Product Description
This CD-ROM database contains the fully updated WTO services and schedules of services commitments and/or MFN exemptions for WTO member countries in English, plus the Legal Texts in English, French and Spanish. This material has never been available in one source before; much has been unavailable in any form. ... Read more

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Unlike the UN and EC law, there has been little discussion ofthe problems of GATT/WTO law and GATT dispute settlement practice inthe recent legal literature. This new book is the result of aninitiative by the International Trade Law Committee of theInternational Law Committee of the International Law Association topromote the progressive development of GATT/WTO law, and especially ofits dispute settlement system, by making a comparative legal study ofinternational and regional law and dispute settlement practice. Part I of the book introduces the basic principles, procedures andhistorical evolution of the GATT/WTO dispute settlement system. Itanalyses the first experience and current legal problems with the newWTO dispute settlement system, such as the application of the DisputeSettlement Understanding to trade in services, intellectual propertyrights and restrictive business practices, the scope for non-violationcomplaints, the standards of review, intervention by third parties,and the appellate review procedures and case-law. Part II examines the evolution of international trade law, and theapplication of the GATT/WTO dispute settlement procedures in specificareas of international economic law, such as anti-dumping law,agricultural and textiles trade, restrictive business practices, traderelated environmental measures, the General Agreement on Trade inServices, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of IntellectualProperty Rights, and the Agreement on Government Procurement. Part III describes procedures for the settlement of internationaltrade disputes in domestic courts and regional trade agreements, suchas the EC, the South American Common Market and NAFTA, and examinestheir interrelationships with the GATT/WTO dispute rules andprocedures. The Annexes include tables of past GATT/TWO disputesettlement proceedings, as well as the texts of the WTO's DisputeSettlement Understanding and of the Working Procedures adopted by theAppellate Body of the WTO. ... Read more

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This book examines the impact of international trade rules on the promotion and protection of human rights, and explains why human rights are an important mechanism for assessing the social justice impact of the international trading system. The core of the book is an in depth analysis of the various ways in which international trade law rules impact upon human rights protection and promotion, emphasising the significance of the jurisdictional context in which the human rights issues arise: coercive measures that are taken by one country to protect and promote human rights in another country are distinguished from measures taken by a country to protect and promote the human rights of its own population. The author contends that international trade law rules have utilised certain ad hoc mechanisms to deal with particularly pressing human rights concerns in the trade context, but also argues that these mechanisms do not provide systemic solutions to the inter-linkages between the two legal systems.The author therefore examines mechanisms by which human rights arguments could be more systematically raised and adjudicated upon in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, highlighting future opportunities and difficulties. He concludes by considering broader systemic issues outside the dispute settlement process that need to be addressed if trade law rules are to successfully protect and promote human rights. ... Read more

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What does the concept of good faith express? This book is the first to discuss what good faith means in international trade law. As a reference guide for scholars and practitioners it analyses the case law of WTO dispute settlement practice. The book describes how, why and when the concept of good faith links the WTO Agreements with other public international norms. The concept of good faith appears frequently in treaties and customary rules, but is most often considered a general principle of law. WTO law uses the corrolaries of pacta sunt servanda, the prohibition of abus de droit and the protection of legitimate expectation alongside the principle of good faith. An analysis of GATT 1947 and WTO case law reveals that the function of good faith varies. The Panel reports and the Appellate Body decisions make different use of it. The Appellate Body is prepared to apply the principle to WTO provisions only, while Panels use it more freely and substantively; that is, they apply good faith to fill lacunae in any of the WTO covered agreements.Also, adjudicators use the principle differently, depending on whether it relates to the agreements covered by the WTOor the procedural law of WTO dispute settlement. As it applies to the former, good faith is used to strike a balance between, on the one hand, the obligation to liberalise trade, and on the other hand, the right to invoke an exception to trade liberalisation for the protection of the environment, culture, public morals, human life or health. In this way, good faith safeguards the gains of multilateral trade liberalisation against unlawful interests such as disguised protectionism. The book also introduces the novel field of WTO procedural law governing trade dispute litigation. In the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), good faith appears in the standard of review, rules of evidence and fact-finding, standing, duty of prior consultation, right of establishment of a panel, ex officio investigations, withdrawal of notices of appeal, and the raising of objections. In all these areas it ensures that the rules of dispute resolution are not abused.The Appellate Body has even gone so far as to derive a new standard from the principle of good faith that demands that disputes are settled fairly, promptly and effectively. Insights into good faith in WTO law are not only important for trade law professionals. Current applications and future operations of the principle are likely to be of strategic value for answering the increasingly pressing question of how WTO law and other international agreements ought to be reconciled. ... Read more

