Trade Provisions Research Articles

Digital Trade and Dispute Settlement in RTAs: An Evolving Standard?

There were 288 regional trade agreements (RTAs) in force at the end of 2018, approximately one quarter (27%) of which included digital trade provisions. These e-commerce chapters have evolved from simple statements, to more comprehensive attempts to cultivate digital trade. This article tests the hypothesis that as e-commerce chapters have become more common and more detailed, their legal enforceability has also risen. Enforceability is measured using a qualitative empirical analysis of seventy-eight e-commerce chapters in RTAs notified to the World Trade Organization. The first section reviews recent initiatives to map and track e-commerce provisions in RTAs. The second section uses count data and text-as-data to develop a time-sequence, process tracing examination of the relationship between e-commerce chapters and dispute settlement. The analysis emphasizes the trajectory of development, from earliest related provisions in 2001 to next-generation agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the newNorth American agreement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA). The conclusion provides a discussion of the consequences of this evolving relationship for the multilateral governance of trade at the WTO.

Trade, culture and the European Union cultural exception

ABSTRACT The article examines how the European Union has addressed the ‘trade and culture debate’ in its international trade agreements. From a cultural exception approach based on an attempt to detach culture from trade provisions, the European Union economic agreements seem to evolve to a broader and more holistic position aiming to promote cultural exchanges through cooperation, while still safeguarding policy space in cultural matters through its traditional cultural exception. The article provides an overview of the European positions to defend the specificity of the audio-visual services sector at the multilateral (World Trade Organization Agreements), regional and bilateral levels. It also examines how the implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions has led the European Union to negotiate cultural cooperation provisions in parallel to some of its recent bilateral and regional trade agreements and the way this Convention may impact the understanding of the ‘trade and culture debate’.

ЮСМКА ВМЕСТО НАФТА

The U. S. President Trump administration has made NAFTA re-negotiation and modernization a priority of its trade policy. D. Trump has repeatedly characterized this agreement as the “worst trade deal” in history and has stated that he may seek to withdraw from the agreement. The U. S. talks with Mexico and Canada began on August 16, 2017. After more than a year of intense negotiations the three North American countries have finally reached a deal that was renamed Agreemrnt between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada (USMCA). USMCA is based on the NAFTA. Among the most prominent changes are the following: American farmers gain easier access to the tightly regulated Canadian dairy market; guidelines to have a higher proportion of automobiles and spare parts manufactured amongst the three countries rather than imported from abroad; strengthened environmental and labor regulations, increased intellectual rights protection and de minimis customs threshold for duty free treatment. New issues, such as digital trade, currency manipulation, stronger disciplines for operations of the state-owned enterprises, and relations with non-market economies, are also addressed. They may serve as a template for trade deals under the Trump administration in the future. The USMCA will take effect after ratification by all three parties, which is probable but not guaranteed. This article analyses key changes in USMCA by comparing it with NAFTA; describes peculiarities of the NAFTA re-negotiation; identifies winners and losers; assesses perspectives of USMCA ratification and its international consequences. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement represents a mix of free trade provisions with elements of managed trade, especially in the automotive industry. Its mere signing is not a small accomplishment in the era of backlash to free trade and economic globalization.

Can CSR reduce stock price crash risk? Evidence from China's energy industry

This study explores the effect of CSR on reducing a firm's stock price crash risk in China's energy industry by using a regression model and further investigates the effect of items within CSR (e.g., corporate governance and environment protection) on reducing said risk to find which item is important for CSR for the energy industry. Covering a total of 100 energy firms including electricity generation and mining from 2014 to 2016, this study observes that CSR significantly affects stock price crash risk in the energy industry, as employee protection, environmental protection, product quality control, consumers’ right protection, and supply chain partners all significantly reduce an energy firm's stock price crash risk. We also employ the industry as our moderator to test whether different sub-industries have varying correlations between CSR and stock price crash risk, finding that the electricity generation firms with higher CSR scores especially in environmental protection, promoting technology innovation, and corporate image have significantly lower stock price crash risk, while the mining firms do not. These results suggest that compared to other CSR items, investors should pay more attention on pollution improvement and trading provisions that decrease this risk more effectively, especially in the electricity generation industry.

