WTO Member Countries Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Patent Laws in Afghanistan and the TRIPS Agreement

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provides for a minimum standard of Intellectual protection. All WTO member countries are under an obligation to comply with the provision of provisions Agreement. Afghanistan, as a member of the WTO, in the case of intellectual property rights, committed to full implementation of the provision of the TRIPS Agreement. Hence, is required to coordinate all its trade law, including patent law. This research paper examines Afghanistan's patent regime in relation to the RTIPs Agreement. The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamental concept of patents and the historical background of patents in the legal system of Afghanistan. It then delves into an analysis of the law and regulations in Afghanistan, evaluating their compliance with the TRIPs agreement. The findings of this research indicate that Afghanistan patent law is compatible with the minimum standard of patent protection in the TRIPs Agreement. Nevertheless, Afghanistan’s patent law is insufficient, there are certain legal lacuna in its provisions which must be amended.

Maximizing Trade Benefits Through Strategic WTO Dispute Filings: A Quantitative Analysis of Optimal Initiation

The study investigates the asymmetrical distribution of bilateral dispute initiations at the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System (WTO-DSS) between specific country pairs. The study introduces a novel concept of dispute depth to examine how the asymmetrical bilateral dispute initiation affects bilateral trade among disputing dyads and to optimize the number of disputes that a country should file to maximize its trade benefit. By using the augmented Structural Gravity Model of trade and the PPMLHDFE estimator with extensive trade data for the years 1995–2022, across selected WTO member countries, the article demonstrates that an increase in the dispute depth decreases the bilateral trade between disputing dyads. Further, the study finds that the WTO member countries should strategically file no more than three disputes per year to maximize their trade gains. The study has important ramifications in the ambiguous world of WTO-DSS and paves the way for implementing the optimal number of disputes into trade dispute strategy, policy-making decisions and business environment of the constantly evolving international trade landscape.

Giving Meaning To Limitations

This article analyses the functions and disciplines of the cumulative injury assessment under Article 3.3 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (‘Anti-Dumping Agreement’). Since the text calls for cumulation only if ‘appropriate’, this article refers to the treaty context, the preparatory works, the precedent dispute settlement cases, as well as the relevant practice of the WTO member countries, to understand the purpose of cumulation and to give meaning to this key element of the treaty text. The analyses lead to the interpretation of Article 3.3 that, in order to ‘determine’ that cumulation is ‘appropriate’, an investigating authority needs to identify the factual circumstances where the subject products from all of the cumulated sources compete so intensively that the market position of dumped imports from all but one of the cumulated sources can be realistically taken over by the imports from one remaining source rather than the domestic like products. This article later calls such circumstances the ‘competitive overlaps’. While Article 3.3 gives an authority a certain degree of discretion, the authority’s determination must be based on the factual elements relevant for the competitive overlap in each case. GATT, WTO, Anti-dumping Agreement, anti-dumping, cumulation, cumulative assessment, conditions of competition, competitive overlap

Differentiated Differentiation in the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement

Using the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement (CVA), the paper demonstrates the operationalization of differentiated differentiation – an implicit threshold approach to differentiation in the WTO and one that is amenable to the principle of graduation. We use this approach to objectively identify which countries (from a pool of fifty developed, developing, and least developed WTO member countries) are entitled to derogate from specific CVA obligations based on special and differential treatment (SDT). Offering an alternative to the current SDT practice, differentiated differentiation requires that countries must justify, based on objective criteria, the need for a waiver from rule obligation for a limited period rather than qualifying for such a waiver by mere categorization as a developing country. The paper further defines a threshold at which SDT beneficiaries may be graduated out of SDT using a statistically-based scoring procedure. WTO, developing countries, special and differential treatment, differentiation, country categorization, graduation, composite indicators, capacity constraints, trade agreements, international trade law, social science

A New wto Protocol on Fisheries Subsidies: Potential Implications for the South China Sea Disputes

