We look at the effect of the WTO on stabilizing international trade using both a fixed-effects and an event study approach. Our results show that WTO members experience lower trade volatilties in a predictable and integrated system. In addition, we focus on the trade volatility comovement among countries in a multilateral framework. Previous research has mainly focused on WTO membership in a bilateral

This article analyses economic and legal issues in the WTO dispute between Morocco and Turkey over hot-rolled steel. Over 2013–2014, the Moroccan government conducted an antidumping investigation against two Turkish steel producers. Morocco's investigation concluded that Turkish dumping was retarding the establishment of a new domestic industry; antidumping duties were imposed against both Turkish

After eight years of effort, the 15 Asian members involved in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) met in a virtual ceremony to sign the final document on Sunday, 15 November 2020. The final deal matches the original objective – to knit the region together and allow firms to build supply chains across the region to deliver goods, services, and investment to Asian markets more seamlessly

In 2004, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan signed the Agadir Agreement (AA), a free trade agreement with intention of encouraging closer cooperation in trade. The AA came into force in 2007 and relies on the EU's rules of origin. Contrary to existing explanations, which suggest that the little impact of the AA on intraregional trade is a result of the local political elites in the agreement and of

The ‘new NAFTA’ agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the United States maintained the system for binational panel judicial review of antidumping and countervailing duty determinations of domestic government agencies. In US–Mexico disputes, this hybrid system brings together Spanish and English-speaking lawyers from the civil and the common law to solve legal disputes applying domestic law. These panels

This article introduces a novel database on investment treaties called the Electronic Database of Investment Treaties (EDIT). We describe the genesis of the database and what makes EDIT the most comprehensive and systematic database to date. What stands out besides the coverage is that treaties are all provided in one single language (English) and in one single format that is machine-readable. In the

Recently, a group of eminent Chinese/US economists and legal scholars issued a thought-provoking Joint Statement on ‘US–China Trade Relations: A Way Forward’. However, the Joint Statement does not provide practical solutions to the real issues in the bilateral negotiations. Moreover, by granting excessive policy space to the two largest trading nations, it would encourage them to further deviate from

Oil prices fell from around $US110 per barrel in 2014 to less than $US50 per barrel at the start of 2017. This put enormous pressure on government budgets within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The focus of GCC economic policies quickly shifted to fiscal reform, including the removal of domestic subsidies on energy products. In this paper we use a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE)

This compliance proceeding under Article 21.5 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) concerned measures adopted by the United States to comply with the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) recommendations and rulings in US–Large Civil Aircraft (2nd Complaint). The types of measures at issue that were found to have caused adverse effects to the European Union (EU, formerly European Communities) in the

In order for one Member to implement trade remedies against another, it must be satisfied that the harm to its domestic industry was the result of imports, rather than some other factor(s). In order for a Member to be satisfied in this way, it must perform both: (1) a causal link analysis, and (2) a non-attribution analysis. In interpreting the relevant provisions concerned with the causal link and

This Addendum contains Annexes A to C to the Report of the Appellate Body circulated as document WT/DS499/AB/R. The Notices of Appeal and Other Appeal and the executive summaries of written submissions contained in this Addendum are attached as they were received from the participants and third participants. The content has not been revised or edited by the Appellate Body, except that paragraph and

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been a huge success and brought a great number of benefits to the whole world. With different kinds of incentives, SEZs have created favorable conditions in order to attract foreign investors. In this article, several specific issues are considered. First, whether SEZs are legal under international economic law (IEL). Second, what kind of specific issues they raise

Technical Barriers to Trade are on the rise at a time when the ghost of protectionism looms large across the world economy. They are allegedly trade restrictive and some of them are more burdensome than others, particularly to foreign suppliers. The leading question of this study is who embraces technical barriers to trade better than others and why. This study examines how different countries have

We critically assess the Appellate Body (AB) report on the Brazil–Taxation dispute, taken to the World Trade Organisation by the European Union and Japan, and encompassing seven different Brazilian industrial programmes granting tax benefits to different firms and products. The trigger of the dispute was most likely the automotive sector programme, instituted under pressure from the local industry

In July 2014, Indonesia implemented a safeguard tariff on galvalume, a type of galvanized flat-rolled steel. Chinese Taipei and Viet Nam challenged the measure, mainly claiming that Indonesia’s administering authority failed to satisfy various substantive and procedural requirements of the GATT 1994 and the Safeguards Agreement. The Panel and AB found that the tariff was not a safeguard measure but

