Acuerdos comerciales regionales
Filter :
Regional Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System
The book contains a collection of studies examining trade- related issues negotiated in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and how RTAs are related to the WTO’s rules. While previous work has focused on subsets of RTAs, these studies are based on what is probably the largest dataset used to date, and highlight key issues that have been negotiated in all RTAs notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). New rules within RTAs are compared to rules agreed upon by WTO members. The extent of their divergences and the potential implications for parties to RTAs, as well as for WTO members that are not parties to RTAs, are examined. This volume makes an important contribution to the current debate on the role of the WTO in regulating international trade and how WTO rules relate to new rules being developed by RTAs.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements are due to all the data providers, mostly national administrations or WTO delegations who have made this information available including through notifications presented in Technical Annex A. In a number of cases, data has been made available on national websites or through regional organizations. Given the vast amount of statistical data and metadata that needed to be processed, and because this information is not available in one single organization, this publication was only possible as a joint effort of the WTO, ITC, and UNCTAD. Each of the three organizations has a proven track record and comparative strengths in the field of tariff analysis.
Do regional anti- dumping regimes make a difference?
The conclusion of regional trade agreements (RTAs) that liberalize trade is often accompanied by the negotiation of rules and disciplines safeguarding the ability of the parties to take defensive measures temporarily restricting access by other RTA parties to their markets, thus temporarily stepping back from opening markets. Accordingly, in special circumstances and under specific conditions, certain defence mechanisms can be used by governments, for instance when facing what is described as a situation of “unfair trade”, if penetration by foreign products into domestic markets causes damage or injury to the domestic industry.
Trade remedy provisions in regional trade agreements
This paper examines trade remedy provisions in regional trade agreements (RTAs). By trade remedies are meant anti-dumping, countervailing and emergency or safeguard measures. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties can be levied on exporters who engage in ‘unfair’ trading practices that cause material injury to domestic producers. These unfair trading practices can take the form of selling products below their ‘normal’ price or of benefiting from government-provided subsidies. Safeguard actions can be taken even if there is no unfair trade practice so long as imports have increased to an extent that serious injury has been suffered by domestic producers. No matter the difference in conditions under which they can be triggered, all these instruments represent internationally agreed means for a country to temporarily increase the level of trade protection received by its injured domestic industry.
Technical annexes
The increasing number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) negotiated by countries in recent years underlines the importance countries place on these RTAs. Selected information on RTAs by country is presented in the tables below.