Validation of an immunoblot assay employing an objective reading system and used as a confirmatory test in equine infectious anaemia surveillance programs

Equine infectious anaemia (EIA) is a blood borne disease that is listed among the notifiable diseases of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). EIA is also regulated by the OIE for the international trading provisions and is generally subject to control programmes. Since 2011, Italy has been conducting a surveillance plan based on a three-tier diagnostic system, using a serological ELISA as screening test, an agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGIDT) as a confirmatory method, and an immunoblot (IB) as an alternative confirmatory assay for discordant results between the first two tests. As for the in-house competitive ELISA (c-ELISA) and the AGIDT, the Italian National Reference Laboratory for EIA (NRL) validated the IB according to the OIE guidelines, employing eight panels containing positive sera, including those from EIA virus (EIAV) proven infected horses, and negative horse, mule and donkey sera collected from different geographical areas. In addition, two international reference image panels were employed for the optimization and the validation of the digital image reading system adopted that allows an impartial measurement of the serum reactivity in the IB assay.The immunological reactivity to EIAV antigens, p26, gp45 and gp90 adsorbed on the IB membrane, determines the serological status of the animal and for EIA, a p26 positive band together with at least one of the other antigen defines a subject as serologically positive for EIAV.For validation, the parameters assessed were threshold values, analytical and diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, repeatability and reproducibility. These parameters were evaluated for each antigen as well as in combination, according to the diagnostic algorithm established above.The validation data defined the IB as having a satisfactory sensitivity, specificity, repeatability and reproducibility for all antigens and species tested.An instrumental recording of the results improves the confidence in using IB as a confirmatory test for EIAV, differently from the AGIDT that is read by an operator.The advantages of using the IB are its higher sensitivity, to that of the AGIDT, which allows an earlier detection of infection that reduces the risk of transmission and therefore the incidence of the EIA, and its higher specificity to that of the ELISA which is based on the discrimination of subjects reacting only against the p26, the antigen used by all ELISAs available, which are not considered as infected by EIAV.In particular, when this assay is used in outbreaks it can detect new cases earlier than the AGIDT, and therefore reduce the restriction period with an economic benefit for the animal owners and the public veterinary sanitary system.

Informed Insiders, Uninformed Attorneys

Utilizing a new understanding of firm compliance responses to regulation, I find that Sarbanes-Oxley helped both identify and reduce abnormal returns to informed insider trading. The number of forms insiders file post-SOX increased by 175% per year, causing an 84% increase in firm compliance policies to handle the implicit costs to filing by selecting staff to oversee and orchestrate the trading of insiders. Insiders sign their own insider trading forms identify deviation from firm policy, and signal informed insider trading reaping abnormal annualized returns to their purchases (sales) of 9.6% (-10.8%). Using this novel measure to identify informed insider trading, Sarbanes-Oxley cuts abnormal returns nearly in half. I find that SOX does so by limiting insiders’ ability to sequence smaller trades multiple times, a previously undisclosed strategy. Sarbanes-Oxley’s insider trading provisions work as intended—to limit insiders from using their informational advantages to lucratively trade—and it does so by increasing both the amount and speed of disclosure.

Digital Trade and Dispute Settlement in RTAs: An Evolving Standard?

There were 288 regional trade agreements in force at the end of 2018, approximately one quarter (27%) of which included digital trade provisions. These e-commerce chapters have evolved from simple statements, to more comprehensive attempts to cultivate digital trade. This article tests the hypothesis that as e-commerce chapters have become more common and more detailed, their legal enforceability has also risen. Enforceability is measured using a qualitative empirical analysis of 78 e-commerce chapters in regional trade agreements (RTAs) notified to the World Trade Organization. The first section reviews recent initiatives to map and track e-commerce provisions in RTAs. The second section uses count data and text-as-data to develop a time-sequence, process tracing examination of the relationship between e-commerce chapters and dispute settlement. The analysis emphasizes the trajectory of development, from earliest related provisions in 2001 to next-generation agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the new North American agreement, the USMCA. The conclusion provides a discussion of the consequences of this evolving relationship for the multilateral governance of trade at the WTO.

