25.00.

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS--GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS

By Jack N. Behrman, J.J. Boddeayn, & Ashok …

The Steel Products Decision: An Inquiry Into The Treatment Of The Value-Added Tax Under The Countervailing Duty Law, Charles L. Chambers

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is not often that one small clause in a tariff act becomes a major issue between domestic producers and the firms which import competitive foreign goods, a major issue in trade talks between the United States and the European Community, and a bone of contention between the Congress and the Executive Branch. Yet, section 303 of the Tariff Act of 1930 has done just that and no solution to the issues it has raised is in sight...

Section 303 of the Tariff Act of 1930 is simple enough on its face. It imposes a countervailing duty on any goods …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

1. ACT OF STATE DOCTRINE

Hickenlooper Amendment Inapplicable to Oil Drilling Concession Granted by Foreign Government

2. ADMIRALTY

Shipowner is Entitled to Indemnification from Tortfeasor when a Covenant of Workmanlike Performance by the Tortfeasor can Reasonably be Implied

Judicially-Created Maritime Wrongful Death Cause of Action Applies Retroactively as Exclusive Remedy Time-Charterer Not Entitled to Indemnification for Litigation Expenses when not Obligated to Provide Seaworthy Vessel

Claims within Scope of the Public Vessels Act Cannot be Brought under the Terms of the Suits in Admiralty Act

Lumber Employee Working on Saltwater Pond Held Not Engaged in Maritime Employment and Not Covered …

Obtaining Personal Jurisdiction Over Alien Corporations--A Survey Of U.S. Practice, John D. Gleissner, David C. Veeneman, S. Rodgers Wheaton

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

With the increase in international trade, civil litigation between persons of different nationalities has become increasingly important. Today alien and foreign corporations are being brought before American courts to defend actions arising out of products liability, contract, and tort. There is considerable authority holding alien and foreign corporations amenable to jurisdiction on the basis of a single act or business transaction. The states themselves are affecting international trade since state law is chosen to determine the amenability of alien and foreign corporations to suit in diversity actions in federal court.

This survey presents a cross-section of recent cases and attempts …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

1. Admiralty

State Port Authority Acting Incident to Maritime Carriage Subject to Admiralty Jurisdiction in Damage Suit

MARINE INSURANCE PROVIDING COVERAGE OF LOSSES "ARISING FROM OR OCCURRING FROM" SPECIFIED CONDITIONS DOES NOT COVER LOSSES OCCURRING AFTER PERIOD OF COVERAGE DUE TO CONDITIONS WHICH INITIALLY AROSE DURING THE PERIOD OF COVERAGE

FEDERAL COURT LACKS POWER UNDER SUITS IN ADMIRALTY ACT TO IMPOSE GOVERNMENTAL LIABILITY FOR HARM CAUSED BY FAILURE TO EXERCISE DISCRETIONARY FUNCTION

2. Alien's Rights

FAMILY RELATIONSHIP CAN BE SHOWN AS A MATTER OF FACT FOR IMMIGRATION PURPOSES WHERE APPLICABLE FOREIGN DOMESTIC LAW HOLDS MEANINGLESS THE CONCEPT OF LEGITIMACY

3. …

Oil Operations In Latin America: The Future Of Private Enterprise, Ewell E. Murphy, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

We live in tumultuous times. Whether measured on a scale of millennia, of centuries, or of generations, our lifetime's segment of the graph of world history is marking giddy ascents, harrowing declines, and abrupt, unbridgeable discontinuities.

On a millennial scale we are entering the twilight of those five astounding centuries of Western leadership that began with the Renaissance. The flags of empire, long banished from the Americas, have now been struck in Asia and Africa as well, and flutter quaintly over only a dwindling handful of enclaves and outposts. Islam has awakened from her sleep of seven hundred years and …

Recent Decisions, John J. Curry, Jr., Dan T. Carter, Melissa Gallivan, James A. Delanis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

ANTITRUST--Import Restrictions--Import Ban Ordered as Equitable Relief for Violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act Must Not Discriminate Against Foreign Producers or Reduce Competition

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European Communities--Restrictive Trade Practices--Patent Licensing Agreements that Restrict Competition between Member States Without Improving Production or Distribution or Promoting Technical or Economic Progress Violate Article 85

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JURISDICTION--CONTINENTAL SHELF--ABANDONED VESSEL SALVAGED FROM THE SURFACE OF THE UNITED STATES CONTINENTAL SHELF BEYOND TERRITORIAL WATERS IS NOT UNDER JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

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IMMIGRATION--A STATE MAY PROHIBIT THE EMPLOYMENT OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

The Argentine Foreign Investment Law And Its Andean Common Market Inspiration, Robert Y. Stebbings

