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This book analyzes how today's system of international trade law and international economic relations has evolved over the last six decades. Focusing on the major innovations that came with the inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with its various agreements in 1994, it also provides in-depth commentary on the intense debate over important matters that remain unsettled. Topics covered include the WTO dispute settlement mechanism; the General Agreement on Trade in Services (OATS); the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS); intellectual property rights – the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); areas still covered by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947; the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) concept; special provisions relating to agriculture and textiles; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to trade; pre-shipment inspection; and import licensing procedures. The book would be an excellent resource for scholars as well as practitioners working in the field of international arbitration and trade laws.

This book analyzes how today's system of international trade law and international economic relations has evolved over the last six decades. Focusing on the major innovations that came with the inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with its various agreements in 1994, it also provides in-depth commentary on the intense debate over important matters that remain unsettled. Topics covered include the WTO dispute settlement mechanism; the General Agreement on Trade in Services (OATS); the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS); intellectual property rights – the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); areas still covered by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947; the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) concept; special provisions relating to agriculture and textiles; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to trade; pre-shipment inspection; and import licensing procedures. The book would be an excellent resource for scholars as well as practitioners working in the field of international arbitration and trade laws.

In this very thorough but highly accessible book an eminent legal scholar clearly explains today's system of international trade law and international economic relations as it has evolved over the last six decades. Focusing inevitably on the major innovations that came with the inception in 1994 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with its various agreements, the analysis also provides in-depth commentary on the intense debate over important matters than remain unsettled. Among the aspects of the subject treated in depth are the following: the WTO dispute settlement mechanism; services the General Agreement on Trade in Services (OATS); investments the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS); intellectual property rights -the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS): areas still covered by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947; the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) concept; special provisions relating to agriculture and textiles; sanitary and phytosanitary measures: technical barriers to trade; pre-shipment inspection: and import licensing procedures. The author describes all the major precedent-setting cases in WTO jurisprudence and analyzes their effect to date and the trends they have set in motion, particularly as they relate to perceived discrimination against developing nations which must balance their WTO commitments with the structural adjustments demanded by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) regimes. Arguments within the WTO and among scholars over such controversial matters as regulation of competition, setting of labour standards, and environmental controls as well as thorny concerns raised by enforcement of intellectual property rights and limitation on investments are held up to close scrutiny for their legal merits. This rigorous approach, in addition to its uncompromising detail and revealing clarity, assure this book of a place in the practice library of lawyers, officials, and policymakers in the field for many years to come.

The WTO dispute settlement system has become one of the most dynamic, effective and successful international dispute settlement systems in the world over the past twenty years. This second edition of A Handbook on the WTO Dispute Settlement System has been compiled by the dispute settlement lawyers of the WTO Secretariat with a view to providing a practice-oriented account of the system. In addition to describing the existing rules and procedures, this accessibly written handbook explains how those rules and procedures have been interpreted by dispute settlement panels and the Appellate Body, and how they have evolved over time. The handbook provides practical information to help various audiences understand the day-to-day operation of the WTO dispute settlement system.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of "Mega-Regionals", the new generation of trans-regional free-trade agreements (FTAs) currently under negotiation, and their effect on the future of international economic law. The main focus centres on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but the findings are also applicable to similar agreements under negotiation, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).The specific features of Mega-Regional Trade Agreements raise a number of issues with respect to their potential effect on the current system of international trade and investment law. These include the consequences of Mega-Regionals for the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, their relation to the multilateral system of the World Trade Organization (WTO), their democratic legitimacy and their interaction with existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs).The book is intended for academics and practitioners working in the field of international economic law.

This handbook provides a holistic understanding of what the World Trade Organization does, how it goes about fulfilling its tasks, its achievements and problems, and how it might contend with some critical challenges.

This is a detailed guide to reading WTO Schedules of Commitments for Goods and Services.