Abstract For close to two decades, wto member countries have discussed the possibility of disciplining the practice of subsidizing fishing activities. Concrete progress has been made as there is now a consensus on eliminating certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute towards overcapacity, overfishing and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing. In June 2022, at the end of 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (afs) was finally adopted. Against this backdrop, this paper will attempt to investigate the role that the afs might play in arresting the collapse of global fish stocks. Part i provides a brief background on the state of global fisheries and the role of subsidies in their depletion. Part ii discusses the key features of and contentious issues in the afs. Finally, Part iii considers the potential implications of the afs on disputed waters such as the South China Sea.

Macroeconomic Consequences of Russia's WTO Membership: Foreign Trade Aspect

The World Trade Organization was created to develop and diversify world markets, establish common rules and principles for the interaction of participating countries in the implementation of trade in goods and services. Nineteen years — so much continued the period of Russia's accession to the WTO. The result of participation in this organization was a radical change in legislation concerning Russian foreign economic activity, the transformation of tariff and non-tariff methods for regulating foreign trade, the creation of new information and control centers. The article analyzes the historical features and stages of the Russian Federation's accession to the WTO, as well as the main changes in legislation, regulatory methods and forms of control related to Russia's foreign economic activity. The results of the impact of changes in customs duty rates on foreign trade turnover and, as a consequence, on the receipt of customs payments to the federal budget are summarized. The problems of interaction with the WTO member countries that exist today are revealed. The expediency of Russia's further participation in the World Trade Organization is being considered. Further directions of cooperation development corresponding to modern realities are proposed.

Is the Russian Economy a Market Economy?

The purpose of the article is to assess whether Russia is a market economy according to the set of criteria. In the event that Russia loses the status of a country with a market economy, a statistical hypothesis was tested about a significant difference in the average values of national rates of US anti-dumping duties for market and non-market economies. The status of Russia is analyzed based on EBRD data for 2021–2022, the 2021 report of the WTO Secretariat on the trade policy of the Russian Federation. The claims expressed by the EU and the United States regarding government procurements and localization requirements at meetings of the WTO Committees on Trade in Goods and on Trade-Related Investment measures in 2020–2021 are considered. Anti-dumping duties were estimated based on the US notification of anti-dumping investigations for 10.01.2021–30.06.2021. Methods of mathematical statistics were used, as well as the IBM SPSS statistics system. According to the EBRD, Russia as a “sustainable market economy” is rated at an average of 5.9 points out of 10 possible. A lag in terms of integration was noted. The pricing policy does not cause complaints from the WTO members, however, the policy of government procurements, localization and import substitution of the Russian government does not meet the expectations of the WTO member countries. It was revealed that the exclusion of foreign manufacturers in the widely interpreted “government procurements” is the weakest element among those assessed. The specific obligations of the protocol on Russia’s accession to the WTO (paragraph 99 of the Report of the working group) “to make purchases, if they are not intended for state needs, guided by commercial considerations, without interfering with competition from enterprises of other WTO member countries for participation in such procurements” are violated. The impending loss of market status with the US could increase anti-dumping duties on Russian exports by 287 percentage points. The revealed upward trend in national rates of anti-dumping duties for countries with non-market economies allows us to conclude that the level of discrimination against countries with non-market economies is increasing. The hypothesis that the difference between the average values of the national rates of US anti-dumping duties for market and non-market economies is significant is confirmed.

