Test 2 Flashcards
International agreement
There are many sources but international law is derived from multiple sources formed without the benefit of a single court system
Business law
Anti-trust issues, securities regulation
Treaties
Most binding form of international agreement and only as good as the signatory country wants it to be
How treaties are treated in the US
Are the supreme law of the land when made pursuant to U.s constitution
The most force of law
2/3 vote of the senate is required
Custom
very important source of international law
dealing b/t parties
represent similar pattern of habitual behavior among a number of states over a period of time with the prevailing idea that this behavior is lawful (or not) constitute a source of international law
NAFTA
North American
CAFTA-DR
Central America-Dominican Republic
MERCUSOR
South American union
The United Nation was created in 1945 to
maintain peace and security in the world
promote economic and social cooperation
protect human rights
What agencies influence policy and monitor country behavior for violation of basic rules of humanity and businesses
UNESCO (education, scientific, cultural)
UNICEF
IMF
World Bank
International Court of Justice
judicial branch of the U.N
also known as World Court
locate in Netherlands
judges from U.N countries sitting on the panel
Why World Court is ineffective
Only states can be parties
States must have accepted the court’s jurisdiction
there is no ability to set precedent or effective enforcement facility
Can U.N or World Court have power to enforce WC decisions on the parties?
Neither of them have
3 NO regarding international law
No single world legislature to enact international law
no single executive branch to enforce it
no single court system to resolve disputes
compliance by a sovereign country
with whatever international rules there must be voluntary
comity
the concept of respect for each nation’s actions
respect each other ore than might be expected
GATS
General Agreement on Trade in services is important to the U.S as the U.S still generates much of the world’s intellectual property and services
GATT
the basic concept of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade is to liberalize world trade by three types of activities
tariff bargaining
quantitative restriction
settlement of disputes
Who administered the GATT?
World Trade Organization
normal trade relations (formerly Most Favored Nation)
GATT signatories must treat like goods equally regardless of member country of origin
there should be no discrimination in a country’s acceptance of goods based on their country of origin
national treatment require
member states must treat imported goods and visitors as they would treat their own goods/citizen
this is similar to the purpose of U.S privilege and Immunity clause
tariffs
nothing more than taxe
less tax–>more trade
Ad valorem: tariffs are assessed according to the value of the goods being imported
specific tariffs are assessed according to the number of goods being imported
mixed tariffs are mixture of the two, the assessment being made on the value of the goods and the number of the good being imported
How U.S Customs and Border Protection agency force compliance with GATT
impose tariffs on imported goods and can impose countervailing duties on goods when the goods have been wrongly or falsely valued by the importer
custom officials can also sanction the importer who falsely reports the value of the imported goods
When do countervailing duties apply?
The importing parties and their suppliers are granted government subsidies
dumping (pricing below cost) occurs
Non-tariff trade barriers in opposition to GATT principles
anything besides a tax that raises the barriers to entry
1 quotas
2 embargoes
product and marketing regulation
quotas
numeric limits as to the number of goods
embargoes
prohibition of transfer of goods or services
transparency issue
arise when a country does not want to allow imports but has no good reasson not to do so
European Union (EU0
27 members, 12 uses Euro
Council of ministers coordinates efforts to fulfill agreement
EU enact legislation and enforces compliance by member nation
Four Freedom
freedom of movement of people
goods
services
capital
matters on court jurisdiction and standing
the court in which the plaintiff files suit must have jurisdiction over the defendant.
For a court jurisdiction to be valid over foreign defendant, there must be “genuine connection” between country and the alleged corp or natural citizen
linked to ideas of minimum contact
relationship between the nation and person
citizenship: privileges granted by virtue of the individual’s membership in the political community, may change
nationality: one’s birthplace, privileges are achieved by birth in the political community, does not change
naturalization: the process by which one becomes a citizen
there is a difference b/t citizens based on their existence as natural persons or corp
corp must be included in the treaty or international agreement in order to qualify for privileges, otherwise the corp is not granted the same right
international K law
one may contract to almost anything if the contract is entered into in a knowing and willing way
3 kinds of contract law
common law contract for sales of services
UCC Art. 2 . contract for U.S domestic sales of goods
Convention for Contract for the international sales of goods (CISG)
international equivalent of the UCC
using a distributor
firm limit its losses,
distributer assumes the economic risk while the firm lose some control
using agent
firm retains possibility of losses but retains more control over distribution process
like intermediary does not carry the risk of selling the goods
subsidiaries or branch offices may be chosen
with subsidiaries: the parent company is limited with regard to its liability
with branches: parent is not deemed to be a separate legal entity and thus bears all the legal liability borne by the branch
licensing
firm allows another firm to use its intellectual property for a fee
territorial restrictions placed on licensee’s market
provision for technical assistance are often included
Choice of..
law (which law to be used)
language
forum
risk of loss: who bears the risk of loss
