Commitments And Flexibilities In The Wto Agreement On Subsidies And Countervailing Measures

Examines the WTO rules governing industrial subsidies, as established by the SCM Agreement and interpreted by relevant case law.

Panels and the WTO Appellate Body have rendered a large number of complex and lengthy rulings on the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. The reasoning behind these rulings is often intimately linked to the underlying facts of a particular case and the methods of litigation adopted by the parties. Without guidance, it is difficult to find and research a specific subsidy issue quickly. This book provides an essential article-by-article commentary on the Agreement and sets out the law as it emerges from this body of rulings, providing the legal basis for further analysis of subsidy disciplines within the realms of economics and political science. It also includes a useful summary of the negotiating history and the links to other WTO Agreements such as GATT 1994. This important reference work will appeal to international trade lawyers, government officials, researchers, students of international trade law, business associations and NGOs.

A legal and normative analysis of WTO disciplines on industrial and agricultural subsidies and countervailing duties.

This study focuses on export promotion schemes that developing countries may use without violating international trade rules. It examines the rules themselves ndash; the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures for industrial goods and the Agreement on Agriculture for agricultural products ndash; and looks at schemes currently in place in the developing world.

The publication contains an explanation of Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment and some of the key issues that arise in its negotiation, particularly the scope and application of MFN treatment to the liberalization and protection of foreign investors in recent treaty practice. The paper provides policy options as regards the traditional application of MFN treatment and identifies reactions by States to the unexpected broad use of MFN treatment, and provides several drafting options, such as specifying or narrowing down the scope of application of MFN treatment to certain types of activities, clarifying the nature of "treatment" under the IIA, clarifying the comparison that an arbitral tribunal needs to undertake as well as a qualification of the comparison "in like circumstances" or excluding its use in investor-State cases.

The charter of the World Trade Organization (WTO) sets the tone that sustainable trade and economic development dominates multilateral trade negotiation and specific working agreements. This book examines the novel challenge for developing countries to upgrade and optimize their industrial structure and trade composition by stimulating genuinely innovative and competitive industrial strength. The book specifically explores the issue of infant industry promotion under the legal framework of the WTO treaties and case law. Taking the regulatory measures and incentives China has used to build up a large civil aircraft supplier, the book evaluates the key trade agreements relevant to infant industry promotional policies and practices, such as product regulations and standards under the 'Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade', and export promotion policies under the 'Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures'. Juan He argues that the regulatory room prescribed by the multilateral trade rules of the WTO does not allow adequate space for developing countries to encourage new and technologically advanced areas of production and trade. The author concludes by suggesting ways in which WTO rules could be modified to help enable developing countries’ industrialization. In doing so, the book highlights a need to investigate how localized and international policy trends can be reconciled and enhanced towards the common goal of development. The book will be of great interest to scholars and students of international trade law, Chinese studies, international political economy, and of great use to government agencies responsible for internal trade and industrial policy decisions.

In The Right to Food and the World Trade Organization’s Rules on Agriculture, Rhonda Ferguson explores the relationship between the right to food and agricultural trade. The analysis is situated within the context of debates surrounding the fragmentation of international law.

In the course of the first decade of the existence of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) has shown itself to be the foundation upon which the stable bas of the organisation rests. In essence, the DSU created a system of binding dispute settlement based on legal rules and procedures closely resembling a domestic, judicially based court system. The DSU established the procedures and rules to solve the dispute between the WTO Members and its formation has unquestionably added to the stability and positively influenced the performance of the international trading system. In short, the DSU is the procedural law within the WTO legal system. Although a strict system of precedent is not contemplated in the DSU itself, a system of de facto precedent has emerged and every panel or appellate body carefully considers past cases in its decisions. Accordingly, a rich body of case law has developed from the jurisprudence of the Dispute Settlement Board (DSB). This major new publication is the first comprehensive exploration of this jurisprudence. Through an article-by-article interpretation of the DSU, this book analyses how the panels and Appellate Body have read, interpreted and construed the provisions of the DSU. Its expert authors provide detailed juridical essays on each of the 27 articles of the DSU, with precise commentary on how panel and Appellate Body reports and arbitral awards (over 100 to date) affect the interpretation and application of the various DSU provisions. The coverage also includes the special or additional rules and procedures referred to in some of the agreements covered by the DSU, especially the manner in which the DSB has applied such rules to anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures, and textiles. In addition, the volume reprints all of the DSU-related documents for easy reference. WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding: A Detailed Interpretation provides complete and through evaluation of the practical working meaning of the DSU. It will be of invaluable assistance to government officials, legal practitioners, scholars, media participants, non-governmental organisations, and other in their practical and important endeavors. The detailed analysis of this very important legal material will be welcomed by all concerned with matters of world trade and globalisation.