...Hand in assignment Week 3 Anne Sofie Lund Introduction of WTO principle trading system WTO agreements cover a wide range of business areas such as: agriculture, textiles/clothing, banking, telecommunication, government purchases, industrial standards and product safety, food sanitation regulations, intellectual property etc. The simple and fundamental principles are found in the multilateral trading system. Trade without discrimination 1. Most-favored –nation (MNF): treating other people equally MFN trading principals means it is not allowed discriminate other trading partners or to offer special favors such as lowering custom duty rate on one product for a specific country, all members need to have same duty rules for each product. 2. National treatment: Treating foreigners and locals equally Rules, which needs to be observed is that both locally and imported goods needs to be treated equally. The same rules apply for copyrights, patent and trademarks, for foreign and domestic services. The foreign should have same treatments as the local, which means treat foreign product, as you will treat your local product. National treatment applies only when a product or service or item of intellectual has entered the market. A country is although allowed to charge custom duty and tariffs on import product, which is not in market, and not charge custom on a locally produced market. WTO Encourages the trade through lowering the trade barriers, which includes custom...
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...Preparing For Structural Reform in the WTO Thomas Cottier World Trade Institute, Berne September 26, 2006 I. Structure-Substance Pairing Negotiations at the WTO are mainly driven by domestic constituencies and governments. They define outcomes. The structure of the organisation is instrumental to this goal, and does not in itself decide on outcomes. Nevertheless, the structure and operation of the WTO is not without impact. The ways by which decisions are prepared and made do affect outcomes and results. This is common to all law, domestic and international law. Process and substance are inextricably intertwined. We call this substance-structure pairing. Effective global governance requires open attitudes towards multilateralism, shared perceptions on objectives, but also clear structures on all layers of government, local, national, regional and global. It is equally true for the WTO. While international trade regulation is almost exclusively treaty-based, the process in the WTO often deviates from written rules and is mainly shaped by custom and diplomatic practices developed under GATT 1947. Except for dispute settlement, it is not clearly framed in institutional terms. Difficulties to achieve agreement and to make progress among the currently 149 Members of the WTO are partly due to these practices. Except for the General Council and the Ministerial Conference, no body is mandated and authorised to address procedural issues in a comprehensive manner, coming forward with...
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...1. In the Xia case, if the WTO were to rule in favor of Brazil, which of the WTO trade agreements would contain the justification and why? Brazil banned Xia goods because they manufactured from harmful ingredients. These goods might be caused of health issues. However, the Chinese government refused this claim. If WTO were to decide for Brazil, it would be a justified basis of Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT). In this agreement, the privilege of Members to take administrative measures to accomplish its objectives such as national security, human health safety animal health and environment protection. The TBT agreement applies to Technical regulation, which is measured that the features of the product and the manufacturing process method. Standards body follows the rule and regulation and measure that the product should be approved or not. The procedures for conformity assessment use to evaluate that the all requirements has fulfilled by technical regulation and standard or not. These measures apply to protect human, animal and plant's life. It stated that the Xia goods have health risks, so it was justified that temporary ban to import till it was provided the proof that the goods are free of health risk. 2. If the details of the Xia case were indeed presented to the WTO, explain what the WTO ruling would most likely be and why. If it is proved that Xia manufactured its products with "hazardous materials such as lead paint, potentially carcinogenic plastic...
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...study: To begin to understand how Globalization has shaped the world population and how the so called third world countries can benefit from the ever growing interconnectedness and interdependence of the trade and commerce which is inseparable from just about every aspect of our lives – what we eat, what we wear, what kind of houses we live in, how we treat our sick & ill or how we show off. To be more precise, we aim to understand the problems facing us in the International Trade & commerce by looking at WTO principles and framework and what we need to do to address these issues so as to deliver more benefit to us. Introduction: WTO (World Trade Organisation) is an organisation that supervises the international trade. The organisation replaced the GATT in 1995. Broadly speaking, WTO deals with issues related to regulation of trade between participating member counties by providing the members with a framework for negotiations, trade agreements and dispute / conflict resolution process. These frameworks are evolved from earlier negotiations under the GATT and are ratified by the governments of the member countries. The member countries are 159 in number, so it can be safely said that WTO is at the forefront of the global trade and commerce and is spearheading a campaign for the global economic development. The organisation has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and the Director General is Mr. Pascal Lemy. Research Methodology: This research is based on literature...
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...Frequency on Class: Method and Criteria of Assessment: 100% Coursework (5000 words) Essay Submission Deadline is 4pm, Wednesday 27 November 2013 Topics: Please choose one area listed below and discuss its recent development in the context of China. You will need to narrow down your focus and set your own essay topic. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Non-market Economies in the WTO Energy Industry and the WTO Environment and the WTO Commentary on one WTO case involving China Self-selected topic upon approval (You are most welcome to decide a topic yourself. Once you decide to do so, however, you need to submit your topic and an one-paragraph abstract before 4pm 31 October. ) Module Aims: To give the students a broad knowledge of the multilateral trading system and China’s interaction with that system through focusing on several key sectoral topics. The module will also reinforce and extend the student’s knowledge of the business environment in China gained from other modules. Nottingham University Business School China WTO Module Outline 2 Summary of Content: The course will cover all of the primary WTO agreements, and address some of the more recent issues arising in public debates...
