scholarly journals Foreign Subsidies, Distortions and Acquisitions

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-162
Author(s):  
Csongor István Nagy

The world trade system’s bedrock was laid more than seventy years ago and its architecture and structural principles were shaped by the societal paradigm of western democracies. The last two decades have seen the admission of various government-dominated economies to the WTO. This raised serious paradigmatic challenges. The system tailored to the needs and characteristics of western democracies proved to be inadequately equipped to frame government-dominated economies. This paper addresses one of these new challenges: government subsidies. First, it gives an overview of the status and treatment of product and service subsidies in WTO law and the gaps and shortcomings that result in the system’s failure to address trade-distortive state aids. Second, it examines the European Commission’s White Paper on Levelling the Playing Field as Regards Foreign Subsidies (“White Paper”), which ushers a comprehensive European response to the problems raised by subsidization in international trade. Third, the paper analyzes the WTO framework that governs and confines unilateral actions targeting foreign subsidies. Fourth, the paper makes a proposal for a complementary way to address the world trade system’s “subsidies problem”.

Author(s):  
Wu Chuang-Feng ◽  
Wu Chien-Huei

This chapter explores how to navigate health-related human rights in the trade and public health complex by tracing the intersection of international trade and public health and examining the role of international trade in global health law. An intrinsic tension exists between international trade, public health, and human rights in this globalizing world. Even though growing global interconnectedness has generated economic growth and information sharing, it is also characterized by threats—to access to medicine, commercialization of health care, and widening health inequality. Although this tension was well recognized in the development of the World Trade Organization, it has become much more complicated in recent decades. By addressing critical questions surrounding trade and public health, examining the transformation of risks into opportunities through global efforts, it will be possible to investigate possible venues to resolve trade and public health tensions in light of human rights.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Ruzita Mohd. Amin

The World Trade Organization (WTO), established on 1 January 1995 as a successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), has played an important role in promoting global free trade. The implementation of its agreements, however, has not been smooth and easy. In fact this has been particularly difficult for developing countries, since they are expected to be on a level playing field with the developed countries. After more than a decade of existence, it is worth looking at the WTO’s impact on developing countries, particularly Muslim countries. This paper focuses mainly on the performance of merchandise trade of Muslim countries after they joined the WTO. I first analyze their participation in world merchandise trade and highlight their trade characteristics in general. This is then followed by a short discussion on the implications of WTO agreements on Muslim countries and some recommendations on how to face this challenge.


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.


Author(s):  
Sherzod Shadikhodjaev

ABSTRACT Many governmental incentives unilaterally offered in special economic zones affect competition in international markets and thus fall within the scope of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. Until very recently, products made in such zones could face countervailing duty investigations abroad on a charge of improper subsidization. In 2019, the World Trade Organization issued its first ruling focusing on the legality of certain special economic zone subsidies. In particular, the panel in India—Export Related Measures found fiscal preferences under an Indian scheme to be prohibited export subsidies. This article examines the status of special economic zone incentives under the multilateral subsidy regime, discusses the relevant anti-subsidy practice, and identifies ‘risky’ and ‘safe’ types of support measures that constitute unilateralism of zones in promoting economic activities.


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.  


2021 ◽  
pp. 775-812
Author(s):  
Alan Boyle ◽  
Catherine Redgwell

This chapter looks at the relationship between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and international trade in terms of international environmental law. Twenty-five years after the WTO system came into operation it appears that neither trade law nor environmental law have trumped each other. Rather, there has been a process of accommodation which is still ongoing. The chapter ends by making some conclusions on the arguments presented in this book and the issues currently being faced. The current policy of encouraging free trade cannot always be made environmentally friendly and this will always be the case. The problem becomes clear if we consider climate change. Free trade and globalisation by nature exacerbates the difficulties of regulating environmental issues. In addition, one of the key problems with sustainable development as a concept is that there has been too much emphasis on development, and not nearly enough on sustainability, then a policy of promoting free trade is part of that problem.


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.


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.


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