scholarly journals Foreword by the Director-General of the WTO

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-3
Author(s):  
Mike Moore
Keyword(s):  
World Trade ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Director General ◽  
Trade Restrictions ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
International Economic Cooperation

Trade policy used to be a rather simple matter of defining conditions of access to markets at the border. Little more was needed than rules defining non-discriminatory tariff levels, circumscribing the use of quantitative trade restrictions, and protecting the conditions of market access through the principle of national treatment. But the very success of these simple rules in creating the conditions for successive bouts of market-opening negotiations bred the complex and multi-faceted institution that is the World Trade Organization of today. As tariffs tumbled, all manner of other policies became crucial for continuing market integration. The rules had to follow the reality. It is a brave person now who claims more than a passing familiarity with each and every aspect of the WTO Agreements.In this fascinating labyrinth of what passes for policy relating to trade, it is unconvincing to argue that there is ever enough research and analysis. There will always be more that needs to be explored and better understood. Every effort to illuminate, to clarify, and to explain the trading system must surely be welcome. But if we are to advance our understanding of what makes sense and what does not, and contribute effectively to international economic cooperation, the quality and integrity of analysis is vital. This has become more especially true in recent years as dozens of developing countries facing formidable development challenges seek progress through meaningful participation in the world trading system. One of the great strengths of the WTO is its commitment to universality. If we are to give meaning to this vision and foster confidence in the fairness of the system, we must ensure its proper design on solid conceptual foundations.I am proud to associate the WTO Secretariat with the birth of the World Trade Review. The journal is committed to promoting high-quality policy analysis and welcomes contributions from a wide range of disciplines and cross-section of contributors. This is not an in-house journal devoted to selling pre-conceived ideas. Its mission is to promote informed and honest debate and to deepen understanding. The journal's editorial independence is central to these objectives. I wish the Editor and the members of the Editorial Board of the World Trade Review well in this important endeavour.

scholarly journals WTO REFORM: BACKGROUND, CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS

2016 ◽  
pp. 239-248
Author(s):  
T. M. Isachenko
Keyword(s):  
World Trade ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Innovative Development ◽  
International Division ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Multilateral Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Main Regulator ◽  
The Multilateral Trading System

Maximizing the benefits of international division of labor and sharing the achievements of innovative development is possible only with the existence of a strict system of rules and regulations. Such system would enable fair regulation of international trade, ensure the transparency of market access and make it possible to challenge discriminatory measures, as well as to maintain certain measures to protect the interests of domestic producers. The creation of the multilateral trading system has started with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and was subsequently developed in the documents and codes, the decisions of the negotiating rounds. Since 1995, a set of rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) became the basis of the multilateral trading system. All rules are worked out at the multilateral level. However, in recent years the negotiations within the WTO has slowed down, that affected the quality and speed of decision-making on key issues of global development. That provokes the discussion it on a certain crisis of the WTO as the main regulator of world trade, and therefore the need to provide both institutional and substantive reforms.

Policy Externalities and High-Tech Rivalry: Competition and Multilateral Cooperation Beyond the WTO

1996 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard M. Hoekman ◽  
Petros C. Mavroidis
Keyword(s):  
World Trade ◽  
Market Access ◽  
High Technology ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Multilateral Cooperation ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Multilateral Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right

Governments have increasingly been giving attention to the need for, and prospects of, ensuring contestability of markets through international agreements. This paper explores what has been achieved so far in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and what might be done to further enhance the ‘competition-friendliness’ of the multilateral trading system. The case of high-technology industrial rivalry is used for concreteness. High-tech is interesting because it cuts across many of the issues that are relevant from a systemic perspective, both ‘old’ (market access) and ‘new’ (investment, antitrust). We conclude that greater contestability of regulatory regimes in domestic legal orders may be beneficial. This can be pursued by giving private parties the right to contest actions of WTO member states before national courts.

The Reasoning Structure in Legal Disputes on the International Trade of Biotechnology: From a Judicial Balance by Chance to a Judicial Balance by Design

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Alessandra GUIDA
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Technology Innovation ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Trade Restrictions ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
The World ◽  
National Economies ◽  
Biotech Products

The international trade in biotech products boosts national economies and advances scientific as well as technology innovation. However, while trading these products increases the spread of benefits on a global scale, it also increases risks to human health and the environment (ie biosafety). This is because the effects of this technology on biosafety are still highly uncertain. Against this background, the judicial bodies under the World Trade Organization (WTO) find themselves in the middle of an intricate and polarised debate in which a proper judicial balance between free trade and biosafety becomes fundamental in order to determine whether requests for ensuring human and environmental health justify trade restrictions. This paper aims to highlight that the WTO is institutionally unready for balancing economic and non-economic values. In suggesting how to rationalise the judicial balance between the competing interests in the context of biotechnology, this paper demonstrates that the judicial adoption of a well-structured proportionality analysis can turn the current balance by chance into a balance by structure.

scholarly journals Will International Rules on Subsidies Disrupt the World Trading System?