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...Lecture 5 - World Trade Organisation What is the WTO? The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. Who we are | Location: Geneva, Switzerland Established: 1 January 1995 Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94) Membership: 157 countries on 24 August 2012 Budget: 196 million Swiss francs for 2011 Secretariat staff: 640 Head: Pascal Lamy (Director-General)Functions: • Administering WTO trade agreements • Forum for trade negotiations • Handling trade disputes • Monitoring national trade policies • Technical assistance and training for developing countries • Cooperation with other international organizations | | There are a number of ways of looking at the World Trade Organization. It is an organization for trade opening. It is a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements. It is a place for them to settle trade disputes. It operates a system of trade rules. Essentially, the WTO is a place where member governments try to sort out the trade problems they face with each other. The WTO was born out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of negotiations. The bulk of the WTO’s current work comes from...
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...attempted to answer our final examination by choosing question number 1, 2,4 and 5. In question number 1 I have tried to explain my countries general overview first and then the current trade status, in question number 2 I answered the question How do you view the relationship between WTO and RTAs? & Do you think RTAs helpful or harmful for the development of WTO? Why? Separately, I also tried to answer # 4 what is outsourcing? And how the developing countries take advantage of outsourcing? Finally I explained my perception about Chinese undervalued exchange rate. I used different web sites and other secondary resources to answer all these questions. Nowadays, the WTO has met lots of disruptions, for example the abortion of Seattle Summit in 1999, the failures of Cancun ministerial conference in 2003 and Hong Kong ministerial conference in 2005. Compared with the defeats of WTO, regional trade liberalization developed very fast, kinds of RTAs proliferated in the last two decades. How do you view the relationship between WTO and RTAs? Do you think RTAs helpful or harmful for the development of WTO? Why? (20 points) How do you view the relationship between WTO and RTAs? In my view RTAs and the WTO share the common objective of trade liberalization, the pursuance of similar objectives but according to different approaches creates inevitably some tension in this relationship. Regional trading arrangements are pursued for a variety of reasons. A motivation of virtually every...
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...Brussels, 15 December 2009 The EU-Latin America Bananas Agreement Questions and Answers What have the EU and Latin American (LA) countries agreed? The EU will: • cut its MFN import tariff on bananas in eight stages, from the current rate of €176/tonne to €114/tonne in 2017 at the earliest; and • make the biggest cut first, by €28/tonne to €148/per tonne, once all parties sign the deal. In return, Latin American countries will: • not demand further cuts in the framework of the Doha Round of talks on global trade once it resumes; • settle several legal disputes pending against the EU at the WTO, some dating back as far as 1993. 1. EU tariff cuts When all parties sign the agreement, the EU will make the first cut to its banana tariff, to €148 per tonne. This will apply retroactively from the date when all parties initialled the agreement. The tariff will then fall again at the start of each year for seven years, in annual instalments (€143, €136, €132, €127, €122, €117, €114), starting on 1 January, 2011. The EU will freeze its cuts for up to two years if WTO members do not conclude talks on agriculture in the Doha Round by the end of 2013. For more details, see below. 2. Latin American dispute settlement Once the WTO certifies the EU's new tariff schedule, Latin American banana-supplying countries will drop: • all their disputes on bananas with the EU at the WTO; and • any claims they made against the EU after new member countries joined the Union, or when the EU changed its...
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...World Trade Organization (WTO) Introduction The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994). The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain." Subject to formal ratification of the three most recent members, the WTO has 157 members,[7] representing...
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...Logistics & International Trade Principles of the WTO Trading System The WTO has five fundamental principles that underpin the framework for its national trade policies. The WTO agreements are rules based and these rules are established as a result of a majority vote by its members and are such are referred to as negotiated agreements. The five fundamental WTO principles are; • Trade without discrimination • Freer trade: through negotiation • Predictability: through binding and transparency • Promoting fair competition • Encouraging development and economic reform Trade without discrimination This WTO principle agreement advocates that countries cannot discriminate between its trading partners. This is in WTO language is referred to as Most-favoured-nations (MFN). Under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), when a country opens up its boarders and allows foreign competition in a particular country, that host country must also give equal opportunity to all WTO member countries in the same sector. This principle covers all services but the agreement allows some exceptions. Some of the exceptions are; A country is able to set up a trade agreement that applies to goods traded only within its trading partners and it can discriminate against goods from outside the country, special access to markets can be given to developing nations if certain products from some specific countries are considered to be traded unfairly, the host country is able to raise its...