The lengthy and long-awaited WTO Panel Reports in Australia–Tobacco Plain Packaging contain a host of material for reflection, particularly in relation to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. While two of the Panel Reports proceed to appeal, we consider with respect to the two adopted Panel Reports the Panel's

This paper presents a legal-economic analysis of key aspects of the WTO Panel Report involving a challenge by Indonesia against the anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed by the US on certain coated paper from Indonesia. We focus on the findings in this case relevant to the determination of a ‘benefit’ to the recipient, a core requirement to establish the existence and extent of a subsidy.

Subsequent to the 2016 modifications, concerning the strengthening of the administrative requirements on dolphin-safety outside the ETP fishery zone, the US Dolphin-Safe labelling scheme has finally been considered compatible with the multilateral trade system by the second WTO compliance proceedings. In the present work, we provide an overview of the long running US-Mexico dispute, and assess the

This article reviews the Appellate Body decision in the implementation phase of the EC–Aircraft dispute. Focusing on some of the key findings, we assess whether they are legally and economically correct. We conclude that (a) though still unclear, the test for establishing de facto contingency on import substitution subsidies is probably too demanding; (b) though legitimate, the interpretation of the

EU–Biodiesel (Indonesia) is the latest in two lines of cases. On the one hand, the case offers yet another example of the Dispute Settlement Body striking down creative interpretations of antidumping rules by developed countries. Applying the Appellate Body's decision in EU–Biodiesel (Argentina) , the panel found that the EU could not use antidumping duties to counteract the effects of Indonesia's

The rise and proliferation of private standards have been recognized in international trade law, and various concerns have been raised. Existing literature analyses how the World Trade Organization (WTO), particularly the SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) Committee and the TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) Committee, have responded (or cannot respond) to the proliferation of private standards. This

The WTO is exposed to significant political risks deriving from both the abusive employment of the national security argument, as well as the use of the WTO dispute settlement system to address this problem. This article explores the implications of the first WTO panel decision, adopted in April 2019, in which the argument of ‘essential security interests’ was employed to justify trade restrictions

For a multilateral system to be sustainable, it is important to have several escape clauses which can allow countries to protect their national security concerns. However, when these escape windows are too wide or ambiguous, defining their ambit and scope becomes challenging yet crucial to ensure that they are not open to misuse. The recent Panel Ruling in Russia – Measures Concerning Traffic in

The article analyzes how Brazil has become an increasingly active voice for liberalization within global spheres of agricultural governance. With the focus on domestic institutional developments, we identify the gradual materialization of an agro-export policy network consisting of public and private actors. We conduct a periodization of the overarching phases of the policy network's development, from

The renegotiation of what US President Trump called ‘the worst trade deal ever’ has resulted in the most detailed environmental chapter in any trade agreement in history. The USMCA mentions dozens of environmental issues that its predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), overlooked, and in line with contemporary US practice, brings the vast majority of environmental provisions into

The WTO concluded in 2012 that subsidized aeronautical research and development (R&D) gave Boeing a head start in product development that caused serious prejudice to the interests of Airbus but later, in 2019, it could not decide how long that head start had lasted. Meanwhile, the WTO concluded in 2018 that launch aid for Airbus aircraft led to innovations that also improved later aircraft models

This article discusses the decision of the Panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the EU–Energy Package dispute between the Russian Federation and the European Union (EU) and certain of its Members. This decision is an important milestone in the history of the WTO. First, it presents a good example of how international economic disputes concerning politically sensitive matters, such as energy

This article deals with a challenge in drafting regional trade agreements (RTAs) in services that has been widely ignored to date: the need to comply with, and ensure consistent use of, GATS-based framework provisions. This includes in particular the requirement for the RTA parties to eliminate substantially all discrimination between their services and service suppliers. Yet the criteria that are

This article examines the effectiveness of the framework for the resolution of intra-African cross-border commercial disputes, arising from the projected increase in intra-African trade in goods, services, and investments under the African Continental Free Trade Area. It examines the peculiar nature of intra-African trade and of the participating entities to provide the context to discuss the three

