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This analytical study sheds light on the consequences of the blockade imposed against Qatar and the violation of the blockading countries – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt – of trade and economic agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO). It also focuses on the legal basis of Qatar’s filed complaints against KSA, UAE, and Bahrain, WTO’s Dispute Settlement Procedures and jurisdiction, and the national security exceptions, as well as the main principles of the WTO treaties including General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

This analytical study sheds light on the consequences of the blockade imposed against Qatar and the violation of the blockading countries – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt – of trade and economic agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO). It also focuses on the legal basis of Qatar’s filed complaints against KSA, UAE, and Bahrain, WTO’s Dispute Settlement Procedures and jurisdiction, and the national security exceptions, as well as the main principles of the WTO treaties including General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

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Pharmaceutical Company and Pharmaceutical production plays a significant role in the economic development of a country. It is even more important for developing country like India which needs to generate employment, achieve higher rate of growth, poverty elevation programs, improve the standard of living of its people and stabilize the price level of healthcare. Role of World Trade Organisation (WTO) is very important for regulation. The WTO was established in 1995 and when compared with the GATT is much wider in scope, with a stronger institutional basis and with treaty status. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the Indian pharmaceutical production performance, pre and post implementation of WTO policies. It is clear that the implementation of WTO policies, Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of India’s pharmaceutical production has minute effect on it. The topic is of essence as in based on doctrinal study where by different set of data has been gathered from the primary and secondary sources. The research Article is an outcome of research which the research scholar is under taking in pursuance and for conferment of Ph.d Degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regionalism has become one of the most debated institutional integration. Under the umbrella of GATT article XXIV, many countries across the globe are rushing themselves into the formation of regional economic integration. It is expected that such integration yields greater trade openness and deepening between the countries in agreement. The present paper deals with successive India-China regional trade agreements; formation of BRICS bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and their impact on bilateral trade openness and deepening. This paper employs sophisticated econometric tools such as Unit root test and Granger causality test in order to check whether institutional integration causes trade integration for these two countries. In order to set up institutional scores, manual generation of institutional scores have been worked out from the gravity of bilateral agreements on trade and other related institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's dairy farmers have spent the last 40 years fighting to preserve their supply management system despite increases in the desire to liberalize trade through the expansion of regional free trade agreements and the targeting of agriculture in recent rounds of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). How has Canada's supply management system resisted trade liberalization thus far? Moreover, what strategies have Canadian dairy farmers used to lobby the government to preserve this system? The answer to these questions lay within the intersection of culture and economics. Canadian dairy farmers have been successful in framing Canadian dairy as a distinctly Canadian cultural commodity, and therefore framing supply management as the economic tool needed to defend this cultural commodity. In exploring this topic, this article will touch on Canada's history of preserving cultural institutions, as well as the historical importance of Canada's supply management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Although trabeculectomy, and to a less extent glaucoma drainage devices are currently the gold standard in glaucoma surgery, there is a rising interest in addressing the more physiological pathway of aqueous outflow through surgeries that target Schlemm's canal (SC). These surgeries have the advantage of a lower risk of hypotony and bleb-related complications commonly associated with conventional glaucoma surgery.In this article we review new developments and the different techniques of circumferential angle surgery in adult and pediatric glaucoma, as well as procedures which target the canal circumferentially without incising it, such as canaloplasty and Visco360. Methods: A comprehensive literature search of various electronic databases was performed. Results: Angle surgery, namely goniotomy and trabeculotomy, have been well established as standard procedures in pediatric glaucoma, yet their results in the management of adult glaucoma have not been as promising. In recent years, ab-interno trabeculectomy using Trabectome and Kahook dual blade have yielded variable results in adult glaucoma. As growing evidence suggests that bigger extent incisions into SC result in increased lowering of intraocular pressure than conventional 120 to 180-degree incisions, several procedures have been developed to create a circumferential incision into SC. Circumferential SC incision using sutures, microcatheters, TRAB360 or the rigid probe trabeculotome, through an ab-interno or ab-externo approach, have yielded promising results in both adult and pediatric glaucoma by reducing the resistance to aqueous outflow through the inner wall of SC over 360 degrees of the angle. Conclusions: Various techniques of circumferential Schlemm's canal surgery is effective in management of different adult and pediatric glaucomas. Further long-term comparative studies would be useful in evaluating safety and efficacy of these procedures [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigates how the legalization of the GATT into the WTO affects the distribution of its dispute settlement benefits between developed and developing countries. Existing studies present two arguments to this question — the capacity argument emphasizing the importance of economic capacity for the use of the dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) and the legalization argument suggesting its participatory effects for developing countries. Statistical data about the use of the DSM under the GATT and the early WTO provide some support for the capacity argument, while those under the WTO of its whole period for the legalization argument. However, the capacity theory fails to explain the use of the DSM by developed and developing