- •Describe the nature and main instruments of trade policy.
- •2. Describe main institutes of international trade system. How do these institutes correspond with each other?
- •What is the role of different institutes in the development of international trading system?
- •Discuss societal concerns with respect to agricultural production. How could trade policy deal with these concerns?
- •5. Discuss societal concerns of the development of Chinese (or any other country of your choice) economy. How does chosen countries’ trade policy respond to these concerns?
- •International:
- •6. What are the accession rules in the wto. Analyse main difficulties of the accession process.
- •7. What is the dispute settlement mechanism in the wto. Discuss pluses and minuses of such mechanism.
- •Wto as an international economic organisation: the institution, structure, objectives, main functions, key principles in decision-making process.
- •Compare the wto and the gatt.
- •10. Define key principles of trade in goods.
- •11. Define key exemptions from non-discrimination principles with regard to trade in goods.
- •12. Rules of origin in the wto
- •13. Standards and technical barriers to trade: nature, key definitions. Wto agreement on standards and technical barriers: main features.
- •14. Sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures: purpose, examples. Wto agreement on Sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures: main features.
- •15. Trade remedies: Safeguards
- •16. Trade remedies: Anti-dumping
- •17. Trade remedies: Subsidy/Countervail
- •18. Key issues of international trade in services. Leading exporters and importers of services. Importance of services for national economies.
- •Importance of services for national economies.
- •19. General Agreement on Trade in Services: key features.
- •Ipr protection – two polar views:
- •IpRs in open economies
- •21. Discuss pluses and minuses of stronger ipRs protection. Pharmaceutical debate
- •Ipr protection – two polar views:
- •IpRs in open economies
- •22. Discuss the role of wipo in setting international standards of ipRs protection.
- •23.Wto agreementon intellectual property rights protection.
- •Industrial designs
- •Integrated circuits layout designs
- •24.Trade in Agriculture: approach to the regulation. Importance of agriculture for the economic development. Key exporters and importers of agriculture products.
- •Importance of agriculture for the economic development:
- •25 Agriculture: market access
- •26Domestic support
- •27 Export subsidies
- •28. Discuss the nature of International investment agreements (iiAs) and the main types of iiAs
- •1. Bilateral investment treaties
- •2. Preferential Trade and Investment Agreements
- •3. International Taxation Agreements
- •29. Describe the evolution of and recent trends in International investment agreements.
- •30. Discuss the nature of international investment disputes.
- •31.Assess the role of governments in relation to environment and development.
- •32. Explain the relationship between economy and environment.
- •What is the current stage of dda nama negotiations? Analyse key issues and main problems of negotiations.
7. What is the dispute settlement mechanism in the wto. Discuss pluses and minuses of such mechanism.
The dispute settlement of the WTO is a central element in providing security and predictability to the multilateral trading system. It serves to preserve the rights and obligations of Members under the covered agreements and to clarify the existing provisions of those agreements in accordance with customary rules of interpretation of public international law. Dispute settlement under the GATT was strengthened during the Uruguay Round and based on the articles XXII and XXIII of GATT-94.
In order to limit the extent of a country’s economic or political power influence, the Members of the WTO have agreed to adopt a system under which each party can submit its arguments to an impartial panel of experts for a decision.
Process: The exporting industry that faces a protectionist measure which in its view denies market access in a manner contrary to the WTO may decide to lobby its government to do something about it. If the government decides that the complaint of its industry is worth pursuing, it can resort to WTO dispute settlement in order to convince the importing country to remove its measure. Once a government has decided to challenge the measure under the WTO, the process to be followed is set out in the Dispute Settlement Understanding and has 3 broad stages:
Consultations: the parties try to resolve the dispute through discussions;
Adjudication: the dispute is referred to a specialized panel for a legal determination whether the actions contradict the rules of WTO;
Implementation: the legal decision is put into effect in the WTO system.
Pluses of dispute settlement mechanism:
This system helps to ensure that disputes are resolved in accordance with legal rules of the WTO, rather than political and economic power. So, all member nations, large or small, are treated as equals in the settlement of disputes.
Multilateral system of dealing with disputes is better than unilateral; it can help to avoid a political conflict.
A third group of countries can declare they have an interest in a case and enjoy some rights – can be good for parties interested in the case.
Uruguay Round introduced greater discipline for the length of time a case should be settled (normally not more than one year – 15 months if case is appealed). If the case is considered urgent (e.g. perishable products) it is accelerated as much as possible.
Since the Uruguay Round agreement it is impossible for the country losing a case to block the adoption of the ruling since (rulings are automatically adopted unless there is a consensus to reject the ruling). So, any country wanting to block the ruling has to persuade all other WTO members to share its view.
If a country is considered guilty it should correct its fault. If it continues to break an agreement, it should offer compensation. If after determined period of time (20 days after “reasonable period of time” to implement the decision finished) no satisfactory compensation is agreed, the complaining side may ask DSB (Dispute Settlement Body) to impose sanctions. These sanctions should be imposed in the same sector as a dispute, since the objective is to minimize the chances of actions spilling over into unrelated sectors.
Minuses of dispute settlement mechanism:
The possibilities of LDCs and developing countries to participate in dispute settlement are restricted because of high costs of participation. In order to participate, the country should assign employees, drawing their attention away from their jobs. Moreover, legal advice specializing on regulation of international trade disputed can be needed. They should be paid by the government.
This situation is worsened by the fact that if such dispute is brought up against developing countries, they should participate and carry a burden of high costs anyway.
If the country wins the case, it does not mean that violator immediately implements the new ruling. The “reasonable period of time” is given and sometimes this time frame is fuzzy.
Anyway, if the violator implements the ruling after the dispute settlement, the losses of the country can be irrevocable.
A third group of countries can declare they have an interest in a case and enjoy some rights – can be no good for party that is accused.