scholarly journals An assessment of trade policies related to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Rosane Nunes de Faria ◽  
Laura Mercedes Grimaldo Hidalgo ◽  
Leonardo Ferraz

Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, international trade was particularly important to guarantee the supply of medical and other goods. This article analyses COVID-19 trade-related policies found in the World Trade Organization (WTO) system from February to October 2020. We used the Database of WTO members’ notifications on COVID-19, including information on 198 notifications. It allows us to observe the trend of notifications, countries and products most affected, types of measures, and the adherence to the WTO’s guidelines. Our findings show two waves of notifications. In the first wave, countries acted unilaterally with little regard to multilateral tools. However, in the second wave, characterized by the predominance of trade-facilitating measures, a trend towards multilateral actions is observed through the establishment of “declarations”. Personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies were the most affected products, but agricultural and food products have also been heavily affected.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Alessandra GUIDA

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.


IKONOMIKA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-180
Author(s):  
Hamzah Hamzah ◽  
Devika Tryza Ayodahya ◽  
MD. Sharifu Haque

Trade activity is one of the drivers of development in a country in order to obtain national development. In the current era of globalization, trade activities opened among the countries have developed quite rapidly. Indonesia has acquired a spinning wheel in international trade activities. Indonesia is actively involved in several negotiations concerning international trade and actively supports the national development. By becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, Indonesia has carried out important export activities to all parts of the world. Indonesia itself has special rules regarding important goods, specifically about food ingredients. Indonesia stops importing chicken because of the absence of halal labeling on these food ingredients. Indonesia is a country which most of its citizens are Muslim. Food which is consumed for Indonesia Muslim people is not only about safe and healthy but also about halal . Due to this rule, Brazil suffered a quite big loss and filled a lawsuit to WTO. The purpose of this study was to analyze the Indonesian national law regarding halal certification and how to resolve the dispute between Brazil and Indonesia on the issue of importing chicken meat.Keywords: Consumer Protection, Halal Certificate, WTO.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-173
Author(s):  
Marsanto Adi Nurcahyo ◽  
Ario Seno Nugroho

The covid-19 pandemic has caused a global economic slowdown. Trade institutions and customs institutions provide facilities that are expected to encourage the economy not to fall into a sharp decline. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) as world organizations that regulate the movement of goods between countries have also issued instructions for their member countries to deal with this pandemic situation. This study aims to determine how the implementation of customs facilities and international trade during this pandemic. The research method used is a qualitative research method with descriptive techniques. The data used in this study are secondary data such as reports, research, and guidelines. The results of the study show that Indonesia has implemented customs facilities and international trade during this pandemic. This is following the guidelines published by the WTO and WCO, which are world organizations related to international trade. Programs carried out by Indonesia are also carried out by other countries which are good practices in international trade activities. The implication of this research is to recommend the customs institution to continue to increase cooperation with other border agencies in the form of coordinated border management..   Pandemi covid-19 telah membuat perlambatan ekonomi secara global. Institusi perdagangan dan institusi kepabeanan memberikan fasilitas yang tujuannya diharapkan dapat mendorong perekonomian tidak jatuh dalam penurunan yang tajam. World Trade Organization (WTO) dan World Customs Oganization (WCO) selaku organisasi dunia yang mengatur pergerakan barang antar negara juga telah mengeluarkan petunjuk bagi negara anggotanya untuk menghadapi situasi pandemi ini. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana implementasi fasilitas kepabeanan dan perdagangan internasional dalam masa pandemi ini. Metode penelitian yang dilakukan adalah metode penelitian kualitatif dengan teknik deskriptif. Data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah data sekunder seperti laporan, penelitian, dan buku petunjuk. Hasil dari penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Indonesia telah mengimplementasikan fasilitas kepabeanan dan perdagangan internasional selama masa pandemi ini. Hal tersebut sesuai dengan panduan yang diterbitkan oleh WTO dan WCO yang merupakan badan dunia terkait dengan perdagangan internasional. Program yang dilakukan Indonesia juga dilakukan oleh negara lain yang merupakan good practices pada kegiatan perdagangan internasional. Implikasi dari penelitian ini adalah merekomendasikan kepada institusi kepabeanan agar terus meningkatkan Kerjasama dengan badan perbatasan lainnya dalam bentuk coordinated border management.  