countries after about the year, 2000, while the legalization theory has so far lacked an adequate empirical support. The purpose of this study is to find out why the capacity theory fails to do so, and to provide more empirical support for the legalization theory. It finds that the respective impacts of economic capacity and socialization experiences on the use of the DSM under the GATT/WTO vary depending on the degree of its legalization: that is, under the less legalized GATT a member country's economic capacity is important, while under the legalized WTO its previous experiences are so, for its use of the DSM. The legalization has definitely attenuated the impact of its economic capacity on the use of the DSM, while it has strengthened the impact of its previous experiences on it very positively in the first half period of the WTO, and positively in its second half period. These results may mean that the WTO has by now leveled the playing field of dispute settlement not only for its economically less capable members but also for its relatively less experienced ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is an essential topic in the contemporary spotlight, and several countries have made efforts to handle it through their international commitments such as the Paris Agreement, which sets an actual baseline that has to be respected to avoid irreparable damage. Carbon taxes came into the picture as plausible tools in the fight against climate change aiming at reducing the production of greenhouse emissions. However, it is necessary to examine such measures under the light of the law of the World Trade Organization to avoid trade concerns or claims by any Member of said organization. Colombia has issued a carbon tax that charges the sale and importation of certain fossil fuels; yet, we believe that the level of protection could be superior by levying the manufacturing industry. Thus, the drafters of such measure must tread carefully on the implications that it may have on the competitive position of foreign products that could be under the scope of the tax to avoid a violation of the notions of discrimination or the imposition of unnecessary restrictions protected through the National Treatment principle enshrined in the gatt. On the other hand, the World Trade Organization allows the justification of an inconsistent measure through the general exceptions enshrined in gatt Article XX. This provision will cover these measures provided that they are not applied as a means of an unjustifiable or arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade. In this research, it will be ascertained how would extended carbon taxes be compatible with the cited rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ciência & Trópico (03042685) is the property of Fundacao Joaquim Nabuco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is a debate in international relations on how, when, and why international institutions influence domestic policy. This article contributes to this debate by looking at the influence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the European Union's (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It shows that the transfer of authority to international institutions may transform an external factor into a permanent influence on domestic policy. The transfer of authority in agriculture to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT – now included in the WTO) in 1994 led to the introduction of a dormant clause on export subsidies in all subsequent EU CAP regulations. This clause provided the legal foundation for the 2015 EU decision to remove export subsidies. Multilateral pressure (i.e. the demands of third countries in GATT/WTO negotiations) is not the only determinant of CAP, but it is important, and affected by the GATT/WTO having authority on agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For fifty years, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) system has fostered the development of liberal multilateralism. Originally a short, fifty-page set of rules that governed trade between just twenty-three Contracting Parties, and applying only provisionally because of the failure of several countries to ratify it, the GATT system has evolved into one of the world's most well-developed international organizations. The GATT’s organizational successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO), boasts over 130 members that have ratified its founding charter and thousands of pages of substantive rules. Perhaps most significantly, the Uruguay Round negotiations bestowed upon the GATT/WTO system revised rules of government, which some have predicted will vastly improve the regime's institutional strength. With new dispute settlement rules, clarified rules of procedure for decision-making by the Members, and the formal establishment of a genuine secretariat, many claim that the world's preeminent trade institution is stronger than ever. Their hope is that this revitalized institution can govern itself effectively, advancing international political order and rules-based liberal multilateralism.This paper considers the possible effects of China’s accession to the WTO on the WTO’s institutional strength—how China’s accession could affect WTO governmental processes and the extent of political support for the organization from leading Western trading countries. During the past ten years, in which China has (of course) not been a GATT Contracting Party or a WTO Member, there has been substantial “systems friction” between China and some Western trading countries. The term “systems friction,” coined by Sylvia Ostry , is usually thought of as political tension between countries attributable to their economic interaction in the context of fundamental differences in the organization and operating principles of their respective political-economic structures. There may be different forms of systems friction, depending on whether the interacting political-economic structures can change, how willing countries are to change political-economic structures in order to accommodate other players, and whether the structures simply have not yet been subject to negotia-tion. The systems friction now associated with China-trade embodies elements of all three forms. This raises the question of whether WTO accession for China is likely to reduce and contain the systems friction, or weaken the WTO as an institution, or both.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2177-7055.2016v37n73p193 The present paper analyses the first traces of the debates on environmental issues in the context of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), in the period that comprehends the negotiations of the charter of the intended International Trade Organization (ITO), 1947, until the end of the Tokyo Round, 1979. In order to assess this subject, this paper mainly refers to the texts of the agreements of the mentioned period and the documents produced during the negotiation rounds. The study of these three initial decades is relevant for a full grasp of the origins of a discussion that would gain strength in the subsequent years, and that rebounds until the present days.

