This work examines the international standardization system generally, with a specific focus on some of the bodies within this system. It also questions the lack of definition regarding several features related to the system, notably an international standardizing body and international standards in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.
Congratulations on an outstanding book on the WTO TBT Agreement! International regulations and standards reflect societies' fundamental choices. Regulating and monitoring them is complex, and the renowned co-authors of this book have well understood the multi-faceted matters at stake. In this book, world experts have seized a unique opportunity provided by the wealth of recent TBT jurisprudence to analyse the different dimensions of the TBT Agreement, a WTO agreement little discussed up to now. WTO experts as well as anyone interested in the reach of WTO law into the balance between national sovereignty and the need for international co-operation must read this book.' - Gabrielle Marceau, WTO, Legal Affairs Division, UNIGE and Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland A relatively new frontier for legal and policy analysis, technical barriers to trade (TBT's) have become more common as traditional border barriers have been reduced. This comprehensive Handbook comprises original essays by eminent trade scholars exploring the implications of the WTO's TBT Agreement. The TBT Agreement imposes disciplines on the manner in which WTO member countries adopt and maintain technical measures, recognizing the importance of such measures to advance legitimate domestic policy goals such as health, safety and environmental objectives, but also the potential for technical measures to constitute barriers to trade. The contributors to this volume provide an in-depth examination of the text of the Agreement and how the WTO's dispute settlement system, the TBT Committee, WTO members, and other international organizations have engaged with and been affected by it. The book's comprehensive and accessible approach makes it a first point of reference for all trade law practitioners, policymakers and regulators. For scholars and students, the Handbook will prove essential reading for a deeper understanding of trade law. Contributors A.E. Appleton, A. Arcuri, M. Cardwell, H. Churchman, M.M. Du, T. Epps, C. Gascoigne, L. Gruszczynski, B. Hazucha, R. Howse, A. Kudryavtsev, P.C. Mavroidis, G. Mayeda, A. Mitchell, D. Prévost, F. Smith, J.P. Trachtman, M.J. Trebilcock, T. Voon, M. Wagner, E.N. Wijkström
This authoritative volume brings together for the first time the foremost research and commentary on technical barriers to trade. It explores the major theoretical issues associated with analysis of the impact of technical measures on trade in goods and the challenges associated with attempts to quantify impacts on trade flows. Previous empirical analyses of the impact of technical barriers on trade in goods in general are then presented. This is followed by in-depth coverage of the trade effects of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, an area where analysis is particularly challenging. Finally, the volume concludes by exploring institutional efforts to overcome the impact of technical barriers, including harmonization of standards and the role of the WTO. The WTO and Technical Barriers to Trade will be an invaluable source of reference for academics, students and policymakers alike.
Présentation de l'éditeur : "Law and Practice of the Common Commercial Policy provides a critical analysis of the European Union (EU)'s trade law and policy since the Treaty of Lisbon. In particular, it analyses the salient changes brought by the Treaty of Lisbon to the Common Commercial Policy (CCP), focussing on the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), EU free trade agreements, investment protection, trade defence, institutional developments and the nexus between the CCP and other EU policies. The volume brings together a group of distinguished authors, including former and current members of the ECJ, practitioners, officials from EU institutions and Member States and leading scholars in the area of EU trade and external relations law."
Standards are a feature of virtually all areas of trade in products and services. Yet, although standards may achieve an efficient economic exchange, they have discriminatory consequences for trading partners when governments formulate or apply them in such a way as to cause obstacles to trade, thus enrolling standards among the increasingly significant ‘non-tariff barriers’ regulated by the WTO. This unique and original study analyses the functions that standards fulfil in the market, their effect on trade, and the legal regime based on harmonization, equivalence and mutual recognition developed by the WTO to deal with standards. The author investigates the way in which both the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures Agreements regulate these three tools, and discusses key topics including: The definition of the concept ‘International Standard’ in the TBT Agreement. Guidelines on equivalence issued by organizations such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the World Organization for Animal Health and the International Plant Protection Convention. Parallels between the EC mutual recognition regime and the WTO system. This is the first work on its subject. With its detailed and practical analysis of WTO law on standards, the book is a fundamental reference for practitioners, academics and policy makers in international trade law.
The editors have succeeded in bringing together an excellent mix of leading scholars and practitioners. No book on the WTO has had this wide a scope before or covered the legal framework, economic and political issues, current and would-be countries and a outlook to the future like these three volumes do. 3000 pages, 80 chapters in 3 volumes cover a very interdiscplinary field that touches upon law, economics and politics.
This book is designed to clarify India's interests in the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda and to provide a blueprint for its strategy in multilateral negotiations. The focus is on facilitating domestic and external policy reforms that can serve to bolster India's participation in the multilateral trading system and to enhance the effectiveness of India's trade and related policies in achieving developmental goals. Individual chapters address the economic effects on India of the Uruguay Round Negotiations and the prospective Doha Agenda negotiations; the implications of the abolition of the Multi-Fiber Agreement; services issues and liberalization; telecommunications policy reforms; foreign direct investment; intellectual property rights; competition policy; government procurement; standards and technical barriers; trade and environment; and, finally, a comprehensive analysis of the major issues coupled with concrete proposals to guide India's participation in the Doha Development Agenda.
This book examines the conditions under which PPM measures may be adopted under WTO law de lege lata and de lege ferenda. It analyses in detail the complex case law in this field and its evolution in the last 25 years, as well as the many doctrinal debates around PPM measures and their relevance in the light of the evolution of case law, both under the GATT and the TBT Agreement. Further, it also suggests an original approach to the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the GATT and the TBT Agreement in the context of PPM measures. The PPM issue has been one of the most debated topics in the trade and environment debate. Even though the US–Shrimp case showed that PPM measures are not prohibited per se under the GATT, many questions remain unanswered when it comes to the precise conditions under which environmental PPM measures are justifiable under WTO law, for example in the field of trade measures relating to climate change mitigation efforts, natural resources management policies and biodiversity conservation measures.