Author(s):  
Douglas A. Irwin

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-92
Author(s):  
Abdullelah Al Thobaity ◽  
Farhan Alshammari

COVID-19 has affected the life and health of more than 1 million people across the world. This overwhelms many countries’ healthcare systems, and, of course, affects healthcare providers such as nurses fighting on the frontlines to safeguard the lives of everyone affected. Exploring the issues that nurses face during their battle will help support them and develop protocols and plans to improve their preparedness. Thus, this integrative review will explore the issues facing nurses during their response to the COVID-19 crisis. The major issues facing nurses in this situation are the critical shortage of nurses, beds, and medical supplies, including personal protective equipment and, as reviews indicate, psychological changes and fears of infection among nursing staff. The implications of these findings might help to provide support and identify the needs of nurses in all affected countries to ensure that they can work and respond to this crisis with more confidence. Moreover, this will help enhance preparedness for pandemics and consider issues when drawing up crisis plans. The recommendation is to support the nurses, since they are a critical line of defense. Indeed, more research must be conducted in the field of pandemics regarding nursing.


Author(s):  
Carsten Herrmann-Pillath

Based on Rodrik’s diagnosis of a “globalization trilemma” in designing the institutions of international economic exchange, this chapter suggests a solution that applies Sen’s argument favoring realization-focused comparisons over transcendental institutionalism in evaluating institutions. In the paradigm of deliberative trade policy, this contribution approaches the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a regime of deliberation, reaching beyond the scope of interactions with civil society. This prepares the ground for normative principles of WTO reform that shift the emphasis from efficiency to justice, mainly in the procedural sense. The central operational criterion is the inclusiveness of international trade and trade policy. This is applied on the issues of multilateralism versus regionalism and the design of the dispute settlement process. A WTO renewed under the auspices of deliberative trade policy can meet the challenges of new trade policy issues such as coordination of regulatory regimes under the conditions of rapid and unpredictable technological change, and can resolve the tension between democracy and globalization as laid out in the globalization trilemma.


Wajah Hukum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Dony Yusra Pebrianto

The existence of trade liberalization are faced with the fact that competition in the trade of countries particularly in this export and import kian feels very rapidly. The existence of instruments of international law contained in the General Agreement on the set fee and Trade (GATT) becomes an important point in the conception of international trade arrangements for States parties who joined GATT in the World Trade Organization (WTO). So the principles inherent in the preparation of the concept of a national law for countries that have ratified GATT. Indonesia one of the countries that have ratified GATT would of course be bound by those principles, one of which is the principle of Most Favoured Nation tariff arrangements that implicates to import in Indonesia. So the protection of local commodities closed chances though limited to keep the continuity of the national production. 


Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lonias Ndlovu

This article argues that while South Africa’s International Trade Administration Amendment Bill and the attendant proposed regulations may generally be regarded as a positive legislative intervention, to a large extent, the new regulatory regime goes against the spirit, object and purport of the World Trade Organization (WTO) anti-dumping agreement and is even in conflict with South Africa’s International Trade Administration Act itself. In order to substantiate the above reservations, this article first outlines the basics of WTO dumping and anti-dumping law before proceeding to point out aspects of South Africa’s anti-dumping law and practicewhich incorporate WTO tenets. With the aid of selected WTO disputes and examples from comparative WTO member states, this article also comments on selected impugned changes likely to be introduced by the Bill and the new regulations and concludes that the proposed new law is unlikely to be WTO compliant. This conclusion is premised on the fact that South African dumping and anti-dumping law relating to confidentiality, the process of conducting investigations, termination of investigations based on de minimis margins and interested party hearings does not always mimic the legal position as espoused in the WTO anti-dumping agreementand interpreted in selected WTO disputes.


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