Implementasi Trade Facilitation Agreement Sebagai Reformasi Perekonomian Di Indonesia

The most crucial barriers to international trade take the form of administrative barriers. Therefore, the presence of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) aims to remove these administrative barriers, thereby facilitating international trade. This study analyzez the implementation of TFA as a reform of the Indonesian economy. The research method used is normative legal research, by examining legal data sourced from literature as the secondary legal materials or literature related to the topic of this research. The results of this study concluded that after Indonesia’s ratification of the TFA, it was able to increase exports and reduce trade costs. This is due to the nature of TFA as a multilateral agreement among WTO member countries and affects the increase and optimization of trade procedures. Thus providing access for MSMEs to contribute to international trade and reducing trade costs incurred by business actors. After the ratification of TFA through Law Number 17 of 2017 on Ratification of the Protocol to Amend the Marrakesh Agreement on the Establishment of World Trade. The policies issued by Indonesia include one single submission (OSS), reduced container storage period (dwelling time), simplification of licensing, NLE, Digital Bank.

The Discussion on Disciplining Global Trade Distorting Domestic Support in the WTO and Its Implications

In preparation for the 12ᵗʰ WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12), the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture-Special Session (CoASS) proposed a draft text (July 2021) and its amendment (November 2021) in order to derive tangible results in the field of domestic subsidy. It aims to cap and reduce the sum of current global agricultural trade-distorting support (TDDS) entitlements to 50% by 2030. As a result of the simulation using domestic support notification data from 2001 to 2020 of 102 WTO member countries, based on the Chair’s texts, two main policy goals are achieved; Proportionality that reduces more in member countries with a larger TDDS entitlements, Progressivity that alleviates the concentration of TDDS on specific countries. However, the entitlements of developed countries decreased by 48.5% while developing countries decreased by 52.6%, indicating that the latter ones are relatively disadvantaged. In case of the Republic of Korea, the basic cap of entitlements in the base year is reduced by only 12.1% in the 8th year of implementation (new cap). Furthermore, the difference between the entitlements and the expenditure will not change significantly. Therefore, the impact of the Chairperson’s proposal on domestic agricultural policy is expected to be limited.

How does import market power matter for trade agreements?

We evaluate two potential causes of deviation from efficiency in WTO negotiations: (i) a free-riding problem that may be caused by the WTO's nondiscrimination requirement, and (ii) asymmetric information about government preferences. Theories based on the above two causes generate starkly different predictions about the pattern of negotiated tariffs. We find that the WTO agreement provides more tariff flexibility in products with lower import market power. This finding is consistent with the implication of a negotiation model under asymmetric information, which predicts a tradeoff between flexibility and discipline in tariff obligations. Finally, we use the model together with data on negotiated and applied tariffs to calibrate the political weight of each import-competing industry for all WTO member countries.

Теория переключающегося режима воспроизводства и институционализм: возможен ли синтез?

Like other macroeconomic models, the theory of the shifting mode of reproduction (SMR) deve­loped by Vladimir Mayevsky describes economic reality outside its institutional dimension. Economic reality, like Kant’s «thing-in-itself», is viewed as a universe with its own internal laws, independent of exogenous factors such as politics, culture, and ideology. The purpose of the study is to test the possibility of implementing institutional factors in the SMR model. The SMR model seeks to describe the mechanism for financing innovations in the manufacturing sector, including modernization of fixed assets. Therefore, the model also encompasses the banking system, whose functioning is viewed in the light of the hierarchy of the central bank and commercial banks. As practice shows, however, despite the increased standardization of the banking principles across WTO member countries and development of international trade, their banking systems still differ signi­ficantly. Likewise, there are different mechanisms for financing of the innovation sector and modernization of fixed assets. The latter, as the case of China illustrates, depends on the institutional environment and political factors. The practical significance of this study lies in the fact that it explores the possibility of developing the SMR model in order to take into account the institutional heterogeneity of national economies and to demonstrate the role that institutions play in the financing the real sector.

