International Trade Law Commons^™

Globalisation Of Contract Law: Rules For Commercial Contracts In The 21st Century, Whitmore Gray

Articles

This is a paper given at the Asia-Pacific Lawyers Association meeting held in Bangkok in November 1995. The author describes the principles of international commercial contracts published in 1994 by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law. Professor Gray sees a new era of harmonisation of contract law. An appendix gives an abstract of a contract law decision given by an Austrian Court in 1994.

The United States Policy Of Stringent Anti-Treaty-Shopping Provisions: A Comparative Analysis, Simone M. Haug

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Tax avoidance through international treaty shopping has become a subject of intense controversy in the international community. By shrewdly structuring businesses, corporations are currently able to take advantage of tax exemptions contained in tax treaties, though the countries that have joined the treaties never intended for them to benefit from such provisions. Many nations, including the United States, view this practice as tax treaty abuse. In response to such abuses, many countries are now incorporating strict anti-treaty-shopping provisions in their bilateral tax treaties.

Ms. Haug begins the Article by describing the practice of treaty shopping and, specifically, the various methods …

The World Trade Organization: A New Legal Order For World Trade?, Thomas J. Dillon Jr.

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article will describe in some detail the most dramatic modifications within the framework of the multilateral trading system designed to support the projected trade expansion, namely, the new organizational structure under the WTO and the new dispute settlement procedures. The article will evaluate these changes against the backdrop of the Bretton Woods System as originally conceived and will highlight the debate surrounding whether the nature of the trade regulating body ought to be adjudicatory or negotiatory. Finally, the author offers conclusions, perspectives, and comments regarding the future development of the world trading system.

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, …

A Practitioner's Guide To The Maastricht Treaty, Michael H. Abbey, Nicholas Bromfield

Michigan Journal of International Law

Before undertaking a section by section summary of the Maastricht Treaty, this article will briefly discuss some of the highlights of the Treaty and the prospects for European Monetary Union.

Institutional Misfits: The Gatt, The Icj & Trade-Environment Disputes, Jeffrey L. Dunoff

Michigan Journal of International Law

The central thesis of this article is that neither trade bodies, like the GATT or NAFTA, nor adjudicatory bodies, like the ICJ or the proposed International Court for the Environment, ought to resolve these issues. Instead, trade-environment conflicts should be heard before an institution that recognizes the interdependent nature of global economic and environmental issues and that has a mandate to advance both economic development and environmental protection. This body should have ready access to the scientific and technical expertise that would enable it to resolve trade-environment disputes knowledgeably. It should possess tools to encourage nations to comply with its …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Case Digest provides brief analyses of cases that represent current aspects of international law. The Digest includes cases that establish legal principles and cases that apply established legal principles to new factual situations. The cases are grouped by topic and include references for further research.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. AID TO FOREIGN TRIBUNALS

II. TRADE

III.TREATIES

IV. IMMIGRATION

Preventing The Theft And Illegal Export Of Art In A Europe Without Borders, Kimberly A. Short

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The opening of internal borders within the European Community presents tremendous opportunity for European economic growth. Yet with all the potential benefits come many problems. Increased illegal art trafficking is one of these problems. This Note examines European treaties, laws of the individual EC Member States, and Community-wide treaties and regulations designed to prevent the theft and illegal export of art. The Note discusses how the differing interests of the Member States have prevented agreement on legislation to protect art and resulted in measures inadequate to protect Europe's vast art treasures. After analyzing the latest EC regulatory attempt to protect …

Old Wine, New Skins: Nafta And The Evolution Of International Trade Dispute Resolution, Andrew Kayumi Rosa

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines NAFTA's effort in meeting the needs of the moment (i.e., North American integration) and those of the future (i.e., hemispheric integration) regarding the issue of dispute resolution. Dispute resolution is key to any trade agreement; without an effective means of settling specific disputes and enforcing provisions generally, parties will have a little incentive to honor their trade commitments. Moreover, ineffective dispute resolution hurts smaller, less developed countries in agreements with larger, more developed countries, because the larger countries will be tempted to use their economic leverage to solve disputes to the disadvantage of the smaller ones. A …

U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaties: The Second Wave, Kenneth J. Vandevelde

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article describes and appraises the second wave of negotiations. It functions as a sequel to an earlier article that described the first ten years of the program. Although the second wave of negotiations continues, and thus any conclusions about it necessarily are tentative, the second wave already has developed a variety of characteristics that distinguish it from the first wave. The goal of this Article is to identify the ways in which the second wave appears to differ from the first and to assess the significance of the differences.