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...WTO ACCESSION CHALLENGES: CUSTOMS UNION OF RUSSIA, BELARUS AND KAZAKHSTAN AS THE STEP TOWARDS THIS “DREAM” EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION We live in the twentieth century – a time of dynamic changes in the Global Economy, associated with globalization. In International Trade Arena, the vast majority of the countries choose the free trade policy, which develops step by step: from Free Trade Area, a Custom Union into Common Market and Monetary and Economic Union. Politicians and scientists believe that in 20-30 years Trade World will be subdivided into 2-3 intercontinental preferential zones with its own rules and free trade between the parties, but with external custom barriers in relation to other blocks or still will open the ways for mixing of regionalism and multilateralism based on common objectives and principles. Obviously, the development of the World economy and trade will lead to the formation of a single Global Free Market with the agreed rules and disciplines, which will be applicable to all countries. The dominant position is such a direction takes the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was established on December 8, 1994 and began operating on 1 January, 1995 and is known to be a successor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Here, a distinctive feature and the goal of WTO is the creation of international trade rules and disciplinary measures to ensure the conditions of a free international trade, based on mutually beneficial conditions...
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...Introduction The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established January 1, 1995. Before WTO’s inception it was known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). However, GATT was not treaty, therefore “the provisions of GATT were binding only insofar as they are not inconsistent with a nation’s existing legislation” (Aaronson, n.d.). Many proponents of labor sometimes consider the WTO a very controversial organization. Many labor advocates feel that free trade has a negative impact on employment and the economy here in the United States. According the WTO website, “The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. Mission and Goal The mission of the WTO is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. What does all that really mean in plain English, the main function of the WTO is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. Structure and Architecture The WTO is comprised of several different councils and committees that make up its structure. Here are a list of the councils, and committees along with some of the responsibilities of each unit. The descriptions below are courtesy of 3.1 Structure of the World Trade Organization, Handbook. * The Ministerial Conference...
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...Legal Aspects Of International Trade Non-tariff Barriers to International Trade #0735817 1. In the Xia case, if the WTO were to rule in favor of Brazil, which of the WTO trade agreements would contain the justification and why? According to the case, because of the some unofficial speculations of using hazardous material in Xia's goods, that are manufactured in China, Brazil banned them to be imported to their country, until further investigation and tests, that were being performed to examine the health risks. Because of fear of other countries negligence and ban on the Chinese product, country took this issue in the WTO to be resolved. For ruling the issue or justification towards Brazil WTO will use Technical Barriers of Trade Agreement, as this agreement intends to the technical regulations and standards to meet up with required assessment as the procedures of conformity do not unnecessarily act as the barrier in international trade. This agreement recognize that the members are not breaching the regulatory objectives which can harm national security, life of animals and humans and environment. Reasons for this trade agreement:- * Technical Regulations:- Product has to meet the requirements that have been set up, under which all the documents need to be provided where all the product characteristics have been mentioned along with terminology, marking packaging and all other aspects which applies to the production method, and as per the unconfirmed report of...
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...Trade Organization (WTO) is a union where trade tribulations are examined and resolved. The WTO serves as a standard of trade rules that countries must follow when trading. Majority of the time at the WTO is spent on negotiating the rules of trade. The WTO is here is help and guide the many countries that want to break down barriers with other countries to help the flow of trade. Governments go to the WTO to discuss problems that they are facing with while conducting trade. Although the WTO cannot solve all of the world’s problems, they do solve more problems than just the trade of products and services. The WTO is also responsible for preventing the spread of disease and other things along those lines. Overall, the WTO sets the rules for trade and also listens to the concerns that governments come up with in regards to the rules of trade and decides what is best way to resolve the issue. The WTO was officially created in 1995. Although, in relation to how long international trade has been around, the WTO has not been existence for very long but its practices have been. The foundation of the rules and restrictions that the WTO rely on are found within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The WTO used to only have to discuss issues involving the trade of products. However, with the growth of many service and innovative industries there are many rules now on the trade of services and ideas. While making these decisions, a key mission of the WTO is make sure that all...
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...International Trade The topic on international trade can be very complex, and thus this paper is dedicated to some the aspects and issues involved in international trade. As an overview, this paper will include discussions on absolute and comparative advantage, factors which effect import quota, factors which effect tariffs, along with WTO and the role it has in international trade. The first benefit that can be gained from international trading is the opportunity of specialization. This means that a country can focus on producing the goods that they are best at, and can also sell it in a cheaper price. Afterwards, the host country can then trade this product to another which can hopefully offer a more expensive product. This kind of transaction involves comparative advantage. The main goal in international trading is basically produce a unique product that can be exchanged with a better and more expensive product from another country. The product to be exchanged should be something that is more costly for a country to produce on their own. This would mean that trading is still the more practical move. If almost all countries specialize on a certain product, then the entire world will never run out of high quality goods that will be revolving from country to country. Comparative and Absolute Advantage Comparative advantage and absolute advantage are easily associated when dealing with economic activities such...
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