scholarly journals The WTO Seal Products Case: Doctrinal and Normative Confusion

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 323-327
Author(s):  
Joel Trachtman
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Uruguay Round ◽  
Technical Barriers To Trade ◽  
National Treatment ◽  
The World ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
Domestic Regulation

The negotiators and drafters of the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization(WTO), which includes the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947(GATT) and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade(TBT), as well as other subagreements dealing with domestic regulation, such as the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures(SPS), did not do a great job of doctrinal integration among the different documents that comprise the WTO Agreement. To be fair, at the end of the Uruguay Round, the hour was late and they may have felt that the basic ideas were sufficiently clear that it could all be sorted out in litigation. But in several contexts, including within the original GATT, the text of which dates from 1947, they covered the same ground in multiple places, without stating clearly how the different norms relate to one another,and without articulating plausible reasons for different treatment. For example, why is different language used for national treatment in three different places within Article III of GATT, and why is that language different from the language that appearsto have the same purpose in the TBT Agreement or in the SPS Agreement?

Global Public Policy and the World Trade Organization after Shrimp/Turtle and Asbestos

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 253-352
Author(s):  
Maureen Irish
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Technical Barriers To Trade ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
The World ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures ◽  
Global Public Policy

SummaryRecent decisions of the Appellate Body of the WTO deal with the interpretation of GATT Article XX, which provides exemptions from trade obligations for important non-trade policies such as the protection of health and the environment. The article discusses those decisions, as well as the balance between trade and non-trade interests in the provisions of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

scholarly journals Troubled Relationships under the GATS: Tensions between Market Access (Article XVI), National Treatment (Article XVII), and Domestic Regulation (Article VI)

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
GILLES MULLER
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Trade In Services ◽  
National Treatment ◽  
Delicate Balance ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right ◽  
Domestic Regulation

AbstractThe General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) was adopted in order to establish meaningful liberalization rules, while preserving the right of Members to regulate. To that end, three provisions form the centerpiece of liberalization: market access (Article XVI GATS), national treatment (Article XVII GATS), and domestic regulation (Article VI GATS). Although these provisions contain different obligations, in certain conditions they can overlap. How this issue is resolved could undermine the delicate balance between liberalization and the right to regulate. As the GATS provides no guidance, the task of determining the applicable rules has been delegated to the World Trade Organization (WTO) adjudicating bodies. This paper examines how the three provisions have been interpreted, and analyzes the most applicable way to address the diversity of barriers to trade in services.

The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement of the World Trade Organization: Debunking Its Reliance on Scientific Evidence and Reluctance to Endorse Potential Biotechnology Risks

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Muhammad ISLAM
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
The World ◽  
Precautionary Measures ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures ◽  
Biotech Products

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) relies on scientific evidence as a conclusive risk assessment criterion, which ignores the inherent limitations of science. This article highlights certain trade-restrictive effects of scientific evidence and comments on the Agreement’s aversions to precautionary measures and the consumer concern of the harmful effects of biotech products that may be necessary to protect public health and biosecurity in many WTO Member States. These measures and concerns have become pressing issues due to surging consumer awareness and vigilance concerning environmental protection and food safety. The Agreement is yet to overcome the weaknesses of its endorsed international standardising bodies, the problematic definition of scientific evidence and treatment of justification for scientific risk assessment methods and the implementation difficulties faced by most developing states. This article analyses these issues under the provisions of the Agreement and the interpretations of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in disputes involving SPS matters, which fall short of addressing scientific uncertainty surrounding biotech products and their associated risks.

scholarly journals Globalization and Northeast Agriculture: Implications of the Upcoming Round of World Trade Negotiations

1999 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Blandford
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Uruguay Round ◽  
Agricultural Trade ◽  
Trade Negotiations ◽  
Northeastern United States ◽  
The World ◽  
Significant Step ◽  
Agreement On Agriculture

The signing of the Uruguay Round agreement on agriculture (URAA) in 1994 was a significant step towards the liberalization of world agricultural trade. A new round of negotiations on agriculture is scheduled to begin under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the end of 1999. This paper discusses the likely agenda of those negotiations and their implications for agriculture in the northeastern United States.

scholarly journals Measures with Multiple Purposes: Puzzles from EC—Seal Products

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 315-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald H. Regan
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Technical Barriers To Trade ◽  
Multiple Goals ◽  
Technical Regulation ◽  
Alternative Analysis ◽  
First Case ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Dispute System