O Princípio do Tratamento Especial e Diferenciado na OMC e a necessidade de se adotar novos critérios de desenvolvimento

WTO member countries are divided into three categories: developed, least developed and developing countries. While the least developed countries are those determined by the UN criteria, based on the HDI (Human Development Index), developing countries are free to proclaim themselves as developing or least developed. Considering the difficulties faced these countries in opening up their markets, fulfilling their obligations and benefitting from the rights provided by WTO agreements, the organization has opened up exceptions to the special and differential treatment principal applied to these countries. The context in which the WTO emerged in the 1990s differs from the current scenario, in which emergent states arose, such as China and Brazil, with strong economic power. In an organization where decision-making depends on the consensus of all members, the difficulties faced due to the dynamism of international economy are evident. In this sense, the present work intends to demonstrate the urge to adopt specific development parameters to reach new commercial agreements. Therefore, the performance of the main developed and developing WTO members on trade defense measures and the use of the Dispute Settlement Body will be analyzed in order to demonstrate that the HDI is not adequate to determine the categories of development at WTO.

Legal Issues on Subsidies of The Agricultural Products on WTO Frame Work

The WTO was founded with the main objective of building a fair and market-oriented trading system. Fair trade means free and no intervention from anywhere to regulate the market. This applies to all sectors of the economy but especially concerns the agricultural sector which is the basis of a country's defense. Various efforts have been made by the WTO in terms of making trade regulations in the agricultural sector which of course aims to realize this goal. It is well known that in order to stabilize food prices, ensure abundant food production, guarantee farmers' basic income, and in general strengthen the agricultural segment of the national economy, the government has implemented various assistance in the form of assistance to agricultural product producers in the country. This assistance is called a subsidy which can take various forms, namely in the form of tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers, tax levies, positive regulations and direct subsidies to both agricultural producers and exporters. In this study, the authors examine the legal issues regarding subsidies for agricultural products within the WTO framework. The main issue in this legal research is how the legal issues regarding subsidies for agricultural products within the WTO framework. The main objective of this legal research is to find out the legal issues regarding subsidies for agricultural products within the WTO framework. This legal research is a normative legal research in which legal sources are collected through literature study. A relatively detailed review of the content of legal issues regarding subsidies for agricultural products in the WTO framework is discussed in this paper. The results of this study indicate that agriculture is one of the important trade negotiations in the WTO through the rules contained in the AoA. Agreements to implement commitments from disciplines in the AoA, from WTO member countries, are expected to be reached by both developing and developed countries

The Impact of the EU IUU Regulation on the Sustainability of the Thai Fishing Industry

In recent years, the implementation of and compliance with general values such as the protection of human rights, labor, environment, and democracy has become a very important agenda in global trade policy. The new Secretary General of the WTO emphasized her strong interest in the WTO negotiations in reforming various subsidies for fishing industries, which are to be concluded by the upcoming Twelfth MC (Ministerial Conference) in November 2021. Sustainability has become another critical issue in the international trade context. Plurilateral initiatives among 50 WTO member countries have already been taken regarding the Structured Discussion on Trade and Environmental Sustainability (SDTES). In these circumstances, this study on the EU’s IUU case toward Thailand helped to understand how Thailand’s compliance with the EU IUU Regulation has affected Thailand in achieving the goal of “sustainability” of both fishing practice and working conditions in its fishing industry. The EU’s imposition of the “Status of IUU Nations Carded“ has created the grounds to combat IUU fishing in Thailand by converting an issue of public interest into a private sector issue, for which the sharp decline in fish exports is a matter of concern. This EU–Thailand case also indicated that along with intensifying international cooperation and surveillance for improving the working environment, the inclusion of a human rights issue as a tool for correcting trade distortion is most urgent and essential. For the sustainability of both economic and societal values of developing countries such as Thailand, a firm and solid implementation of adequate working conditions should be employed among global trade participants.

Interest trade in agriculture sector between Vietnam and some WTO member countries

Based on secondary data from Uncomtrade, the article uses a gravity model to assess intra-industry trade of agricultural products between Vietnam and some WTO member countries. Research results show that in the period 2009-2018 Intra-agricultural trade between Vietnam and WTO member countries tends to increase over time as shown by the infra-agricultural trade index of agricultural products IIT. Productivity between Vietnam and China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand were higher than other countries and relatively stable in the period 2009-2018. In addition, the results of quantitative analysis model show economic scale factors, per capita income, geographical distance, extent of economic openness, population size, and agricultural land area have a positive impact on intra-agricultural trade of Vietnam and some WTO member countries.