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 877-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Bagwell ◽  
Robert W Staiger
Keyword(s):  
Market Access ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Domestic Production ◽  
Multilateral Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trading System ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Multilateral Trading System

We provide a first formal analysis of the international rules that govern the use of subsidies to domestic production. Our analysis highlights the impact of the new subsidy disciplines that were added to GATT rules with the creation of the WTO. While GATT subsidy rules were typically viewed as weak and inadequate, our results suggest that the key changes introduced by the WTO subsidy rules may ultimately do more harm than good to the multilateral trading system by undermining the ability of tariff negotiations to serve as the mechanism for expanding market access to more efficient levels.

scholarly journals The International Legal Regime for Biotechnology Patenting: an Appraisal from the Standpoint of Developing Countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-325
Author(s):  
Jean-Faustin Badimboli Atibasay
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
The Core ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Biological Innovations ◽  
Ipr Protection

The development of biotechnology, which promises many economic opportunities, has revived the debate over the ownership of biological resources and its derivatives, as well as the sharing of the benefits which derive from its multiple applications. At the core of the debate, is the recent marriage between intellectual property rights (IPR) and international trade, within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this context, the need of developed countries to prevent trade distortions due to the lack of adequate IPR protection in developing countries, is weighed against the need to promote local interests in these countries. However, the legal impact of recent multilateral agreements, which address biological innovations, is still subject to controversy. An assessment of these instruments reveals divergent approaches to the issues which divide the parties concerned. This results in ambiguities and conflicts with respect to relevant provisions of these agreements. From a wide range of possible solutions discussed, industrial and developing countries might consider to review the disputed provisions in a way that attempts to harmonise the agreements and render legal implications of their respective initiatives in this area more predictable.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 315-322
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Irwin
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trading System ◽  
And Function ◽  
Open Markets ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Role And Function

This chapter concludes that international trade and trade policies are frequently the object of condemnation rather than approbation. It explains how the condemnation are often the result of misconceptions about the benefits of international trade, the impact of trade policies, and the role and function of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Though the last few decades have been marked by a general reduction in trade barriers, the matter is not settled because the pressures to weaken the commitment to open markets never abate. The chapter emphasizes on difficult policy choices at the intersection of trade policy and climate change that could hold key battles over the world trading system in coming years. It also highlights the several benefits of world trade and the contribution of trade to the welfare and prosperity of billions of people around the world.

Exploring the Meaning of Trade-Restrictiveness in the WTO

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
TANIA VOON
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
The World ◽  
General Exceptions ◽  
Domestic Products

AbstractTrade-restrictiveness is a familiar concept across various provisions and agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO), but its precise meaning remains vague. In many WTO disputes, the existence or degree of trade-restrictiveness of a challenged measure is simply assumed or addressed in a few brief sentences. Yet whether a measure is more trade-restrictive than necessary, or more trade-restrictive than a proposed alternative measure, is crucial to the legality of a range of measures currently in place around the world, some under challenge in the WTO. A careful analysis of the existing case law and treaty text – focusing on Article 2.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the general exceptions in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the General Agreement on Trade in Services – demonstrates that while the existence of discrimination is likely to restrict trade, discrimination is not necessary to establish trade-restrictiveness, which also necessarily arises from direct barriers to market access such as import bans. In the absence of an explicit barrier to imports, a WTO panel is likely to focus on the extent to which a challenged measure negatively affects the competitive opportunities of imported products vis-à-vis domestic products.

Prospects for global trade in 2020-24

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World Trade ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Global Trade ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
China Trade ◽  
The Us ◽  
Multilateral Trading System ◽  
The World

Subject Prospects for global trade in 2020-24. Significance US-China competition and a ‘populist backlash’ against trade in advanced nations are intensifying fears that the world is entering de-globalisation. World trade volumes are expected to grow modestly in 2019 and 2020, while the US-China trade conflict roils the multilateral trading system and global value chains, harming investment and job creation.

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