ABSTRACT This article proposes to study the participation of Latin American delegations during the Havana Conference, which negotiated and approved the Charter of International Trade Organization (ITO), including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), in 1947-1948. It shows that the prevalent understanding of Latin American countries was that the Havana negotiations would be the outcome of their existing political and material power asymmetries in relation to the industrialized countries. They believed that their fragile economies should face the strong economies of the industrialized countries by economic planning and import substitution, already in place in several Latin American countries since the 1930s and the 1940s. The article also shows that the construction of the post-World War II international trade regime was in fact characterized by strong material and political inequalities, which undermined Latin American countries abilities to negotiate.

El otorgamiento de cláusulas de nación más favorecida nace bajo el marco de los acuerdos internacionales de índole comercial con la finalidad de promover y fomentar el intercambio económico. No obstante, su practicidad y características lograron que este tipo de estipulaciones fueran incorporadas de manera generalizada en los tratados de índole tributaria. De esta manera, en la práctica se evidencia la aceptación de estas formas jurídicas por parte de los Estados en la negociación de sus convenios para evitar la doble imposición. Colombia no ha sido ajena a este fenómeno, al optar incluir estos pactos como pauta general de negoción durante los primeros acuerdos tributarios firmados, lo cual generará un importante debate en torno a su aplicación práctica en el momento en el cual entre en vigor el tratado con el Reino Unido o Francia.

This paper aims to explore the constituent grammars of the margin of appreciation as a concept, and the way it is used by world trade judges, as well as the reasons for, and the immediate and potential outcomes directly and indirectly arising from, the plea to the concept when deciding WTO disputes relating to domestic societal regulation. In doing so, it is particularly important to demonstrate, through a detailed analysis of GATT and WTO jurisprudence, that GATT/WTO judges have applied the necessity test in order to follow different political agendas at different times – and also using the necessity narrative in various ways, including the hypothetical aim to ‘discipline’ members to regulate in the least trade-restrictive way possible. Until the US-COOL Article 21.5 decision, under the TBT, world trade adjudicators, and especially the Appellate Body, added nuances to the necessity test with considerations related to the right of WTO members to regulate in order to set their own level of protection. The latest relevant interpretative development in US-COOL Article 21.5, namely the WTO Appellate Body’s plea for the margin of appreciation concept, may have interesting implications for future WTO jurisprudence. At least two scenarios are possible. Either the Appellate Body has tacitly suggested in this ruling that members have certain discretion in considering what could constitute a legitimate objective of a particular regulation. Or the Appellate Body’s interpretation implies that the permissible degree of regulatory discretion of members actually rather depends on the importance of the objective to a member, and not – or to a lesser extent – on its legitimacy, so the latter should not be placed under strict scrutiny.

The countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (further - EAEU) make great efforts to develop the export of goods and to become part of regional and global production chains. Free-trade agreements are the most effective tool, which enables the expansion and simplification of access to foreign markets for domestic producers. The EAEU has made use of the right to make a global free-trade agreement (further - the Agreement) for the first time, and Vietnam has been chosen to be such a state. The article examines the innovative ideas, incorporated in the agreement; obligations ofthe EAEU countries are compared to the ones arising from the WTO membership of several EAEU countries. These are questions of trade liberalization, a wide range of aspects, connected with intellectual property, compensatory and anti-dumping measures, tariff and non-tariff barriers, technical, sanitary and phytosanitary regulation, economic advantages of the agreement for the EAEU countries, mutual obligations regarding reduction or zeroing of customs tariff rates.

Por que o Brasil tem tradicionalmente adotado postura defensiva em negociações multilaterais sobre o comércio de serviços? São três as principais categorias explicativas comumente usadas para entender os determinantes domésticos da diplomacia econômica: interesses, instituições e ideias. Neste estudo, avalio o papel dessas variáveis na determinação da posição brasileira nas negociações de serviços da Rodada Uruguai. O estudo de caso apresentado se vale de fontes primárias e entrevistas para reconstituir a posição negociadora do país ao longo da rodada, identificar as preferências dos atores governamentais e não governamentais relevantes e apontar os mecanismos e instâncias de interação entre governo e setor privado.

