International Trade Law Presentation 5 PDF

International Trade Law Presentation 5 Part II: International Trade Law • definition and roots. • Its main treaties. • Objectives • Main principles and rules. 2 Definition of International Trade Law: • International trade means trade between two or more countries. International trade involves d...

International Trade Law Presentation 5 Part II: International Trade Law • definition and roots. • Its main treaties. • Objectives • Main principles and rules. 2 Definition of International Trade Law: • International trade means trade between two or more countries. International trade involves different currencies of different countries and is regulated by laws, rules and regulations of the concerned countries. Thus, International trade is more complex. • Int., Trade is organized by both national laws and International Trade Law. • International trade law refers to the body of rules and regulations that governs the relationships of nation states for regulating their domestic markets in relation to international trade. The law regulates the global exchange of goods and services. 3 How does a state regulate Inter., Trade? • Inter., Trade can be affected by each sovereign government’s exercise of its sovereign powers within its borders. Its primary form of trade regulation depends on how it handles imports of goods and services into the country and exports out of the country: A. Embargo. B. Taxes: 1. Tariff: imposed on certain categories of imported goods, or goods from a certain countries. Customs collect the tariffs before the goods are authorized to enter the country and the tariff will be passed along to the customer in the form of higher prices and these goods will be less competitive than favored goods either produced locally or imported from more favored trading partners. 4 Continued: • A tariff is a tax applied at the border 2. Internal tax: imposed by a state legislature: surcharges. imposts sales taxes. These internal taxes make imported goods less competitive because the customer either pay the tax or it is passed on in a higher product prices. 5 Why is Inter., Trade Law necessary? • If each state regulates its trade as it will, looking only to its interests, nation may decide to protect local interests at the expense of transnational commerce. It has the effect of closing markets, resulting in stymied economic growth in the nation to which the markets are closed. And results in trade regulation being used to back political , military and diplomatic demands as a condition imposed to keep the markets of one nation opened to businesses of another nation. 6 The main objectives of I Trade law: • Expand export opportunities across national borders. • Expand import opportunities into national borders. • Resolve transnational trade- restrictions disputes among nations short of economic trade war. 7 History of International Trade Law • From Ancient times to GATT 1947: The First reserved trade agreement: on 507 B.C between Rome and Carthage, it contained the principle of non-discrimination as both cities citizen were granted the same rights as the local citizens. World War I : Most states adopted a protectionist economic policy. Tariffs were raised in order to protect national economics. World War II: reminded International community of the necessity of reorientation and the need for institutionalization, this idea was reflected in the conclusion of GATT in 1947. 8 The Development of GATT and the Founding of the WTO • Originally, the GATT was considered to be only an interim solution until the establishment of an International Trade Organization. This establishment, however, finally failed in 1950. As a consequence, the GATT provided the sole framework for international trade policy for over half a century. • Since the GATT was lacking an overall institutional structure and this was legitimately considered a serious deficit, negotiations were held in 1986 within the framework of the Uruguay Round. These negotiations resulted in the foundation of the WTO. The WTO Agreement entered into force on 1 January 1995 – with 72 members. It stopped the fragmentation of GATT’s legal order. in terms of function, the WTO can be defined as the successor to GATT 1947. 9