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This book establishes a framework for analysis of the institutional and normative character of the WTO by locating the organization in a broader theory of international institutional law and in determining the basis for the conferral and exercise of powers in relation to its executive, legislative and adjudicative functions. The WTO is also read as an international regime in order to go beyond its formal legal and constitutional bases and to observe the Members’ practice in the context of the former semi-institutionalised GATT treaty regime with which it retains strong links. WTO decision-making, which underpins and informs its institutional and normative acts, is analysed in order to better understand the dynamics of the organization. Normative developments in the WTO are reviewed from the perspective of the creation, maintenance and revision of legally binding and non-binding or ‘soft’ law norms, in the sense of principles, rules and standards contained in primary treaty rules, which set out the rights and obligations of the Members, and subsidiary rule-making activity by WTO bodies. ... Read more

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Like many other international organizations, the World Trade Organization stands at a crossroads. There is an obvious imbalance between the organization's dispute settlement arm and its negotiation platform. While its current rules, supported by a strong dispute settlement system, have provided some buffering against the negative effects of the financial crises, its negotiation machinery has not produced any substantial outcomes since the late 1990s. It has become obvious that the old way of doing business does not work any more and fresh ideas about governing the organization are needed. Based on rigorous scholarship, this volume of essays offers critical readings on the functioning of the system and provides policy-relevant ideas that go beyond incremental redesign but avoid the trap of romantic scenarios. ... Read more

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) is scarcely ten years old, but it has already generated a mountain of debate, controversy, and outrage. Rulings on beef hormones and tuna-dolphin cases provide explicit examples of how the organization regulates into areas of individual consumer choice, ethical preferences, and cultural habits. The deep and far-ranging impact of the WTO on peoples' everyday lives means that it is not just an institution of interest to economists, but to everyone, a fact that was perhaps most graphically illustrated by the demonstrations that have become a regular feature associated with high-level meetings of the WTO. This book provides a carefully considered explanation of what the WTO is, what it does, and how it goes about executing its tasks, and gives a clear understanding of the mandate, structure, and functioning of the WTO that is essential to appreciating the controversy behind the organization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Concise distillation of a messy topic -- great value
This book describes the historical background and current controversies surrounding the WTO in a way that's both concise and surprisingly interesting. The history is necessary for a couple of reasons. First, many of the procedures used in the WTO today, as well as some of its documentation, are holdovers from the WTO's predecessor treaty, the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Second, many of the current controversies about the WTO have their roots in the North-South divide that became apparent during the GATT era, which lasted just short of 50 years (compared to WTO's life-span of a bit more than 10 so far).

The author goes out of her way to present the experiences and point of view of developing countries (DCs) on most issues. Since the vast majority of the WTO's signatories are DCs, and since most of the institutions of the WTO and GATT were under the control of the US and European nations, this is not so unreasonable or unbalanced. (Note that DC signatories aren't "opponents" of WTO or of globalization; they just want the organization to be fairer than it is currently.) Moreover, she makes it clear that the DCs aren't all angels, either. For example, WTO signatories are required to submit schedules of "bound" tariff rates -- i.e., they promise not to charge higher than the "bound" rate for the respective category of goods on the schedule. This goes to the heart of a main reason for creating WTO: DCs hadn't had to bind their tariffs under GATT. They were induced to do so under WTO by promises that WTO would address certain of their concerns on agriculture, textiles and other matters. However, the author points out even though some DCs were disgruntled that these promises were unkept, they were also gaming the system: most DCs "bound" their rates at much higher than what they were charging in practice. They thereby effectively assured themselves the right to charge significantly *higher* tariffs in the future -- which kinda wasn't what WTO was supposed to be about.