"Trade has the benefits which no country can deny. It is the lifeline of the people living across different boundaries. In the absence of trade, the happiness of the world would be at least reduced to half if not vanish". The role played by foreign trade in the development of the economies of different nations can never be overstated. Foreign trade has been rightly called upon as the engine of economic growth by many prominent economists of international repute. In the absence of international trade, nations would find it not only difficult to utilise their economic resources to the optimum level, but also will not be able to fulfil all the demands of consumption of the people in their economies. Present paper endeavours to present the utility of international trade in the development of any economy and volume of foreign trade in pre-reforms and post-reforms periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cuba sought economic independence from the U.S. and its reliance on sugar exports after its 1959 revolution, but subsequently developed new dependency relationships. In the meantime, Cuba remained inside the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), despite conducting most of its trade outside it. This paper explores the political economy of Cuba’s participation in the GATT and later the World Trade Organization (WTO). Documents show that Cuba sought to use its participation to gain new markets and influence in the developing world. While Cuba has gained little economically from its participation, in recent years it has diversified its exports and trade partners, and its trade interests now align more closely with WTO rules. Economic reforms will be necessary in order for Cuba to benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores tax policy effects and revenue implications of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It documents that countries joining GATT/WTO after 1990 have implemented tariff-cum-tax reforms, lowering tariff rates and raising consumption tax rates, in particular through reform or introduction of a value added tax (VAT). Employing a panel of 97 developing and transitional countries, 31 of which joined GATT/WTO between 1990 and 2011, using robust difference-in-difference specifications as well as the synthetic control method, we find a statistically and economically significant decline in revenues from import duties. This finding supports concerns about revenue losses, but also corroborates the efficacy of the late Uruguay GATT and the WTO trade regimes in promoting free trade among new members. Regarding consumption taxes, we find robust evidence that revenue substitution was successful, since revenue losses from import duties were more than compensated for by enhanced revenues from consumption taxes. With regard to the timing of the revenue effects, our results show that revenue losses in import duties mostly take place at the time of membership or later. Changes in consumption taxation, however, exhibit pre-membership effects, as revenues are increased, and VAT is adopted, often a few years ahead of losses in import duties. No such effects are found before the start of the accession negotiations, indicating that consumption tax reforms are initiated once a country is on the road to GATT/WTO membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the processes in the world economic system in the second half of the 1950's - late 1960's that caused a conflict between the geopolitical and economic interests of the participants in this system. Since the 1950's, thanks to free trade and technical innovation, began the period of rapid economic growth in Western Europe. The rapid development of this process has led to the fact that the world trading system actually contradicted the mechanism of the monetary and financial system, created in 1944. The conflict between the two systems was damaging primarily the economic of the United States, which manifested itself in increasing the balance of payments deficit and reducing confidence in the US currency. For these reasons, the United States began to develop a wide package of trade and finance reforms that included an active process of negotiations within the GATT between the United States and the EEC, the creation of the OECD, the adoption of the Trade Extension Act, interregional monetary cooperation, etc. However, US initiatives were increasingly colliding to opposition from European countries. It’s through the prism of above circumstances the article illustrates the relations between the US and the Western Europe during the specified period, demonstrated a change in the nature of US foreign policy during the administrations of D. Eisenhower, J. Kennedy and L. Johnson is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares how the strategy of the Trades Union Congress' (TUC) attempts to influence the Multi-Fibre Arrangement and implement a 'social clause' into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) changed between the Tokyo and the Uruguay rounds of negotiations. Based on internal TUC documents, this article specifically focuses on the UK textile industry. The article critiques and historicizes the TUC's strategies to influence GATT negotiations in a period of enormous economic and political change. In addition to the limitations of the TUC's own strategies, the economic shift from broadly embedded liberal to neo-liberal economic hegemony is cited as a crucial factor in the TUC's declining influence. By studying the TUC's strategies and alliances at the national, European, and transnational level, it is revealed that it was unprepared and slow to react to this structural shift and clung to idealized notions of the historic post-war 'consensus' that were fast becoming obsolete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

From the formation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1948, to the ending of the ill-fated Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in 2017, United States' leaders of both political parties have encouraged international trade. This paper examines four policy changes since GATT that may provide future solutions: Japan's Voluntary Export Restraints in 1981, the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, China's entrance into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, and the termination of the TPP in 2017. Despite a repeated negative trade balance, the percentage of trade in the GDP has been very meaningful to the U. S. economy. In an inspection of trade winners and losers, certain industries have done very well. The overall tradable sector has declined, while the non-tradable sector has seen very significant growth. One problem is that tradable industries pay workers more than their service counterparts, but face an unfulfilled need for trained workers. Multinational firms (MFN's) have prospered. Small firms, employing semi-skilled workers and supplying those MFN's have disappeared. Also as the United States wrestles with immigration, the semi-skilled jobs that the new entrants to the U.S. could have expected historically are gone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]