International Trade Treaties Research Articles

Chinese Perspectives on the Rule of Law in International Economic Law

Abstract In the currently volatile global economic environment, China’s perspectives on the rule of law in international economic law are of significance. In principle, China shares developing countries’ attitudes towards international economic law. China also seeks to play a constructive role in the development of international economic law, endorsing a flexible and pragmatic approach. China has concluded international trade and investment treaties designed to constrain its policy space and is an active supporter of the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement and investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms, with a good record of compliance. Recent trade tensions demonstrate challenges for the international rule of law but also emphasise the role of law in overcoming political challenges.

Specific Postgraduate Programs and the Transfer of the Panama Canal

This research examines the relevance and context of postgraduate programs offered by the University of Panama, specifically focusing on the “Master’s Program in Maritime Industries with an Emphasis on Port Management, Multimodal Transportation, and Logistics” offered by the Institute of the Canal and International Studies. The study employs Guillermo Briones’ specific reference model and adapts the “Evaluation Guide for Postgraduate Programs” from the IberoAmerican University Postgraduate Association (AUIP). The analysis centers on three dimensions: Academic, linkage, and geographical-political. The results reveal a robust academic relationship between undergraduate and postgraduate programs, with high approval rates from coordinators (66.7%) and students (60%). Regarding linkage, the program demonstrates significant engagement with the business-productive sector, as 40% of respondents indicated. It also exhibits a favorable consideration of international trade rules, with 100% of coordinators affirming that program content incorporates international trade treaties. Furthermore, program graduates reported working in fields related to their education, with more definitive and positive responses than coordinators. This suggests a potential lack of data and ongoing connection between graduates and the institution that provided the program.

Основи методології економіки торговельної справи та товарознавства: зовнішньоекономічні фактори

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of foreign economic factors on the economics of trade and commodity science. The study is aimed at analyzing the role of foreign trade in the formation of economic processes in the modern globalized world. The publication examines in detail the main aspects of the relationship between foreign economic factors and the development of trade and commodity science. The significance of foreign trade as a key mechanism for stimulating economic growth and development is disclosed. The role of international trade agreements, treaties and cooperation in ensuring the stability of economic processes in the country is highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the study of the influence of foreign economic factors on commodity science. The impact of imports, exports and international production chains on the quality of goods, their competitiveness and consumer value is considered. The influence of international standards and requirements on the quality and safety of goods is studied. In the context of the growing importance of ecological issues, the influence of foreign economic factors on the environmental aspect of trade and commodity science is also considered. The impact of international ecological standards and restrictions on the production and circulation of goods is studied. As a sum, the publication highlights the deep connection between foreign economic factors and the economics of trade and commodity science. The need to take these factors into account in economic decision-making and policy-making in the globalized economic environment is emphasized. The results of the study can be used in the development of strategies for foreign economic activity and improvement of commodity science processes.

The Effect of Bilateral Labor Agreements on Trade

The period following the end of World War II is marked by increased international cooperation aimed, among other things, at promoting economic integration. As part of these efforts, national governments adopted policies to remove/reduce barriers to the exchange of goods and services as well as the movement of capital and labor. Although the impact of international trade and investment treaties on trade has been extensively documented, little to no attention has been paid to the potential impact of bilateral labor agreements (BLAs) on commerce flows. This study uses a novel dataset of BLAs within a gravity framework and finds that, over 5 years following signature, BLAs have a positive and significant effect on aggregate exports and exports of differentiated goods (i.e., chemicals and miscellaneous manufactured goods).