The dispute concerns a variety of Korean measures imposed in relation to food imports from Japan following its nuclear accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant on 11 March 2011. Korea imposed import bans and additional testing and certification requirements in relation to a broad range of fish and non-fishery products from Japan to ensure food safety arising from the possible presence of

On 11 October 2017, an ad hoc tribunal seated in Geneva and chaired by Professor Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, with co-arbitrators Gary Born (Claimants' appointee, dissenting) and Judge Peter Tomka (Respondent's appointee), issued its award in Jurgen Wirtgen & others v. The Czech Republic (the Award). The Tribunal dismissed the Claimants' claims in full and ordered the Parties to bear their own legal

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of trade barriers and cultural distance on the domestic market share in the film industry. We analyze panel data with both two-stage least squares and instrumental-variable methods. These methods can separate the effects of time-invariant measures of trade barriers and cultural difference from country-specific effects. This improvement in the

Measures restricting data flows outside one's borders, including mandatory data/server localization measures, are not only a barrier to trade, but also largely ineffective in achieving better internet security or trust. Nevertheless, governments deploy such measures, primarily on grounds of cybersecurity and privacy, potentially violating their obligations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services

This paper analyzes the dispute Indonesia – Measures concerning the importation of chicken meat and chicken products from a legal-economic perspective. We evaluate alternative explanations for the motive behind Indonesia´s import restrictions and conclude that they can be linked to protectionist political-economic motives and are most likely due to a self-sufficiency objective and the legal requirements

As global data flows and digital technologies transform international trade, governments and regulators have to determine how to benefit from these developments while maintaining the integrity of their domestic regulations. Currently, governments are increasingly restricting global data flows and requiring data localization, undermining the economic benefits of digital trade. To address this trend

The EU—Fatty Alcohols decision of the Appellate Body addressed an important issue of the scope of permissible adjustments under Article 2.4 of the Agreement on Interpretation of Article VI of the GATT 1994, focusing on the “mark-up” paid by an Indonesian exporter to a related company as a difference affecting price comparability between the export price and the normal value. The Appellate Body confirmed

Article 6 of the SPS Agreement presents a series of interlinked obligations for importing and exporting countries of diseased agricultural products. The Russia – Pigs dispute raises the question of when an importing country is justified in imposing a ban on products from exporting countries unaffected by the disease, on the basis of the fact that the country is part of the same customs union as another

This article introduces a new dataset on the intellectual property (IP) provisions included in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and makes it available for research and policy communities alike. Several PTAs include IP commitments that go well beyond the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). A sound knowledge of these TRIPs-plus commitments is essential in order

Technology is transforming global trade. The global trading system, however, has struggled to keep up with changes in technology. One of the major challenges for the trading system is that the issues raised by digitally enabled commerce are largely regulatory in nature. The issues that are at the forefront of digital trade increasingly relate to citizens’ most fundamental interactions, including

This paper poses a hypothetical WTO challenge to the Passenger Name Records (PNR) Transfer Agreements the European Union has signed with the United States (as well as Australia and Canada). The focus will be on a possible citation of GATS Article XIV National Security Exception by the EU, and the viability of such a defense. Because of the absence of case law, this paper will also attempt to synthesize

International trade law, organized around the goods-services dichotomy, is about to meet the Internet of Things (IoT). How will rules written for the world of 1994 fare in a world of talking teapots and connected cars? IoT will especially raise governmental concerns with respect to privacy, security, and standards. Indeed, governments have already begun taking adverse measures against foreign IoT suppliers

This paper examines two disputes brought by the United States and New Zealand in response to a series of import sanctions for agricultural products imposed by the Indonesian government to promote food self-sufficiency. We document the heterogeneous effect the sanctioning measures had on Indonesia's partners. We argue that Indonesia's import licensing regimes acted as a high, sometimes prohibitive,

This article analyses the most recent WTO Appellate Body (AB) report in a series of disputes between the U.S. and the EU over government support to aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. The measures under dispute in US – Tax Incentives were investment promotion subsidies provided to Boeing by the State of Washington. The EU contended that the Washington State subsidies, which were conditioned on

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every ambitious twenty-first century trade agreement is in want of a chapter on electronic commerce. One of the most politically sensitive and technically challenging issues is personal privacy, including cross-border transfer of information by electronic means, use and location of computing facilities, and personal information protection. States are learning