Digital Trade Provisions in Preferential Trade Agreements: Introducing a New Dataset

The article introduces a new data-set that seeks to comprehensively trace developments in the area of digital trade governance. The TAPED (Trade Agreements Provisions on Electronic-commerce and Data) data-set includes a detailed mapping and coding of all preferential trade agreements (PTAs) that cover chapters, provisions, annexes and side documents that directly or indirectly regulate digital trade. This article presents the methodology behind TAPED and provides an overview of the evolution of digital trade provisions in PTAs, highlighting also some emerging trends. It then takes a look at the substance of selected rules found particularly in electronic commerce chapters and maps the diversity of approaches in tackling issues meant to facilitate online trade, such as the customs duty moratorium on electronic transactions or paperless trading, and discusses the very recent rule-making with regard to cross-border data flows. This is of course merely a glimpse of the wealth of information that TAPED provides and the goal of this article is simply to uncover the great variety and the complexity of the norms found in the PTAs on digital trade governance, which reveals the value of the TAPED data-set.

Sustainable Healthy Food Choices: Dietary Guidelines and International Economic Law

Building on the companion piece by Christine Parker and Hope Johnson on international instruments supporting holistic dietary guidelines, this article examines potential concerns raised by such guidelines under international trade law and international investment law. Drawing lessons from the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (‘WHO FCTC’) and its relevance to recent disputes in international economic law, this article examines the role of international instruments in supporting domestic dietary guidelines that could be challenged in the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) or under investor-state dispute settlement. The article includes an assessment of the potential impact of international economic laws on holistic dietary guidelines and related regulatory interventions, as well as a discussion of how a WHO treaty on healthy and sustainable diets could influence the interpretation and application of key trade and investment provisions. The article concludes that holistic dietary guidelines can be implemented in a manner consistent with international economic law, at least if local products are not prioritised.

Editors’ Introduction

Editors’ Introduction

Increased Creditor Protection in Bankruptcy and Trade Credit: Evidence from the 2005 BAPCPA

We examine whether the increased creditor protection under the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) affects suppliers’ provision of trade credit to their customers with high default risk. Employing a difference-in-differences analysis for a sample of U.S. public firms during 2002-2008, we find that suppliers whose customers have high default risk extend more trade credit after BAPCPA. We also find that this relation exists when suppliers have stronger reliance on their customers. Overall, our results indicate that the increased creditor protection in bankruptcy induces suppliers to offer more trade credit to customers with high default risk during the ordinary course of business. Our findings have policy implications given the heated debate over the BAPCPA’s effect on Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

A Supply Chain Approach to Trade and Labor Provisions

As labor provisions in trade agreements have become increasingly ubiquitous, there remain questions about whether or not these provisions have been effective in improving working conditions in trading partner countries. Through an analysis of sample labor provisions in United States and European Union free trade agreements, this paper shows that both approaches, albeit using different methods, aim primarily to improve <em>de jure</em> labor law and <em>de facto</em> enforcement of that law by government regulatory institutions. This paper argues that instead, labor provisions ought to be grounded in a supply chain approach. A supply chain approach shifts the focus from impacting <em>de jure</em> and <em>de facto</em> labor law as administered by the state though sanctions or dialogue, and towards context specific, experimental, and coordinated private and public regulatory interventions that operate in key export industries that are implicated in trading partners’ supply chains. It does so in part by recognizing the potential regulatory power of consumer citizenship.

