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11. Who Wants What? – Final Offer Arbitration in the World Trade Organization

Author:
Jaime Tijmes
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) favours negotiated settlements for disputes. However, arbitrations according to Article 22.6 of the DSU have been carried out as compulsory conventional arbitrations, even though such arbitrations do not offer strong incentives for the parties to reach a settlement. For quite some time, scholars have studied other forms of arbitration that may encourage settlements more strongly, such as final offer arbitration. Yet this form of arbitration has received rather limited attention in the academic discussion about dispute settlement under the WTO. This article explores to what extent final offer arbitration might make sense for settling WTO disputes and concludes that it would be suitable for arbitrations pursuant to Article 22.6 of the DSU, specifically for setting the level of suspension of obligations and, under certain circumstances, for deciding on so-called cross-retaliation pursuant to Article 22.3 of the DSU. Before negotiations start, parties to a dispute should agree on final offer arbitration if arbitration should be deemed necessary. Such an agreement might be expressed in a pre-emptive joint proposal on procedural aspects. Amendment of the DSU would then be unnecessary.
Topic:
International Law, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

12. Michael Fakhri. Sugar and the Making of International Trade Law

Author:
Anna Chadwick
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Michael Fakhri in his book Sugar and the Making of International Law takes inspiration from Antony Anghie, a scholar who famously disrupted prevalent conceptions of public international law. Using sugar as a ‘trace element’, Fakhri follows Anghie’s lead in retracing the historical origins of international trade law in order to challenge pervasive perceptions about this legal regime. What he is keen to demonstrate is that free trade, like state sovereignty, is not something that international institutions are merely officiating. Rather, the meaning of this concept has shifted over time as it has been applied by different institutions and actors within the international legal order to differential effect. It has been both conditioned by, and received the conditioning of, broader political, economic and social forces. Critically, it is as much the product of international institutions governing trade as it is their purpose.
Topic:
Agriculture, Imperialism, International Law, International Trade and Finance, History, World Trade Organization, and Economy
Political Geography:
Britain, Europe, and Global Focus

13. Functionalism! Functionalism! Do I Look Like Functionalism?

Author:
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
In his EJIL Foreword, Jan Klabbers argues that the contemporary application of functionalism, understood as organizations being assigned functions, in order both to realize the common good and to deepen inter-state cooperation, is something of a theoretical straitjacket. However, can functionalism really be described as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept? It is the contention of this Comment that there are, in fact, different manifestations of the concept, including neo-functionalism and formal or informal functionalism. New realities in this field also reflect an evolved conception of functionalism, such as the increasing diversity of actors affected by, and influencing, international organizations, as well as the fact that institutions have become authorities in their own right. As a consequence, we may also observe the emergence of principles, often referred to as global administrative law principles, aimed at dealing with these new realities. The article recognizes that a functional orientation in designing the mandates of international organizations has contributed to overlaps and inefficiency. However, it argues that efforts have been made in pursuance of greater efficiency.
Topic:
International Law, International Organization, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

14. The State-owned Enterprises Issue in China's Prospective Trade Negotiations

Author:
John Whalley and Hejing Chen
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
China, in the next few years, faces the prospect of major regional and bilateral trade negotiations possibly including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand and separate negotiations with India, Korea and Japan, potentially the United States and even possibly the European Union. A likely key element in such negotiations, and one already raised by the United States in the TPP negotiations, is that of trade arrangements involving state-owned enterprises (SOEs). China is viewed from outside as having a large SOE sector, and large SOEs are viewed as having a protected monopoly position in domestic Chinese markets.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Markets, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Japan, China, Europe, India, Asia, Australia, and Korea