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Back in power after nearly twenty years of forced exile, the government of Juan Domingo Per6n fulfilled one of its most popularly acclaimed promises. Following a prolonged emotion-charged journey through the first Congress since the dissolution of that body in 1966, Argentina's new Foreign Investment Law (the "Law") became effective in December 1973. Law No. 20.577 regulates foreign direct investments, foreign credits and contracts involving payments abroad. Appearing almost simultaneously, Law No.20.575 requires registration with the government of all persons or entities who carry out any activity related to Argentina on behalf of foreign interests. The Foreign Investment Law was …

Book Review, Harold J. Berman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The world has grown quite used to the fact that almost all Soviet export and import transactions are conducted by specialized state foreign trade organizations (ob'edineniia, "combines" or "associations") subordinate to a single state agency, the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade. The idea of such a "state monopoly" of foreign trade was originally put forth by Lenin and instituted by a decree of April 1918. It was intended primarily as a means of national economic defense: to protect the fledgling Soviet economy against anticipated imperialist exploitation. This was before the introduction of a centrally planned economy, and before even the …

Legal Protection Of Loans To Developing Country Borrowers, Lajos Schmidt

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, in introducing the proposal for what is today the World Bank, John Maynard Keynes predicted: "In the dangerous and precarious days which lie ahead, the risks of the lender will be inevitably large and most difficult to calculate. The risk premium reckoned on strict commercial principles may be beyond the capacity of an impoverished borrower to meet, and may itself contribute to the risks of ultimate default." Three decades later this problem of the gap between the developed-country lender's required risk premium and the developing-country borrower's ability to generate an investment return …

International Oil--Shortage, Cartel Or Emerging Resource Monopoly?, James T. Jensen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the early days of industrialization in the United States, giant combines with great market power developed in a number of industries, such as oil, steel and railroads. Out of that era arose a body of domestic law and regulation that sought to define the limits within which those organizations could function in the economic life of the country. The Sherman and Clayton Acts formed the basis for antitrust law. Regulatory agencies such as the Federal Power Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Federal Trade Commission were formed to regulate the excesses of the private sector. We may now …

The Role Of International Lending In Developing Economies, Orville L. Freeman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A consideration of International Lending: The Case of Developing Nations is timely not only because of the forces that are propelling the Third World into a position of increasing strategic and political importance but also as a recognition of the importance of credit to development and of the fact that loans and self-help, rather than massive infusions of outside assistance, are the key to real development. It is not this writer's intention to discuss different forms of credit or the many practical, technical and legal hurdles to mobilizing and delivering loans to the Third World on a fair basis to …

The United States In Pending World Trade Negotiations, Theodore R. Gates, J. Dapray Muir

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The United States emerged from World War II as the only major trading nation with a strong economic and financial position. The post-War international trading structure, embodied in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) frameworks, was established with the United States in the position of a dominant, largely self--sufficient producer of many and superior goods. The succeeding three decades, however, have witnessed radical changes in that circumstance. No longer is a "fortress America" economically feasible. The United States is no longer self-sufficient in a number of raw materials on which it depends; …

Emerging Neo-Mercantilism In Canadian Policy Toward State Enterprises And Foreign Direct Investment, Douglas F. Lamont

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Canadians have written many volumes about their relative inability to preserve their domestic economy from the deepening entanglements of American foreign investment. They cite such highly visible names as Exxon and General Motors for special notice since their Canadian subsidiaries dominate their respective local industries. Canadian nationalists fear that these firms as well as others from the United States will rejuvenate the now discredited continental thesis, which calls for the economic merger of Canada and the United States into one highly-integrated North American market. So uneasy are Canadians about potential American challenges to their sovereignty that they have resurrected mercantilistic …

The Trade Act Of 1974: Section 337 Of The Tariff Act And The Public Interest, John F. Mcdermid

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Trade Act of 1974 amended section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, and thereby substantially modified the procedures for the conduct of United States International Trade Commission investigations concerning unfair practices in import trade. The Trade Act changed the role of the ITC from that of a relatively passive adviser on potential courses of action to the President to that of final judge, subject to Presidential override and judicial review, of whether a violation of the Act has occurred. Additionally, the Trade Act provides that in the event that the violation is found, the ITC may now issue …

The Changing Framework Of Concession Agreements And The Oil Industry, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Symposium presents discussions of various aspects of the subject of the changing framework of concession agreements and the oil industry. Dr. Zuhayr Mikdashi analyzes policy considerations that influence developing nations seeking greater benefit from their resources, and presents several suggestions for increased cooperation among developing countries. Dr. Theodore Moran offers a critical evaluation of traditional United States investment policies and advocates a modified concession agreement aimed at minimizing friction between the parties. Mr. James Jensen concludes the Symposium with a comprehensive analysis of recent trends in company-state relations in the Middle East.