That the author can make such intricate details vivid and engaging is quite unusual for books about WTO (other than anti-globalization rants). And despite having less than 140 pages of text, the book will provide you with enough detail to allow you to penetrate some of the more scholarly tomes about WTO without falling asleep instantly, should you feel up to that challenge. Considering that the prices of such books are often $50-$100 or even much more, this book is a tremendous value.

An informative read, but not too balanced
Of the three major international financial organisations, The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The World Trade Organization (WTO), the last one is by far the youngest, yet it garners most headline news and controversy these days. In order to understand why, it is worthwhile to invest some time in reading about the origins of WTO in General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the organization that preceded it, as well as to understand how agreements are brokered and reached in WTO. This book provides a useful and informative introduction to WTO that answers those general questions fairly well. However, one gets a sense that the motivation behind the book was somewhat geared in direction of the critics of the WTO, rather than providing a more balanced account of the purposes and goals of the organization. In books defense it covers the origin and ramifications of the most recent controversial issues involving WTO fairly well, and it would be a useful and informative read for anyone interested in some basic facts about this organization. ... Read more

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The growing body of WTO jurisprudence is of profound significance for the development of the general body of international law. With this in mind, "Environmental Sovereignty and the WTO" succinctly examines how the WTO law can contribute to achieving coherence between general international law, international environmental law and international trade law and avoid conflicts between trade liberalization and global environmental protection. Professor Condon argues that these three branches of law are generally consistent with each other in the area of international law where they intersect. However, WTO jurisprudence can benefit from a more explicit analysis, provided here, of the way that panel decisions fit into the general framework of international law. No law reforms are currently needed to facilitate this task. As the text shows, it is a matter of using the current WTO rules to resolve conflicts between treaties such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and to determine the circumstances in which unilateral trade measures should be permitted.The topics addressed in "Environmental Sovereignty and the WTO" will be of considerable interest to a broad audience given the global political controversy over American unilateralism, the fairness of WTO rules to poor countries, and the effect of trade rules on efforts to protect the global environment. However, the book addresses these controversial issues without sacrificing academic rigour and will appeal to a scholarly and professional audience seeking new approaches to addressing the problems raised by the globalization of law. It is published under the Transnational Publishers imprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

dry reading
A very dry text on the structure of the WTO and how it impacts environmental sovereignty. It is meant for lawyers of international law. The book is essentially a recap of court cases brought on this subject. Where the court was often the GATT Panel and the WTO Appellate Body. The cases varies. One was on restrictions on importing tuna. Another was on shrimp, and yet another onherring and salmon. Some of these cases were where the US banned certain imports, arguing that these were harvested in a way that endangered some species. While the opposing argument was that that was just an excuse for protectionism.

Interestingly, some cases had no immediate apparent connection to the environment. Like one involving the United States, on "measures affecting the cross-border supply of gambling and betting services". ... Read more

Product Description
The WTO allows its members to retaliate in the face of continued non-compliance. After more than ten years' operation and ten arbitration disputes, this volume assesses the law, economics and politics of trade sanctions in WTO dispute settlement. Including more than thirty contributions from leading academics, trade diplomats and practitioners, it offers a thorough analysis of the legal rules on permissible WTO retaliation as well as an assessment of the economic rationale and calculations behind the mechanism. In addition, it provides first hand experiences of those countries that have obtained WTO authorisation to retaliate, ranging from the United States and the EC to Mexico and Antigua. In this assessment, the question of how to make the system work also for small countries is paramount. Finally, the volume spells out lessons that could be learned from related fields such as remedies for non-compliance in investment arbitration and competition or anti-trust regimes. ... Read more