Is Better Compliance Better Governance? Evidence from SOX's Insider Trading Provisions

Is Better Compliance Better Governance? Evidence from SOX's Insider Trading Provisions

Public Health Regulation: The Impact of Intersections between Trade & Investment Treaties in Asia

There has been an explosive growth of free trade agreements (FTAs) in recent years. The World Trade Report 2011 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) shows Asian members to be among the most active in signing preferential trade agreements. This unprecedented growth has attracted much academic and policy discussion on aspects such as their effects on trade liberalization, problems raised by specific trade and investment provisions, dispute settlement, and concerns over “regionalism”. Like such areas, public health regulation has been significantly affected by such treaties. FTAs, together with bilateral investment treaties (BITs), are rapidly forming a source of intersecting state obligations that have an impact on the regulation of public health and related intellectual property rights (IPRs) (such as in patents for pharmaceuticals) in Asian states. The impact is wide-ranging and profound, affecting access to medicines, rights and obligations of IPR owners and enforcers, rights of investors (such as producers of pharmaceutical and tobacco products), and the relationship between these agreements and other health-related treaties. An examination of specific issues and claims (potential and actual) in the area of public health is needed to better appreciate the impact of such obligations. This discussion raises the following questions: - How do intersecting aspects of FTAs and BITs affect public health regulation in Asia? - Have the flexibilities that exist in WTO affecting health regulation been significantly reduced by recent FTAs and/or BITs signed by Asian states? - The role of treaty exceptions in recent Asian FTAs and BITs in safeguarding regulatory discretion in public health. This paper will examine the issues and examples of recent provisions critically from an Asian perspective, to provide a springboard for further discourse in this important area.

Implications of Pak-Afghan Transit Trade for Regional Security

Pak-Afghan relations have almost remained far from being normal and under the grip of allegations and counter allegation due to several bilateral political issues. However, trade relations have remained unrestrained from several decades. Afghanistan as a landlocked state always relied on Pakistani ports for its trade requirements with the rest of the world. Despite ups and downs in the relations, Pakistan provided the trade provision to Afghanistan under 1965 trade agreement which was replaced in October 2010 with agreement providing better trade facilities to Afghanistan with India. Pakistan has security concerns over India, as Indo-Afghan trade will reduce Pakistan’s imports of goods. Growing Indian presence in the form of huge investment in Afghanistan has threatened Pakistan’s security. Trade has great potential for Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan but security and sincereity are required for implementation of such agreements.

Contingent choices: the future of United Kingdom defence procurement and defence industries in the post-Brexit era

Prime Minister May’s recent announcements strongly suggest that the Government will seek a “hard” Brexit in negotiations with the EU. For the UK government, this is likely to mean that the UK will seek to leave the Single European Market (SEM) as well as the European Customs Union. Although this provides clarity as to the UK’s government’s position, it fails to recognize that the choices available to the Government are inherently linked to the choices made by others in the Brexit negotiations, the EU and the member states in particular. In this article, we explore what Brexit means for the UK’s future defence procurement options and its defence trading relationships with the remaining 27 European Union member states. We explore two Brexit scenarios: in the first (and now less likely but still feasible) scenario, the UK remains within the EU Single European Market provisions for defence procurement and trade. In the second (and now more likely) scenario, the UK leaves the SEM and operates outside EU rules, regulations and directives. Within this scenario, we see two options. In the first place, the UK could successfully negotiate a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU which allows for tariff- and barrier-free access to the SEM. Second, the EU could insist on particular trade-offs (e.g. tariffs on key sectors or particular forms of free movement of people and goods) that are unacceptable, causing the FTA to collapse and forcing the UK to follow World Trade Organisation rules. We argue that in both scenarios, old tensions and logics will play out in the new post-Brexit system and will have deep ramifications for defence procurement and industries. We also argue that the post-Brexit choices available to the UK government will not be “hermetically sealed” from other players in the negotiations; rather they are contingent on the extent to which the remaining EU states pursue further defence procurement integration and the potential responses of major UK-based defence contractors.

