A Critical Analysis of Conditionalities in the Generalized System of Preferences

AbstractThis article examines conditionalities in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in light of the European Communities – Conditions for the Granting of Tariff Preferences to Developing Countries (EC – Tariff Preferences) case at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The article largely undertakes this examination from the point of view of developing countries. It mainly examines the issue of discrimination in conditionalities since this was the principal question raised in the EC – Tariff Preferences case and makes suggestions regarding the regulation of conditionalities. In doing so, the article follows two trajectories: first, it makes suggestions for the WTO panels and Appellate Body, and, second, it makes suggestions for GSP donors, by analyzing the new European GSP + Scheme and by drawing inspiration from conditionalities in the loans granted by the World Bank.

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Exploring the World Trade Organisation's Trade and Environment/Public Health Jurisprudence as a Model for Incorporating a Trade–Labour Linkage into the Organisation's Multilateral Trade Regime: Should African Countries Accept a Policy Shift?

African Journal of International and Comparative Law ◽

10.3366/ajicl.2017.0181 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 47-65

Author(s):

Tapiwa V. Warikandwa ◽

Patrick C. Osode

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Developing Countries ◽

World Trade ◽

African Countries ◽

Trade Regime ◽

Multilateral Trade ◽

Appellate Body ◽

The World ◽

Labour Standards ◽

The Impact

The incorporation of a trade-labour (standards) linkage into the multilateral trade regime of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been persistently opposed by developing countries, including those in Africa, on the grounds that it has the potential to weaken their competitive advantage. For that reason, low levels of compliance with core labour standards have been viewed as acceptable by African countries. However, with the impact of WTO agreements growing increasingly broader and deeper for the weaker and vulnerable economies of developing countries, the jurisprudence developed by the WTO Panels and Appellate Body regarding a trade-environment/public health linkage has the potential to address the concerns of developing countries regarding the potential negative effects of a trade-labour linkage. This article argues that the pertinent WTO Panel and Appellate Body decisions could advance the prospects of establishing a linkage of global trade participation to labour standards without any harm befalling developing countries.

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Conference on the Role of Industrialisation in Developing Countries

The Journal of Modern African Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022278x00004432 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 440-442

Author(s):

Ronald Robinson

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

United Nations ◽

World Bank ◽

Business Executives ◽

Agricultural Revolution ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

The United Nations

At the fourth Cambridge conference on development problems, the role of industry was discussed by ministers, senior officials, economic advisers, and business executives, from 22 African, Asian, and Caribbean countries, the United Nations, and the World Bank. Have some, if not all, of Africa's new nations now reached the stage when it would pay them to put their biggest bets on quick industrialisation? Or must they go on putting most of their money and brains into bringing about an agricultural revolution first, before striving for industrial take-off? These questions started the conference off on one of its big themes.

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