U.S.-Thailand Trade Disputes: Applying Section 301 To Cigarettes And Itellectual Property, Ted L. Mcdorman

Michigan Journal of International Law

Irrespective of the close economic and strategic relationship between Thailand and the United States, the United States has utilized Section 301 (and Special 301), and the consequent threat of trade retaliation, in its relations with the Land of Smiles. The purpose of this article is to examine the operation of Section 301 and Special 301 regarding trade in cigarettes and intellectual property.

Surveillance Schemes: The Gatt's New Trade Policy Review Mechanism, Petros C. Mavroidis

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article describes and analyzes the current form of the TPRM, and advances some proposals for its future formation. The article is divided into five parts: Part I deals with the origin and the objectives of the TPRM; Part II analyzes the TPRM scheme and its functioning thus far; Part III presents the legal underpinnings of the TPRM; Part IV reviews and compares the surveillance schemes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the TPRM, since it is my belief that GATT's TPRM can draw some valuable lessons from the experience …

Mexico's Path Towards The Free Trade Agreement With The U.S., Rudy Sandoval

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vital Interests And The Law Of Gatt: An Analysis Of Gatt's Security Exception, Michael J. Hahn

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article will ask to what extent article XXI allows Contracting Parties to escape obligations of GATT and to what extent it should.

Negotiating Investment In The Gatt: A Call For Functionalism, Paul Bryan Christy Iii

Michigan Journal of International Law

In part, this article is about the conflict between literalism and functionalism in the GATT. It examines an attempt in the Uruguay Round to negotiate rules on foreign direct investment - the so-called trade-related investment measures (TRIMs) negotiations. Foreign direct investment is often a stage in the internationalization of enterprises; it is helpful to the trade of goods producers and necessary to the trade of many services providers. Affected by the output-oriented history of the GATT, however, the Contracting Parties have treated investment as though it were simply one of three legs of an economic triangle: goods, services, investment. In …

Strategy And Compliance With Bilateral Trade Dispute Settlement Agreements: Ustr's Section 301 Experience In The Pacific Basin, Michael P. Ryan

Michigan Journal of International Law

The paper is laid out in five parts. First, the conceptual linkages among strategy, goals, and agreement compliance are developed. Second, the study research design and findings are reported. Third, the strategy of trade dispute settlement negotiation is discussed with regard to bureaucratic politics. Fourth, case evidence that illustrates the key study findings is reviewed. Finally, effective monitoring and the notion of unilateral surveillance within the context of the present GATT-based, multilateral trading system are explored.

Can Antidumping Law Apply To Trade In Services?, Hideaki Kubo

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this paper, the author will investigate whether current U.S. antidumping law can apply to trade in services. Because service industries vary significantly in nature, the author takes an industry-specific approach, selecting three service industries - insurance, banking, and construction - and discussing possible problems in applying the U.S. antidumping law to these industries.

Developing A Standard For Politically Related State Economic Action, Clinton E. Cameron

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will give an analysis of the scholarship that has appeared in this field, as well as the actual practice of States, to determine if any fixed rules have been established in this area, and if so, what they are. It will do so by looking at the debates that have taken place concerning the application of the language and underlying principles of the U.N. Charter in order to see if these norms of State action prohibit economic diplomacy. The Note will then look to the actual practice of States to determine whether it provides adequate evidence of opinion …

Gatt And The European Community: A Formula For Peaceful Coexistence, Frederick M. Abbott

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article addresses the relationship between the GATT, the European Community and other RTAs as and when trade in services and other "new areas" are incorporated into the GATT framework. The article first discusses the conceptual justifications for RTAs (as an alternative to utopian global free trade) in order to provide background for considering whether the privileges accorded RTAs under the existing GATT framework should be extended to new areas and, if so, how far. It is observed that "state of the art" tools of economic analysis do not provide adequate guidance as to the global welfare costs or benefits …

The Gatt Uruguay Round: Its Significance For U.S. Bilateral Trade With Korea And Taiwan, Judith H. Bello, Alan F. Holmer

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article reviews the choreography of U.S. trade policy, as reflected in the U.S. government's efforts to reconcile its objectives in the Uruguay Round with its actions in its bilateral relationships with Korea and Taiwan. It illustrates how developments in four key areas of the Round - protection of intellectual property, services, investment, and agriculture - and in bilateral trade negotiations are intended to be, and can be, complementary rather than contradictory.

Panel Discussion: Europe 1992, Eric Stein, Jochen A. Frowein, Jacques J.H.J. Bourgeois, Edwin Vermulst, Reinhard Quick

Michigan Journal of International Law

Transcript of a panel on Europe in 1992.