International Trade Law

Question 1

WTO

Answer 1

January 1 1995

Question 2

GATT

Answer 2

Since 1947 .

Question 3

What is the WTO ??

Answer 3

WTO deals with the rules of trade between nations at a global or near-global level.
it’s an organization for liberalizing trade. it’s a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements. it’s a place for them to settle trade disputes. it operates a system of trade rules.

Question 4

What is the WTO ??

Answer 4

WTO deals with the rules of trade between nations at a global or near-global level.
it’s an organization for (i) liberalizing trade. it’s a forum for governments (ii) to negotiate trade agreements. it’s (iii) a place for them to settle trade disputes. it operates a system of trade rules.

Question 5

Uruguay Round

Answer 5

1986 - 1994

Question 6

Uruguay Round (led to WTO creation)

Answer 6

1986 - 1994

Question 7

What advantages gives these rules ?

Answer 7

the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. while allowing governments to meet social and environmental objectives.

and to help trade flow as freely as possible - so long as there are no undesirable side-effecrs - because this is important for economic development and well-being. to remove obstacles. it also means ensuring that individuals, companies and governments know what the trade rules are around the world, and giving them the confidence that there will be mo sudden changes of policy.

Question 8

How it helps to settle disputes?

Answer 8

Trade relations often involve conflicting interests. The most harmonious way to settle these differences is through some neutral procedure based on an agreed legal foundation .

Question 9

Difference between GATT and WTO agreements >?

Answer 9

GATT deals with trade in goods, the WTO and its agreements now cover trade in services and in trade inventions, creations and designs (intellectual property)

Question 10

Undesirable side effects

Answer 10

those include health and safety issues, dislocation of domestic workers, national security, environmental concerns etc.

Question 11

The agreement which start WTO to exist

Answer 11

“Marrakesh Agreement”.

Question 12

Scope of WTO :

Answer 12

(a) provide framework for administration and implementation of agreements;
(b) forum for further negotiations;
(c) trade policy review mechanism
d) promote greater coherence among members economics policies

Question 13

Principles of the WTO:

Answer 13

(a) principle of non-discrimination (most-favoured-nation treatment obligation and the national treatment obligation)
b) market access (reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade)
(c) balancing trade liberalisation and other societal interests
d) harmonisation of national regulation (TRIPS agreement, TBT agreement, SPS agreement)

Question 14

What is the meaning of the terms

a) MFN?

Answer 14

A most favored nation clause is a level of status given to one country by another and enforced by the World Trade Organization.
This countries have the status are given specific trade advantages, such as reduced tariffs on imported goods.

Question 15

Name some countries that are currently in the process of acceding to the WTO.

Answer 15

1. Belarus

2. Iraq and Iran Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, algeria lybia , sudan , Somalia

Question 16

5.Which WTO agreements deal with subsidies?

Answer 16

Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (“SCM Agreement”

Question 17

What is dumping?

Answer 17

Dumping, in reference to international trade, is the export by a country or company of a product at a price that is lower in the foreign market than the price charged in the domestic market.

Question 18

When did the Kennedy Round take place?

Answer 18

6th Round: Kennedy Round, 1963-67

Question 19

Name one of the original Appellate Body Members.

Answer 19

Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing, Hong Zhao, Peter Van den Bossche, Ujal Singh Bhatia, Thomas R. Graham and Ricardo Ramírez-Hernández.

Question 20

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, also known as the Harmonized System (HS) of tariff nomenclature

Answer 20

is an internationally standardized system of names and numbers to classify traded products. It came into effect in 1988 and has since been developed and maintained by the World Customs Organization (WCO)

an independent intergovernmental organization based in Brussels, Belgium, with over 200 member countries.

Question 21

HS code are used by Customs authorities, statistical agencies, and other government regulatory bodies, to monitor and control the import and export of commodities through

Answer 21

Customs tariffs
Collection of international trade statistics
Rules of origin
Collection of internal taxes
Trade negotiations (e.g., the World Trade Organization schedules of tariff concessions)
Transport tariffs and statistics
Monitoring of controlled goods (e.g., wastes, narcotics, chemical weapons, ozone layer depleting substances, endangered species)
Areas of Customs controls and procedures, including risk assessment, information technology and compliance.

Question 22

Quantitative restrictions

Answer 22

are limits imposed on the volume or value of goods traded by a WTO member. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) requires the general elimination of these restrictions — except in defined circumstances. Members’ notifications on quantitative restrictions are compiled in a WTO database which is accessible to the public.

Question 23

Quantitative restrictions are typically enforced through

Answer 23

quotas, import or export licences or other measures, such as voluntary export restraints

Question 24

GATT 1947 and GATT 1994: what’s the difference?

Answer 24

The GATT 1947 is a defunct international treaty predating the WTO Agreement. Originally, the GATT 1947 was to become part of the Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization that was negotiated during the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment held in Cuba from 21 November 1947 to 24 March 1948. As of 1 January 1948, the GATT 1947 was applied through a Protocol of Provisional Application. As the Havana Charter never came into force, the GATT 1947 remained provisionally in force until its provisions became part of the GATT 1994, itself a component of the WTO Agreement.

In December 1994 — i.e. following the adoption, but preceding the entry into force of, the WTO Agreement — the GATT CONTRACTING PARTIES decided that “[t]he legal instruments through which the contracting parties apply the GATT 1947 are herewith terminated one year after the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement”, i.e. on 1 January 1996 (document PC/12, L/7583).

The WTO Agreement, which established the World Trade Organization, entered into force on 1 January 1995. Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement contains the GATT 1994, which incorporates by reference (and with a few adjustments to reflect the fact that, contrary to the GATT 1947, the WTO is an authentic international organization) “the provisions of the GATT 1947”; the GATT 1994 also includes six Understandings on Articles of the GATT 1947, tariffs and accession Protocols, and GATT decisions adopted between 1948 and 1994 as part of what is often called the “GATT acquis”. The GATT 1994 and the GATT 1947 are “legally distinct”, as confirmed by Article II:4 of the WTO Agreement.

The provisions of the GATT 1947, incorporated into the GATT 1994, continue to have legal effect as part of the GATT 1994, itself a component of the WTO Agreement.

Please note that other parts of the WTO website might not make the above legal distinctions in all instances, and may refer to “GATT”, “GATT 1947” and “GATT 1994” interchangeably.