Multiregionalizm: porażka czy sukces Światowej Organizacji Handlu?

Przedmiot badań: Od lat w dyskusji ekonomicznej trawa debata, czy gospodarki powinny być bardziej skłonne do liberalizacji handlu na preferencyjnych zasadach regionalizmu handlowego, czy w oparciu o klauzulę najwyższego uprzywilejowania, promowany przez Światową Organizację Handlu (WTO). Współcześnie wszystkie kraje członkowskie WTO mają zawarte przynajmniej jed­no regionalne porozumienie handlowe (RTA). Przedmiotem badań są RTA, które z jednej strony wy­dają się konkurować z WTO, to z drugiej – mogą wspierać wielostronny system handlowy WTO.1
 Cel badawczy: Celem artykułu jest ocena zmian obserwowanych w tworzeniu się regionalnych ugrupowań handlowych i ich wpływu na wielostronny system handlowy. Badania skupią się na analizie RTA i odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy RTA odgrywają wyłącznie pozytywną (teoria Haberle­ra), czy może także negatywną (teoria Vinera) rolę w wielostronnej liberalizacji handlu.
 Metoda badawcza: Zastosowane metody badawcze obejmują przegląd literatury na­ukowej i raportów na temat regionalnych umów handlowych, statystyczną analizę da­nych ze źródeł wtórnych. Dokonano analizy zmian zachodzących w RTA pod względem ilościowym (liczba, dynamika), jakościowym (umowy dotyczące liberalizacji towarów i usług) i strukturalnym (zakres) na przestrzeni ostatnich dekad. Dane o RTA uzyskano z bazy danych WTO oraz danych UNCTAD.
 Wyniki: Z przeprowadzonej analizy wynika, iż kraje należące do WTO są jednocześnie powią­zane odrębną preferencyjną umową z jednym, bądź kilkoma innymi krajami. Multilateralna za­sada KNU jest osłabiana poprzez głębsze preferencje w ramach RTA, przez co multilateralizm handlowy traci na znaczeniu. RTA rozwijają się w sposób, który wykracza poza istniejące zasady wielostronne.

Russia and WTO: interaction and security issues

Globalization as a process of expanding the interaction and mutual influence of countries and peoples, intensifying connections, and relationships between communities, manifests itself in the integration of international trade and investment activities. The influential international organization, the WTO, plays a very significant role in facilitating the freer movement of goods and services, capital and labor, which contributes to the weakening of protectionist tendencies. This makes it necessary to study the problem of interaction and security for the WTO member countries. The purpose of the study is to identify the advantages, possible risks, and scenarios for the Russian economy development in the context of Russia’s presence in the WTO. The methodological basis for the study of the interaction and security issues during Russia’s accession to the WTO was a set of general scientific and specific scientific methods – logical, concrete-historical, comparative, analysis method. The specificity of the research subject determined the use of conceptual and systematic approaches. Research result: the WTO problem zones have been identified, the elimination of which will ensure more effective regulation of foreign trade relations in the world market; competitive advantages, risks and expected consequences related to Russia’s obligations upon accession to the WTO in the sphere of economy, finance, taxation and customs relations are identified and analyzed; the sphere of integration relations in the post-Soviet space; the sphere of ensuring the country’s defense capability; the sphere of access and use of natural resources; scenarios of situation development for Russia in connection with the accession to the WTO are considered – catastrophic, optimistic and realistic; it is found that monitoring and rapid response to the current situation in the Russian economy will determine a more effective economic trajectory

TRIPs dalam Kaitannya dengan Perlindungan Hukum Terhadap Rahasia Dagang, Desain Industri dan Desain Tata Letak Sirkuit Terpadu Di Indonesia