The Politics of Border Closure and Its Implications on the Nigerian Economy

The research establishes that land borders closure by the Nigerian government against other neighboring African countries due to smuggling and illegal business trades affecting the unstable economy of the country calls for a radical change which determines whether the closure of the land borders affected the growth and development of the Nigerian Economy, as it also determined measures to mitigate the challenges of smuggling in Nigeria. The study made use of data mainly obtained from secondary sources which were acquired from books, articles, journals, newspapers and other published materials. The study uncovers that the closure of the land borders had certain consequences which negates Nigeria’s international trade treaties and economy as certain African countries backfired against Nigeria due to the land border closure. Furthermore, the study observed that the Nigerian Economy is still faced with the problem of inflation as a result of high reliance on foreign and imported products, but since the land borders were closed, job opportunities were created and local industries have developed, thereby leading to increase in the production of locally-made goods which aids the growth and development of the Nigerian Economy. The study recommends that the Nigerian government should invest highly on local entrepreneurs and the Agricultural sector as this will encourage foreign and local investments aimed towards the progress of the Nigerian Economy.

Extension for contract performance under the CISG 1980 and implications for Vietnamese businesses

Being adopted in 1980 and getting effective from January 1, 1988, The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) has become one of the most widely accepted international trade treaties. Despite its validity in Vietnam since the beginning of 2017, the Convention is still applied in a very limited way by domestic businesses. In fact, there have been a lot of sophisticated legal issues in international trade, especially in cases the parties fail to promptly or properly perform their contractual obligations or even in case of non-performance. This article is aimed to study the provisions of additional time for late performance (Nachfrist) under CISG 1980 in comparison with Vietnamese laws, and current situation of extension for contract performance under CISG 1980. The research collected, summarized, compared and analyzed data from trustworthy sources and conducted the in-depth interviews with the experienced experts in commerce, law, and dispute settlement. The results point out some similarities and differences in establishing the additional time between Vietnamese legal documents and the Convention. Furthermore, it is also showed in this article that disputes related to the Nachfrist clause are quite common and tend to decrease, but only with the participation of mainly European countries and China. In terms of content of dispute cases, the rate of disputes arising from the Seller's breach of contract is much higher than that rate from the Buyer’s. Regarding methods of dispute settlement, China has nearly always chosen arbitration while European countries have given priority to the court. From the analysis, some implications for Vietnamese businesses in the application and interpretation CISG’s provisions of contract extension were represented as solutions to help businesses improve their legal knowledge and limit risks in international commercial activities.

Commentary

Commentary

МЕЖДУНАРОДНО-ПРАВОВЫЕ ОСНОВЫ ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЯ МЕХАНИЗМОВ РАЗРЕШЕНИЯ ТОРГОВЫХ СПОРОВ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ЕВРАЗИЙСКОГО ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО СОЮЗА

The article examines an international legal framework of the dispute resolution under free trade agree-ments. The existing mechanisms for resolving trade disputes are analyzed and their classification is given. The article demonstrates an evolutionary change of the approach of States to the formulation of provisions on dispute settlement in international trade treaties. Special attention is paid to the systems of dispute resolution under free trade agreements to which the Eurasian Economic Union is a party. The free trade agreements of the Eurasian Economic Union and its member States with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (2015), the Islamic Republic of Iran (2018), the Republic of Singapore (2019) and the Republic of Serbia (2019) are compared with respect to the dispute resolution mechanisms. The article focuses on such institutional aspects as the method of appointing arbitrators, the scope of interstate disputes and the competition of dispute resolution platforms. The effectiveness of the dispute resolution systems of the World Trade Organization and special-ized mechanisms under the free trade agreements of the Eurasian Economic Union and its member States is evaluated. The negative and positive aspects of the existing mechanisms under the free trade agreements of the Eurasian Economic Union and its member States are highlighted, and the ways of their development are proposed.