The case law on non-precluded measures clauses, when they are successful, and the customary rule of necessity, when it fails, transfers significant risks to foreign investors and host States, respectively, during severe economic crises. Some risk-sharing mechanisms should be explored to achieve a more balanced result. This article presents the policy reasons in support of this approach and its normative

This paper analyzes the impact of the presence of foreign missions on trade using Turkey's unique expansion in its foreign embassy network (39 new embassies in 8 years) as the source of variation in a panel data setting. A majority of the existing empirical studies use cross-sectional bilateral trade data due to lack of variation over time (Rose, 2007; Moons and Bergeijk, 2013). Employing a panel data

This text presents the first systematic quantitative descriptive and explanatory account of World Trade Organization (WTO) member states’ compliance with their one-time and regular notification obligations. The system of around 170 notifications, through which states are obliged to provide to the WTO relevant information on their policies, constitutes a key mechanism of transparency in the global

The e-commerce chapters in South Korea's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) cover a wide range of issues, ranging from non-discrimination to electronic signatures. Across the agreements, the country's provisions on consumer protection, paperless trading, and data protection are uniquely consistent, while those on other issues are not. With the aid of a framework (Framer v. Follower) that captures the dynamics

This Article attempts to explore the challenges in situating a multilateral digital trade agreement within the legal framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Section 1 of the article discusses the broad challenges that digitization poses for the international legal framework for trade regulation. I argue first that the traditional classification of products into goods and services under the

We use a political economy perspective to provide the first empirical analysis of the main political and economic determinants of asynchronous approval (AA) for a variety of countries over the period 2000–2015. The key results that emerge from our paper are the prominent role of regulatory quality and the number of internet users in a particular country in influencing AA across countries. We found

We examine the impacts of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) on government procurement practices in the European Union (EU). We empirically analyse whether the WTO GPA is effective in promoting nondiscriminant, open, transparent, competitive, and efficient government procurement. To study this question, we use a unique data set recently released by the EU, covering

This dispute relates to the compliance proceedings in which the panel and the Appellate Body found that that European Union (EU) and certain of the member States acted inconsistently with their obligations under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement). The types of measures at issue in the original panel proceedings include the Launch Aid/Member State Financing (LA/MSF)

The dispute relates to anti-dumping duties imposed by Russia on certain light commercial vehicles (LCVs) from Germany and Italy. These anti-dumping duties were applied pursuant to Decision No. 113 of 14 May 2013 of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), including the relevant annexes, notices, and reports of the Department for Internal Market Defence of the EEC (DIMD).

This dispute concerns countervailing measures imposed by the European Union (EU) on imports of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) from Pakistan. Pakistan has a ‘duty drawback scheme’ by which it remits import duties on input materials consumed in the production of a product that is subsequently exported. The European Commission considered that all duties remitted to a Pakistani PET producer and exporter

The last decade has seen a proliferation of measures requiring data to be stored within national borders. Such restrictions, known as ‘data localization measures’, disrupt digital trade and run counter to the borderless reality of the internet. But the effectiveness of existing WTO rules to adequately discipline data localization measures remains inconclusive. In the absence of meaningful progress

Labour standards provisions within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are presented as a key element of the EU's commitment to a ‘value-based trade agenda’. But criticism of TSD chapters has led the European Commission to commit to improving their implementation and enforcement, creating a critical juncture in the evolution of the EU's trade–labour

In 2016, the US objected to the reappointment of a member of the WTO Appellate Body, ‘accusing’ him inter alia of having participated in a decision where the Appellate Body had indulged in unnecessary analysis in the nature of obiter dicta. Henry Gao has used the occasion to investigate, with a fresh approach, the very concept of obiter dicta in international jurisprudence.

WTO rules prohibit Free Trade Areas (FTAs) that provide tariff-free access or services liberalization in only one or a few sectors. In this sense, a narrow, sectoral approach to concluding an FTA between the EU and the UK would contravene WTO law. However, assuming the EU and the UK were able to agree a substantially broad tariff-free FTA, WTO rules would not prevent them from moving further to maintain

Preferential trade agreements are an important feature of the global trade system. Several questions, ranging from the rationale for preferential arrangements to their impact on members, non-members and the broader multilateral trade system, are at the forefront of academic and policy debates in trade policy. This paper presents a new database that offers a detailed assessment of the content of preferential