Potential gains from expanding regional electricity trade in South Asia

The South Asia region is lagging behind many regions in regional electricity trading despite the huge potential for trade. Using an electricity system optimization model, this study quantifies the benefits of unrestricted cross-border electricity trade in South Asia during the 2015–2040 period. The study finds that the unrestricted electricity trade provision would save US$226 billion (US$9 billion per year) of electricity supply costs over the period (~ $100 billion when discounted at 5% rate). The ratio of benefits, in the form of reduction of fuel and other operating costs, to increased costs of generation and interconnection investment would be more than 5:1. The provision would reduce regional power sector carbon dioxide emissions by 8%, mainly through substitution of coal-based generation with hydro-based generation, although regional emissions would be well above current levels absent other policy interventions because of rapidly growing demand. To achieve these benefits, the region would need to add 95 GW of new cross-border transmission interconnection capacity; but at the same time it would avoid 36 GW of additional interconnection capacity between the regional grids within India.

Cap and trade policy for managing water competition from potential future carbon plantations

Carbon sequestration from reforestation can play a large role in mitigating global climate change. However, resulting interception of rainfall runoff may impose high irrigation, water supply and/or environmental flow costs. This article presents an assessment of water trade policy to manage fresh water supply, carbon sequestration trade-offs for the Murray-Darling Basin. A linked Australian high spatial resolution land use and global integrated assessment framework evaluated plausible and internally-consistent global scenarios to 2050 involving significant carbon planting incentive. Substantial flow loss from increased interception was estimated absent policy to balance carbon water trade-offs. Absent policy to address the trade-off, irrigation opportunity costs was estimated to substantially exceed carbon sequestration economic value in futures with significant carbon sequestration incentive. The value of integrating interception from new carbon plantings into the existing water trade system was estimated at $3.3 billion and $2.0 billion (2050 annual value) for our strong and moderately strong global climate action outlooks with our reference case assumptions. The conclusion that trade provision in policy to cap interception impacts can produce significant benefits in scenarios with significant carbon sequestration incentive remained robust over a very broad set of sensitivities tested with benefit estimated at over $1 billion annually at 2050 even for very conservative assumptions.

WRONGFUL TRADING: COMPARATIVE APPROACH (ENGLAND AND WALES, RUSSIA AND THE USA)

This paper is designed to discover legal rules addressing insolvency trading in three jurisdictions: England and Wales, Russia and the USA. Originally it was a master’s dissertation written under supervision of Ms. Sarah Paterson, who was extremely helpful and patient. The key jurisdiction for the research is England and Wales, whose wrongful trading provision apparently was the very first insolvency regulation in the field. Here, we will give particular attention to the factual circumstances of insolvency trading and research how the concept of wrongful trading addresses them. The next question will be how the American concept of deepening insolvency and the Russian concept of subsidiary liability are comparable with wrongful trading. Later, we will focus on the functions that should be performed by the regulations. Also, the effectiveness of wrongful trading and similar overseas provisions will be examined. Finally, this paper attempts to find obstacles to the wide application of wrongful trading provision.

WRONGFUL TRADING: COMPARATIVE APPROACH (ENGLAND AND WALES, RUSSIA AND THE USA)

This paper is designed to discover legal rules addressing insolvency trading in three jurisdictions: England and Wales, Russia and the USA. Originally it was a master’s dissertation written under supervision of Ms. Sarah Paterson, who was extremely helpful and patient. The key jurisdiction for the research is England and Wales, whose wrongful trading provision apparently was the very first insolvency regulation in the field. Here, we will give particular attention to the factual circumstances of insolvency trading and research how the concept of wrongful trading addresses them. The next question will be how the American concept of deepening insolvency and the Russian concept of subsidiary liability are comparable with wrongful trading. Later, we will focus on the functions that should be performed by the regulations. Also, the effectiveness of wrongful trading and similar overseas provisions will be examined. Finally, this paper attempts to find obstacles to the wide application of wrongful trading provision.