An Evaluation Of The Need For Further Statutory Controls On Foreign Direct Investment In The United States, Gregory E. Andrews

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Negative opinions about the expansion of direct foreign participation in the American economy have ranged from xenophobic fears of a foreign economic takeover of the United States to more responsible concerns for the possible need to inhibit foreign penetration of certain critical industries and raw material sectors. These fears and negative reactions have been exacerbated by a paucity of available information to verify or rebut them. A number of congressional committees, therefore, have responded by scheduling investigatory hearings on foreign direct investment, while several members of Congress recently have sponsored legislation in this area. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), has introduced …

International Lending: The Case For Developing Nations, Harold G. Maier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

As is peculiarly appropriate for any conference dealing with a rapidly developing and constantly changing area of international economic activity, both the speakers and the participants at this meeting raised more questions than were answered. A principal theme, illustrated by the papers reproduced here, was the need for careful consideration of the problem--legal and commercial-- involved in international lending on the basis of specific information concerning its effect, its promise and the needs involved. Generalizations concerning activities in developing countries are increasingly ineffective as guides to government or business policy or academic inquiry. Recent events in the Middle East confirm …

Recent Treaties And Statutes, Charles H. Manning, Annette Adams, Alan D. Mazer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Foreign Investment--The Canadian Foreign Investment Review Act--An Act to Screen Foreign Investment in Canada--Allowing those Investments of Significant Benefit to Canada

Charles H. Manning

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International Economics--Caribbean Common Market--Caribbean Countries Band together to Promote Regional Cooperation and Achieve Economic Integration

Annette Adams

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Panama Canal Treaty--Statement of Principles provides Guidelines for Negotiation of New Panama Canal Treaty in Complete Abrogation of 1903 Treaty as Amended--Joint Statement of the Honorable Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State of the United States of America, and His Excellency Juan Antonio Tack, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Panama, on February 7, 1974 …

Changes In The Investment Climate In Developing Nations, Jack Baranson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The changes of the 1960's point to two important trends in the 1970's--the continuing erosion of the foreign investment base and an expanding drive toward technological self-reliance. These tendencies have important implications for future operational modes of multinational corporations and for further adjustments in the world economy. First, developing countries will continue their efforts to eliminate foreign ownership and control of their industries and their preference for licensing arrangements and management services will continue to erode the foreign investment base. Secondly, developing countries will not be satisfied with the transfer of manufacturing techniques and related management systems. They will want …

Tokyo As An International Capital Market--Its Economic And Legal Aspects, Mitsuru Misawa

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The internationalization of the Japanese capital market began in 1955, but for a considerable length of time the market served only as a source of foreign capital needed to cover the deficits in the nation's balance of payments. It was not until after 1970, when the Japanese balance of payments showed a steady surplus, that the Japanese market could accommodate the issue and acquisition of foreign securities on a full-fledged scale, and that Tokyo could become a truly international capital market. This trend, however, proved to be short-lived, for the steep rise in the cost of oil imports has recently …

Establishing An International Commercial Arbitration Council: A Preliminary Proposal, Martin Domke

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

There has been, in recent years, a substantial growth of international trade. This phenomenon has not confined itself to the more economically developed nations of the world. The developing countries, with different economic and social structures, have also participated in the increased trade activity. Moreover, it can be expected that this trend will continue in the coming years, steadily forging more and more links between countries in all parts of the world.

Growth of trade activity is necessarily accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of disputes between parties to commercial agreements. The business community is in general accord …

Foreign Banking In The United States, James A. Johnson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Foreign banking in the United States is no longer a nominal activity. The assets of foreign bank agencies and branches tripled from 1965 to 1972, increasing to approximately 13 billion dollars. During this same time, assets of United States banks abroad rose to 75 billion dollars-an eight-fold increase.

Yet, despite this dramatic growth--which surely will continue--the United States remains the only major country in which foreign banking is not supervised at the national level. No valid constitutional or practical reasons exist to support state control. Although New York and California, which share the major portion of foreign banking at the …

Legal And Institutional Barriers To United States--Soviet Trade: Soviet Perspective, Christopher Osakwe

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Traditionally, law, economics, and politics have always been interrelated elements. Within this interaction economics and politics have often alternated as the leading determinant of future development, whereas law has acted as an appendage of both or, at least, as a catalyst for future political and economic changes in the given society. This analysis of the close interaction between law, economics, and politics applies not only domestically but also internationally. If foreign policy is nothing but a continuation of domestic policy by other means, it follows that the foreign policy of a particular nation is shaped by a variety of factors …