15. The WTO Under Pressure: Tackling the deadlock in multilateral trade

Author:
Marikki Stocchetti and Johanna Jacobsson
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Multilateral trade liberalisation is in crisis. The WTO's ambitiously named Doha Development Round has been ongoing for more than a decade. Only a few limited issues remain on the negotiation agenda. While the round is being increasingly declared dead even by WTO members themselves, the same countries are concluding deeper trade agreements than ever before. Such progress, however, takes place at the bilateral and regional level. Another major development is the appearance of deep regulatory issues on the trade agenda. The shift from customs tariffs to countries' internal policies requires a certain like-mindedness from negotiation partners and poses challenges for national decision-making policies. Developing countries have gained less from multilateral trade liberalisation than what they had hoped for. The shift towards more fragmented trade regimes makes them even more prone to remain bystanders in global trade. At the WTO's next ministerial conference in Bali, progress on agriculture, trade facilitation and the treatment of the poorest countries would give a much-needed signal that the WTO can still benefit all of its members.
Topic:
Economics, International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Europe

16. Ukraine's Choice: European Association Agreement or Eurasian Union?

Author:
Anders Åslund
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
Since gaining independence in December 1991, Ukraine has vacillated between the European Union and Russia for economic and political cooperation. Until recently neither had offered Ukraine much, but in the last few months, things have heated up. Ukraine's intention to sign an Association Agreement for political association and economic integration with the European Union has raised a furor in the Kremlin, which is now trying to block Ukraine from aligning itself with the European Union. Moscow has imposed trade sanctions in clear violation of its obligations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is pursuing an intense confrontation.
Topic:
Economics, Treaties and Agreements, World Trade Organization, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Ukraine, Asia, and Moscow

17. EU investment agreements and the search for a new balance: A paradigm shift from laissez-faireliberalism toward embedded liberalism?

Author:
Catharine Titi
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:
In July 2012, in an internal document, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade suggested that future EU investment agreement s (EUIAs) should incorporate regulatory flexibility in the same way in which EU free trade agreements (FTAs) safeguard parties' policy space. Since it is expected that a number of treaties on the EU's negotiating agenda will be concluded in the near future, and given the policy shift that has already taken place in Canada and the US, it is time to start thinking about a new balance in a move away from investment treaties' traditional laissez-faire liberalism toward WTO law's embedded liberalism, a model whereby liberalization is embedded within a wider framework that enables public regulation in the interest of domestic stability.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, World Trade Organization, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Europe and Canada

18. Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy in the Shadow of the WTO

Author:
Carsten Daugbjerg
Publication Date:
04-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Agricultural trade became fully integrated into negotiations on trade liberalisation in the Uruguay Round commencing under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986 and has been the cause of much discontent ever since – every major setback in the GATT and World Trade Organization (WTO) trade rounds has been caused by lack of progress in agricultural trade negotiations.
Topic:
Agriculture, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, World Trade Organization, and Food
Political Geography:
Europe

19. Perspectives: Boeing Sees WTO Rulings Setting Key Precedents for Global Trade

Author:
Ted Austell
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
European Affairs
Institution:
The European Institute
Abstract:
In his recent article in European Affairs, Airbus consultant Charles Hamilton asserts that, five years after the U.S. filed a case with the World Trade Organization against European government subsidies to Airbus, “nothing has changed.”
Topic:
World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

20. At the Crossroads: The World Trading System and the Doha Round

Author:
Fiona E. Marshall
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This volume documents the proceedings of a conference held in 2003 on 'The WTO after the Failure of Cancún', organized by the European Community Studies Association (ECSA), Austria. Participants included both scholars, expert in WTO law and practice, and practitioners from private practices and departments within the WTO. While its contents reflect the state of play immediately following Cancún, due to the continued lack of consensus in the Doha Round negotiations the contributions can be considered pertinent today to the extent that they reflect the state of negotiations in 2004. Irrespective of this, however, and while not expecting the volume to take account of the July 2008 meeting, it is unfortunate that the contributions were not published sooner in a volume, or that an additional chapter was not provided highlighting relevant developments since 2004. Equally, given that the majority of, if not all, the contributors are experts on the particular topic on which they wrote, it is perhaps surprising that they themselves were not interested in providing an up-to-date account.
Topic:
World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Europe and Austria