Neo-Hippocratic healthcare policies: professional or industrial healthcare delivery? A choice for doctors, patients, and their organisations

BackgroundEthical medical practice requires managing health services to promote professionalism and secure accessibility to care. Commercially financed and industrially managed services strain the physicians’ clinical autonomy and ethics because the industry’s profitability depends on commercial, clinical standardisation. Private insurance companies also reduce access to care whilst fragmenting and segmenting health systems. Against this background, given the powerful, symbolic significance of their common voice, physicians’ and patients’ organisations could effectively leverage together political parties and employers’ organisations to promote policies favouring access to professional care.Main textTo provide a foundation for negotiations between physicians’ and patients’ organisations, we propose policy principles derived from an analysis of rights-holders and duty-bearers’ stakes, i.e., patients, physicians and health professionals, and taxpayers. Their concerns are scrutinised from the standpoints of public health and right to health. Illustrated with post-WWII European policies, these principles are formulated as inputs for tentative action-research. The paper also identifies potential stumbling blocks for collective doctor/patient negotiations based on the authors’ personal experience.The patients’ concerns are care accessibility, quality, and price. Those of physicians and other professionals are problem-solving capacity, autonomy, intellectual progress, ethics, work environment, and revenue. The majority of taxpayers have an interest in taxes being progressive and public spending on health regressive. Mutual aid associations tend to under-estimate the physician’s role in delivering care. Physicians’ organisations often disregard the mission of financing care and its impact on healthcare quality.ConclusionThe proposed physicians-patients’ alliance could promote policies in tune with professional ethics, prevent European policies’ putting industrial concerns above suffering and death, bar care financing from the ambit of international trade treaties, and foster international cooperation policies consistent with the principles that inspire the design of healthcare policies at home and so reduce international migration. To be credible partners in this alliance, physicians’ associations should promote a public health culture amongst their members and a team culture in healthcare services. To promote a universal health system, patients’ organisations should strive to represent universal health interests rather than those of patients with specific diseases, ethnic groups, or social classes.

Crying “Fraud” and Cost-Shifting: U.S. Foreign Trademark Application Regulation and International Trade Law

This paper examines new U.S. regulation of foreign trademark applications through the lens of international trade and international intellectual property law treaties and conventions to which the U.S. is a member, and ultimately concludes that while there is unlikely to be a successful international challenge to a July 2019 USPTO regulation on these applications, the regulation itself violates American commitment under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement.

Історичний розвиток концепції скарг без порушення в міжнародному економічному праві

The article contains a brief review of historical roots and process of development of the non-violation clauses in various international legal agreements, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other WTO agreements. It points out the connection between the gradual transition from conditional to unconditional most-favored-nation treatment and the introduction of the clause about nullification or impairment of benefits. Finally, the article points out the fact that even though the WTO system of legal rules is much more detailed than the GATT system of legal rules, the non-non-violation clause not only remained in the original text of the GATT, but also was included in a number of other WTO agreements. The article notes that the very need to introduce non-violation clauses in international trade treaties is connected with the global process of gradual introduction of unconditional most favored treatment clauses (in contrast to earlier treaty practice, where most-favored-nation treatment was provided on a conditional basis). The article points out that one of the earliest attempts to establish the principle of unconditional most-favored-nation treatment as a global uniform approach was made at the London World Economic Conference, the most ambitious global attempt to do so before the successful conclusion of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1947. Even though the original cause for non-violation complaints has been a relatively limited scope of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the significant expansion of the scope of application of this multilateral trade system as a result of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations did not result in the removal of the original non-violation clause from the text of the GATT. Moreover, non-violation clauses were included in a number of other WTO agreements. This, in turn, leads to a question, whether indeed it would be possible at any time in the future to conclude an international trade agreement, which would cover each and every measure affecting international trade, available to national governments.

