Details
- Provides a clear classification of international trade agreements as 'incomplete contracts', offering an original theoretical model for the understanding a core feature of the global economy
- Explains the fundamental economic rationale for the creation of trade agreements, clarifying the justifications for the current framework of international economic law
- Provides a comprehensive analysis of the interpretive case-law of the WTO's judicial bodies, essential for a full understanding of the operation of international economic law
- Develops the arguments in the author's previous publication The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: A Commentary (OUP, 2005), expanding the work to incorporate a general analysis of trade agreements
This book analyses the establishment and operation of international agreements regulating trade in goods, focusing on the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
.
The book outlines the history of the international trading system from the creation of the first GATT agreement in 1947 to the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1994. The major substantive provisions of the GATT are then analysed alongside the other foundational trade agreements of the WTO, clarifying the economic rationale for the current legal framework.
Throughout the book it is maintained that the agreements themselves represent 'incomplete contracts', realized through interpretation by the WTO and other judicial bodies. A comprehensive analysis of the case-law is provided, where it is argued that a more rigorous theoretical approach is needed to ensure a greater coherence to the interpretation of the core provisions regulating trade in goods.
The book presents an extension and elaboration of the author's views expressed in
The General Agreement in Tariffs and Trade: A Commentary
(OUP, 2005).
Readership: Academics and postgraduate students working in international economic law and the economic analysis of international trade; practitioners and policy-makers working in international trade
1: From GATT 1947 to GATT 1994
1.1 The Genesis of the GATT
1.2 Why the GATT?
1.3 The GATT in the GATT-era: an agreement, and an institution as well
1.4 The GATT rounds of trade liberalization
1.5 Expanding the GATT: the emergence of the Codes
1.6 The GATT in the WTO-era: just an agreement, albeit a pivotal one
1.7 The modern GATT-discipline in a nutshell
2: Disciplines on trade instruments
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Treatment of Quantitative Restrictions
2.3 Tariff protection in the GATT
2.4 Export subsidies
3: Domestic instruments
3.1 National treatment and its rationale
3.2 The coverage
3.3 National Treatment and negative integration
3.4 National Treatment: The Legal Discipline
3.5 Dealing with non tariff barriers (NTBs)
3.6 State trading enterprises (STEs)
4: State contingencies
4.1 Introduction
4.2 National security (Art. XXI GATT)
4.3 Balance of payments
4.4 Exchange restrictions
4.5 Antidumping (Art. VI GATT)
4.6 Countervailing duties
4.7 Safeguards
4.8 The notion of market access re-visited
5: Institutional Provisions
5.1 Introductory remarks
5.2 Participation
5.3 Decision making
5.4 Dispute settlement
5.5 Waivers
5.6 Transparency
5.7 Relation to the Havana Charter
6: The GATT, then and now
6.1 The GATT 1947: a solid text (with some compromises)
6.2 The evolution of the GATT: no keeping up with the Joneses
6.3 Rule of reason
Petros Mavroidis, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, New York, Professor of Law at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
"Once in a while, when one starts reading a book, the realization quickly sets in that this is the work of an authority. Given the author's expertise, I more or less expected that to be true of the legal discussion and analysis contained in the book. But what truly sets the book apart and makes it highly useful for economists is the dexterity with which the author has managed the interplay between the legal and economic aspects of GATT and other international trade agreements... the back and forth between law and economics that characterizes the author's approach demonstrates his impressive mastery of both subjects and makes this a truly unique book, one that will likely be studied by scholars and students for years to come...the benefits should continue to roll in over the years since I expect to consult the book frequently in the future." - Kamal Saggi, World Trade Review 8/3, 2009