European Communities—Measures Prohibiting the Importation and Marketing of Seal Products is the first case in which the dispute system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has wrestled with a regulation that pursued mul-tiple conflicting, legitimate purposes. (I will explain later why Brazil—Retreaded Tyres is not such a case.) This generates puzzles about applying the definition of a “technical regulation” to complex measures; about whether an exception to a ban can be justified by a purpose different from that of the ban; and about how to apply “less restrictive alternative” analysis to measures with multiple goals. The first of these puzzles is unique to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT); the second and third concern the TBT, the General Agree-ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and probably other agreements.

scholarly journals A rodada do uruguai e o meio ambiente: o florescimento da tutela jurídica ambiental no sistema multilateral de comércio / The Uruguay Round and the Environment: the blooming of the environmental protection in the multilateral trading system

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Arno Dal Ri Júnior ◽  
Mariana Clara De Andrade
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Uruguay Round ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Trading System ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Multilateral Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
The Multilateral Trading System

 ResumoO presente artigo aborda as negociações internacionais relativas à tutela ambiental no sistema multilateral de comércio no período que compreende o fim da Rodada de Tóquio (1979) até o fim da Rodada do Uruguai (1994) e a instituição da Organização Mundial do Comércio. Para tanto, analisa-se brevemente as mudanças surgidas no cenário do Direito Internacional Ambiental no ínterim situado entre as duas rodadas referidas para que se contextualize os impactos dos eventos ocorridos no período, particularmente com os adventos da Conferência de Estocolmo (1972) e a Rio-92 (1992). A partir disso, são analisados documentos das negociações do grupo GATT relevantes a questões ambientais, com o objetivo de se verificar o desenvolvimento institucional e normativo ocorrido durante o período citado, com enfoque particular na Rodada do Uruguai. Verifica-se a forte influência dos acontecimentos entre as décadas de 1970 e 1990 no cenário internacional e, particularmente, no sistema multilateral de comércio, culminando com a inclusão da preocupação com o desenvolvimento sustentável no preâmbulo do Acordo Constitutivo da OMC, em 1994.Palavras-chaveGATT; Rodada do Uruguai; Meio Ambiente; Sistema Multilateral de Comércio; Direito Internacional Ambiental. AbstractThe present article studies the international negotiations related to the environmental protection in the multilateral trading system, in the period comprised from the end of the Tokyo Round (1979) to the end of the Uruguay Round and the institution of the World Trade Organization (1994). In order to do so, it describes briefly the changes emerged in the context of International Environmental Law during the interim between the two rounds, so as to expose the impacts of the events that occurred in this period, especially those brought about by the advent of the Stockholm Conference (1972) and the Rio-92 (1992). Afterwards, this work analyses the documents concerning environmental matters produced in the negotiations of the GATT group in the period post-1972, with the aim of verifying the institutional and legal development of the system during the aforementioned interlude, with particular attention to the Uruguay Round. From this perspective, it can be observed the strong influence of the events that took place from 1970 to 1990 in the international scenario and, particularly, in the multilateral trading system, culminating with the assertion of the concern with sustainable development in the Preamble of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, in 1994. KeywordsGATT; Uruguay Round; Environment; Multilateral Trading System; International Environmental Law.

scholarly journals A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE PLANT HEALTH (PHYTOSANITARY) BILL’S COMPLIANCE WITH THE SALIENT ASPECTS OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO) AGREEMENT ON THE APPLICATION OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES

Obiter ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Vinti
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Competent Authority ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Plant Health ◽  
Phytosanitary Measure ◽  
The World ◽  
Scientific Principles ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures ◽  
Definition Of

This paper juxtaposes the long-mooted Plant Health (Phytosanitary) Bill with its corollary, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). Firstly, this paper finds that the Bill creates an ambiguity by including in the definition of “phytosanitary measures”, those “measures, regulations or procedures that limit the economic impact of regulated non-quarantine pests”, without any guidance on the relevant factors to be considered in this regard. Secondly, it is found that the Bill explicitly establishes the requirement that the new phytosanitary regime is based on “scientific principles”. Thirdly, the paper argues that the Bill also establishes the general rule that makes “sufficient science” the basis of any phytosanitary measure in conformity with South Africa’s core obligations under the SPS. Fourthly, this paper finds that the Bill contravenes Article 5.7 of the SPS in that it provides for the implementation of the so-called “emergency and provisional measures” by the competent authority as an exception to the “sufficient science” rule, without any of the necessary safeguards created by Article 5.7. Lastly, the paper finds that the Bill has unduly shifted the primary burden of preventing the entry and establishment of a pest, from the competent authority to the “user of land”.

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