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Two high-level commissions—the Sutherland report in 2004, and the Warwick Commission report in 2007—addressed the future of the World Trade Organization and made proposals for incremental reform. This book goes further; it explains why institutional reform of the WTO is needed at this critical juncture in world history and provides innovative, practical proposals for modernizing the WTO to enable it to respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century. Contributors focus on five critical areas: transparency, decision- and rule-making procedures, internal management structures, participation by non-governmental organizations and civil society, and relationships with regional trade agreements.

Customer Reviews (1)

A top pick for community and college library economics collections
Times change, and the rules of economics change with them. "WTO: Redesigning the World Trade Organization for the Twenty-First Century" discusses the World Trade Organization and its successes and failures in the modern day and how it can be revised and improved to stand the test of time and serve the world as the law on the necessary international trade. Many brilliant minds converge on the topic and offer much in the way of solutions and ideas for a more effective WTO of the future. Debra P. Steger serves as editor and presents a recommended read for anyone trying to understand the present and future of the WTO, making "WTO" a top pick for community and college library economics collections.
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This book comprises fifteen specially commissioned contributions from the Editorial Board of the Oxford Journal of International Economic Law in celebration of the Journal's tenth anniversary. The contributions examine various issues confronting the international economic regime today, and cover a wide range of international economic institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO.

It pays particular attention to examining the WTO and its regulatory scope, its systemic and structural deficiencies, its role in development and in liberalizing trade in services, its tense relationship to regionalism and to trade-related issues such as environment, competition and dispute settlement in the field of investment.

The contributions are authored by leading academics in the field, including lawyers, economists, and political scientists who come from a range of developed and developing country backgrounds. This book constitutes a reflection by important individuals on almost all the major contemporary issues facing the WTO today, and therefore represents a snapshot of the key lines of thinking among many of the leading legal scholars of the WTO and international economic regime which are likely to guide the field in the years to come.

This is a book edition of the special 10th anniversary third issue of vol. 10 of the Oxford Journal of International Economic Law September 2007. ... Read more

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Joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) enables China to reform its legal order and to move towards a system incorporating major principles of the rule of law. The WTO also serves as an external impetus that guides contemporary Chinese legal reform and orients it in ways that domestic forces alone could not achieve and sustain. Much discussion on the WTO and the Chinese legal system has focused on the issue of compliance and whether the Chinese legal system has the capacity to fulfill China's WTO accession commitments. The focus of this work is less concerned with compliance issues per se, but rather with the extent to which the WTO's requirements vis-a-vis China actually affect the Chinese legal system. The fine difference between the two lies in the fact that efforts by the Chinese government to meet its WTO obligations necessarily impact the Chinese legal order and its way of functioning, even if their end results may or may not lead to full compliance with what is required of it by the WTO.

As expressed by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy in his foreword to the book, Through this work, Esther Lam succeeds in demonstrating how WTO membership can benefit both the acceding country and the wider WTO family of nations. ... Read more

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This insightful book assesses the impact of the WTO, and the globalization of law, through two new multilateral agreements--the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs). It explains how these agreements push trade policies "behind the border," mediating conflicts between contrasting legalities. Detailed case studies address topics of global significance: competition between legal services, ownership claims to the genetic codes, and access to on-line media. ... Read more

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David Palmeter and Petros Mavroidis review all WTO dispute settlement provisions and their interpretation in WTO jurisprudence in this extensively revised new edition. Carefully written for a wide readership, the volume is essential for professionals, practitioners, diplomats and government lawyers.The book comprises the only comprehensive system of compulsory third party adjudication in international law. Appendices include the texts of the agreements and the provisions of other WTO agreements relevant to dispute settlement. ... Read more