'No‐deal’ Brexit would knock 2% off GDP by end‐2020

▀ If the two sides fail to finalise a withdrawal agreement and the UK leaves the EU in disorderly fashion in March 2019, it would cause a significant slowdown in the UK economy. Trade would be subject to additional frictions and we would expect to see a substantial sterling depreciation. The impact could be mitigated by looser monetary and fiscal policy, but we would still expect the level of GDP at the end of 2020 to be just over 2% lower than our baseline forecast. ▀ If negotiations break down in late‐2018, the UK would only have time to re‐establish the most critical of the hundreds of international trade and regulatory treaties that it is currently party to via its EU membership. So from March there would be a substantial increase in non‐tariff barriers, as well as tariffs being levied on UK‐EU trade. ▀ We would expect financial markets to respond negatively to a ‘no‐deal’ scenario, with both sterling and, to a lesser extent, the euro depreciating against the dollar, while equity prices and gilt yields would also be lower than in our baseline forecast. We predict that sterling would depreciate by 10% on a trade‐weighted basis by Q2 2019. This would mitigate some of the damage to exports from additional trade frictions. But, combined with the impact of imposing tariffs on imports from the EU, it would push UK inflation above 4% in mid‐2019, severely squeezing households. ▀ We would expect the Bank of England to look through the temporary spike in inflation and cut Bank Rate back to 0.25%. We also assume that the government would divert the funds it had earmarked for the ‘divorce bill’ into higher government consumption and to tolerate the higher borrowing caused by weaker economic growth. ▀ Looser fiscal and monetary policy should prevent a deeper downturn, but our scenario still sees the level of GDP 2.1% below the baseline (which assumes a deal and a transitional period) at end‐2020 and 2.7% lower by 2023. Its close trade links with the UK and heavy reliance on imported goods means the short‐term impact on Ireland would be significant, but the impact on the larger Eurozone economies is smaller.

Revisiting the European Convention: the origins of the EP veto over international commercial treaties

ABSTRACTThe European Parliament had long tried and failed to gain a substantive role in the Common Commercial Policy. The Treaty of Lisbon brought a breakthrough for the EP by giving it a veto over international trade treaties. The rule change originated at the Constitutional Convention. While it is generally accepted that the Convention was steered by a desire to make the EU more legitimate, it is argued here that the rule change resulted from the complex agency of MEPs that participated at the Convention, who simultaneously appealed to ill-informed national participants’ sense of appropriateness and employed obfuscation tactics. The piece also makes a concerted effort to develop process tracing as a transparent and powerful tool for single case research. The evidence used to update our confidence in the causal mechanism is presented and evaluated in a structured manner in the appendix.

Trade in Financial Services Regionalism: Derivatives Clearing and Settlement in Economic Integration Agreements

Trade in financial services is integrated through Economic Integration Agreements (EIAs), in addition to the multilateral trading system developed under the WTO. Securities’ clearing and settlement services have nowadays become more important than ever. The latter have gained enormous strategic relevance due to the global regulatory shift towards tasking clearinghouses to mitigate the risks associated with trading of OTC derivatives. This study assesses the liberalization levels of the financial services in the plurilateral trading system. It aims to shed light on the underlying dynamics that could explain the rationale behind international trade treaties. Most importantly, this contribution assesses the relationship between regulation of international trade and regulation of financial market infrastructure in order to bring into the spotlight problematic features that underscore existing silos in WTO Members’ administrations.

Towards a Sustainable World Trade Law? The Commercial Policy of the European Union After Opinion 2/15 CJEU

Opinion 2/15 provides an undisputable exclusive competence to the EU for the inclusion of labour and environmental standards in EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). However, most of the possible policies to include sustainable development in world trade law would affect trade clauses of FTAs and World Trade Organization law for which the exclusive competence of the EU was not in doubt (e.g. free movement of goods and services, intellectual property). Accordingly, a holistic approach of the EU considering sustainability issues when negotiating any aspects of international trade treaties is required if sustainable development is to play a role in the future of world trade law. The article highlights potential consequences of Opinion 2/15 for the trade policy of the European Union in three areas: sustainable development clauses, trade negotiations and the participation of the EU in the WTO.

US Rural Poverty and International Trade

There appears to be limited research on the effects of recent international trade treaties on US poverty rates. Previous literature has discussed reasons why rural poverty and urban poverty have somewhat different sets of causes. Using 1985-2015 annual data, rural poverty and urban poverty rates are regressed on the unemployment rate and dummy variables reflecting the time periods for NAFTA and the Chinese entry into the WTO. In particular, the two dummies are statistically insignificant for both poverty rates.

