International Trade Rules And The Agriculture Sector

Since the establishment of the WTO, there have been significant changes in the legal and institutional landscape of many developing countries. Whatever the motivation for trade-related legal reform, our experience in the FAO Legal Office has been that besides the substantial costs involved, there are many challenges to successful and meaningful legal and institutional reforms. Legal drafters must therefore be well aware of the existing legal and administrative culture. They must also have a realistic appreciation of the resource constraints in the country, for inadequate resources certainly restrict the ability of implementing bodies to put new rules into practice. This study is about the nature and extent of these trade-related legal and institutional reforms with a particular focus on those of direct relevance to the agricultural sector. In addition to the sectoral focus on agriculture, the study places distinct emphasis on the challenges of developing countries in the implementation of trade-related international obligations in the agricultural sector. It derives from FAO's experience in advising countries on the implementation of agriculture-related WTO agreements, key elements of which are discussed and illustrated by three representative case studies.

Following an analysis of international negotiations, this document examines the domestic political context which shapes the formulations of agricultural policy. The contributors to this volume analyze the roots of agricultural policies and probe the sources of domestic conflicts and international tensions.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture has had a fundamental impact on agricultural policy worldwide. The new WTO agreements will cover agriculture,sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade and trade in intellectual property rights. This book addresses the interface between the law of international agricultural trade, the emerging legal and economic order for agricultural trade under the auspices of the WTO, and its impact on agricultural policy reform both in the European Union and the USA. With contributions from leading authorities in the appropriate areas.

The aim of the book is to provide interested readers with access to a number of articles that have been written over the years on the subject of the linkages between domestic farm policies (particularly in developed countries) and world markets for agricultural goods. The scope of the book includes the measurement of protection and the estimation of transfers to agricultural producers, the effect of these policies on consumers and the consequent impact on international trade. A major theme is that the monitoring of the trade and transfer implications of farm policies is an essential first step to addressing the need for internationally agreed disciplines on their nature and extent. The topic of trade impacts of farm policies has become important in two different market situations. When agricultural commodity prices are depressed, attention turns to the activities of countries (particularly developed countries) that support the income of their own farmers but at the expense of farmers in other countries. When prices rise, as they have done in the last five years, the question is reversed: what is the impact of the farm and food policies that restrict exports to keep domestic prices low on food security in other countries? Thus, the narrative of the monitoring of farm policies by international organizations such as the OECD and the disciplining of such policies under the rules of the WTO is as relevant today as in the 1970s when the first efforts in this direction were made. Contents:About the AuthorPreface and AcknowledgementsIntroductionMonitoring the Trade Impacts of Developed Country Farm Policies:Agricultural Protection and Stabilization Policies: Analysis of Current Neomercantilist PracticesMeasuring Levels of Protection in Agriculture: A Survey of Approaches and Results (with Stefan Tangermann)Of Models and Measures: Some Thoughts on the Use and Abuse of Policy IndicatorsDomestic Policies and the Structure of International Markets:Government Price Policies and the Structure of International Agricultural TradeDomestic Agricultural Price Policies and Their Interaction through TradePrice, Stock, and Trade Policies and the Functioning of International Grain MarketsDisciplining Domestic Policies through the GATT and WTO:The GATT: Its Historical Role and Importance to Agricultural Policy and TradeReflections on the Exceptional Treatment of Agriculture in the WTOCompeting Paradigms in the OECD and Their Impact on the WTO Agricultural TalksTrade Conflicts over Domestic Policies:Agricultural Trade Issues in Transatlantic Trade RelationsProduction and Export Subsidies in Agriculture: Lessons from GATT and WTO Disputes Involving the US and the EC (with Stefan Tangermann)Agricultural Trade Disputes in the WTOMonitoring the Compliance of Country Policies with WTO Disciplines:WTO Compliance and Domestic Farm Policy ChangeThe Difficult Task of Disciplining Domestic Support (with David Orden and David Blandford)Transparency and Timeliness: The Monitoring of Agricultural Policies in the WTO using OECD Data (with Klaus Mittenzwei) Readership: Undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, academics, and policymakers interested in trade in agricultural goods, domestic farm policies, measurement of protection and domestic support estimation. Key Features:Unique book on the topic that includes both the monitoring and the disciplining of farm policiesContains articles written over a number of years that will give the reader a better feel for the continuity of the issues and the development of responses by international agenciesA good introduction to the topic by an author who is well-known and established in the fieldKeywords:Agricultural Policies;Agricultural Trade

Drawing on a wide variety of classic and contemporary sources, respected authors Howse and Trebilcock here provide a critical analysis of the institutions and agreements that have shaped international trade rules. In light of the growing debate over globalization, they include special sections examinations of topics such as: * agriculture * services and trade-related intellectual property rights * labor rights * the environment * migration. Drawing on previous highly praised editions this comprehensive text is an invaluable guide to students of economics, law, politics and international relations. Now fully updated, this third edition includes full coverage of new developments including the Doha trade round, attitudes towards the Kyoto protocol and the growing body of WTO dispute resolution case law.

This book explores the broad issues and essential topics involved in international agricultural trade: agricultural policy, foreign direct investment, technical barriers, macroeconomics, the environment, preferential trade agreements. It presents this fundamental material as part of a complete treatment that offers students an understanding of how the current trade regime works, and which parties benefit and lose as the regime changes. Chapter topics include gains from trade, policies of importing and exporting companies, multilateral trade negotiations, European agriculture, and international marketing. For individuals with a background in intermediate microeconomics, ready for an extensive graphical analysis of trade issues.

In Agricultural Price Stabilisation and Trade Rules Irene Musselli offers a fresh look at the tool box of managed trade in agricultural commodities and develops new and refined solutions that take into account the legal role of equity and of graduation.