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The birth of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its relatedagreements at the close of the Uruguay Round marked a profound changein the framework of principles governing world trade. The authorargues that the establishment of the WTO as a unique transnationallegislature in fact produced a fully integrated trade constitutioncapable of constructing, universalising and enforcing substantivenorms of law. The changes in the world trading system amounted to asignificant shift in power from the national to the supranationallevel, with the result that member states are now disposed to exercisetheir sovereignty collectively in those areas of commercial law thatrequire global coordination. The author further argues that asignificant factor in the institutional reform of the internationaltrading system was the advent of the information economy, and theresulting imperative to protect intellectual property. In this respectthe work lays the foundation for an empirical understanding of the WTOconstitution as a response to the logic of intellectual property law.

From a social perspective, the book explains how the collectiveexercise of sovereignty in the new world order reflects the emergenceof a new transnational civil society in which corporations,non-governmental organisations and voluntary associations aredemanding a voice in global lawmaking. In examining the limits of theemerging trade constitution and the challenges it is likely to face,the analysis concludes that to find true legitimacy, the WTO and itsinstitutions must find ways of conforming to the democratic principlesof accountability, transparency and representation. ... Read more

Product Description
The WTO Secretariat reports that during the period from 1995 to June 30, 2007 WTO members initiated 3097 anti-dumping investigations. Of these, 474 were put forward by India, which made it the largest user of this measure among WTO Members. The traditional argument of developing countries was that loopholes or absence of clear definitions in the anti-dumping rules have increased the possibility of abuses and discretionary practices against them. Now, many developing countries like India have become frequent users of this measure. For a better understanding of the various provisions of the WTO's Anti-dumping Agreement (ADA) a critical investigation of the resulting jurisprudence is a necessity. To that end, this timely work has a fivefold aim:- To explore the jurisprudence that has emerged around the anti- dumping regime and how it affected developing countries;- To assess how effectively and to what extent the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) is able to analyze the violations of ADA provisions; - To examine domestic compliance with DSB decisions; - To study the Indian cases which come before the nation's Customs, Excise & Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, various High Courts and the Supreme Court of India; and - To offer recommendations for the improvement of the anti- dumping regime from a developing country perspective. ... Read more

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The agreements negotiated in the Uruguay Round, which form the legal framework of the World Trade Organization, will govern world trade into the twenty-first century. This volume covers both the original and the updated General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the new procedures for dispute settlement, and the legal framework for the World Trade Organization. This is the definitive reference for all practicing and academic trade lawyers, an essential holding for all international law libraries, and a vital source book for students, economists, and political scientists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The "Bible" of WTO Law
It is not without good reason that this book is referred to in WTO Law as "The Bible".This book contains all the legal text relevant to current WTO law.The short and simple truth is that if you're studying or working in any field involving WTO Law, you'll need this book.Like most government or international organization publications it could use better organizing and have better indexes, but on the whole it does its job more than adequately.

WTO Uruguay Round Legal Texts
The WTO Legal Texts, copublished by the WTO and Cambridge University Press, is a essential reference for anyone working on WTO issues. Although the WTO agreements are available to the public on the WTO website, as well as the worldtradelaw.net website, most scholars and practitioners will want a compact volume to carry and to underline. Cambridge U. Press has put a sturdy binding on the paperback volume. The one flaw in the volume is that it omits the plurilateral agreements, such as the Agreement on Government Procurement.It would also be helpful in a future edition to improve the usability of the Table of Contents. ... Read more

Product Description
The Dispute Settlement Reports of the World Trade Organization (WTO) include Panel and Appellate Body reports, as well as arbitration awards, in disputes concerning the rights and obligations of WTO members under the provisions of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. These are the WTO authorized and paginated reports in English. An essential addition to the library of all practising and academic trade lawyers, and needed by students worldwide taking courses in international economic or trade law. DSR 2005:XII reports on United States - Measures Affecting the Cross-Border Supply of Gambling and Betting Services. ... Read more