The Clash of Architects: Impending Developments and Transformations in International Law

Abstract The world stands at the precipice of a transitional moment in the international law writ caused by the reasonable likelihood that new architects will be joining (and eventually supplanting) the present-day architects. Transformative geo-political and economic developments such as obor, the aiib, ndb and the increasing internationalization of the Yuan all herald potentially significant changes to the existing international governance architecture. “Revisionist” states with strong motivations and global ambitions, may will become international law creators as these new architects influence the economic and legal orders. International law is not static and several of the new architects’ customs and norms inherently conflict with current Western ideals. Will international law norms converge? Will Western notions gravitate towards the other spectrum in enlightened self-interest? The impact on international law norms, enforcement, human rights, sustainability, trade and investment treaties and arbitration will be far-reaching. Understanding how this potential re-orientations in power will affect international law is of critical importance.

Kompetencje Unii Europejskiej a prawa własności intelektualnej. Wewnętrznie dzielone, zewnętrznie wyłączne?

EU Competence and Intellectual Property Rights. Internally Shared, Externally Exclusive? Abstract: The European Union’s competence in external relations remains widely debated whenever the conclusion of an international agreement is about to happen. The recent focus mainly concerns the EU’s planned external trade agreements which grant it exclusive competence in this area. This is particularly complex in the field of intellectual property rights, where the EU has exclusive competence only with respect to the commercial aspects of the domain. This paper examines how the notion of the commercial aspects of intellectual property is interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union. We also analyze the possible implications of the broad approach adopted by the Court. In this regard, we first discuss the Court’s line of argument in the Daiichi Sankyo case. Then we scrutinize and verify the interpretation applied by the Court, which is significant in order to predict future case law developments in this area. We also relate the Court’s verdict to the EU’s internal regulations which brings us to the conclusion that the approaches taken in external trade relations and within the internal market contradict each other, leading to a legal or interpretative dead-end. Although detailed and specific, the results of this analysis make it possible to understand the complexities underlying the political turbulences that often occur when the EU negotiates international trade treaties.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Tobacco Carve-Out Precedent

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) text includes an article allowing the parties’ ability to deny the possibility of challenges to their tobacco control measures under the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions. Several TPP parties as well as public health advocates had sought this “tobacco carve-out” to prevent transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) from using the TPP to challenge tobacco control laws, particularly cigarette plain packaging requirements, as they have done using bilateral investment treaties (BITs). TTCs had lobbied the negotiators not to include the tobacco carve-out in the TPP. Regardless if the TPP is ultimately ratified by the parties, the TPP tobacco carve-out will likely be precedent for the insertion of language protecting tobacco control measures in future bilateral and multilateral international trade and investment treaties. Moreover, the TPP tobacco carve-out is another in a growing list of legal and policy defeats for TTCs. This article summarises the state-TTC conflict that influenced and resulted in the TPP tobacco carve-out.

Climate-Relevant Land Use and Land Cover Change Policies

Abstract Both observational and modeling studies clearly demonstrate that land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) play an important biogeophysical and biogeochemical role in the climate system from the landscape to regional and even continental scales. Without comprehensively considering these impacts, an adequate response to the threats posed by human intervention into the climate system will not be adequate. Public policy plays an important role in shaping local- to national-scale land-use practices. An array of national policies has been developed to influence the nature and spatial extent of LULCC. Observational evidence suggests that these policies, in addition to international trade treaties and protocols, have direct effects on LULCC and thus the climate system. However, these policies, agreements, and protocols fail to adequately recognize these impacts. To make these more effective and thus to minimize climatic impacts, we propose several recommendations: 1) translating international treaties and protocols into national policies and actions to ensure positive climate outcomes; 2) updating international protocols to reflect advancement in climate–LULCC science; 3) continuing to invest in the measurements, databases, reporting, and verification activities associated with LULCC and LULCC-relevant climate monitoring; and 4) reshaping Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+ (REDD+) to fully account for the multiscale biogeophysical and biogeochemical impacts of LULCC on the climate system.