Participation in the WTO has given consequences to its member countries, including Indonesia, to harmonize its laws in the field of Intellectual Property Rights for full compliance or full compliance as a minimum requirement and guidelines for WTO member countries to contain new norms and has a higher standard and contains strict law enforcement provisions as set by the TRIPs. In view of these matters, Indonesia has harmonized the existing laws in the field of Intellectual Property Rights and made legal norms in accordance with the standards set by the TRIPs for several fields of Intellectual Property Rights which had not yet been enacted at the time, where 3 ( three) including Law Number 30 of 2000 concerning Trade Secrets, Law Number 31 of 2000 concerning Industrial Design and Law Number 32 of 2000 concerning Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits, the regulations also meet the standards set by TRIPs , in order to provide adequate legal protection to guarantee the rights of Owners of Trade Secrets and Designers and to ensure that other unauthorized parties do not abuse them, so as to motivate the owners of trade secrets and designers to continue to be creative in creating and/or designing, as well also stimulates other communities to do same things.

Global Digital Trade and Implications for Trade Negotiation: Deciphering the Data Flows and Implications on Revenues Losses

There is a growing debate on the electronic commerce modes of deliveries, the core issue of the two-year moratorium and the extension of similar treatment of all digitisable products. Looking for similarity to Doha Round sectoral proposals, wherein also tariff elimination was at the core of negotiation. Therefore, this working paper seeks to provide answers for some pertinent questions that would help to bring clarity in further negotiations. One of the principal questions is the extent to which the elimination of tariff would influence trade in digitisable products. We have explored this question using imports data of WTO membership and non-WTO members. Further, extending the analysis, we are also looking at implications for WTO member countries of the possible impact of electronic commerce on the traditional means of distribution of physical goods (WTO, 1998). The following questions: What is the global trend of digitisable products trade and the implication for Trade Negotiations, and Secondly, what is the extent of revenue losses across the WTO grouping? One major challenge is there are no mechanism to capture the fast vanishing commerce (trade) which is flowing through the internet and wires. It is established beyond doubt that a significant amount of commerce has shifted in the context of 30 digitisable products. The official data as recorded by the established practice is unable to account for and therefore is largely made available by private consultant firms. Some other challenges that would discussed are increasing necessity to built-in legitimate and official mechanisms that capture trade and data flows, at two levels custom-ports and at the micro-level capturing the financial flows of firms/merchant banks/transaction banks. The study would explore the possibility of expansion in the digitization across the manufacturing sector with the application of 3D printers and other enabling legislation. Further, the study clearly establishes that the developing and the LDCs are turned into prime markets for expansion of digitisable products exported by developed and other emerging markets. The developed countries and other emerging markets had the least impacts in terms of revenue losses based on the evidence in 2017.

The TRIPS Agreement and the Pharmaceutical Industry in India

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) calls for the harmonization of intellectual property rights (IPRs) regulations across all WTO member countries. The TRIPS Agreement requires all WTO member countries to adopt and enforce minimum standards of intellectual property. It was assumed that the introduction of pharmaceutical product patents would hamper the Indian pharmaceutical industry’s growth. Contrary to expectations, however, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has been growing in the post-TRIPS period. The TRIPS Agreement changed the research and development (R&D) orientation of Indian pharmaceutical companies, which have increased their R&D investments. Since the TRIPS Agreement was signed, the pharmaceutical global value chain (GVC) has been re-structured and has now expanded to emerging countries like India. Indian pharmaceutical firms have thus been participating in the pharmaceutical GVC in the post-TRIPS period. This participation is conducive to technological upgrading and technology transfers. While operating in the GVC, Indian pharmaceutical firms are upgrading by adopting state-of-the-art technologies. This study explores how the TRIPS Agreement is influencing the Indian pharmaceutical industry and discusses the industry’s growth factors in the post-TRIPS period within the GVC framework. JEL: L21, L24, L26, L65