Suchergebnisse

The controversial issue of genetically modified (GM) food is discussed in this book. While the United States (US) is a strong supporter of GM technology having adopted a rather lax regulation of trade with GM products, the European Union (EU) is representing a sceptical position towards this new technology and has even imposed a de facto moratorium on further approval of GM products from 1998 to 2004. The purpose of this book is an extensive analysis of the current status on risks and benefits of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and a suggestion on how an appropriate regulation of GM products could be derived. Potential guidelines are provided for policy formulation both in a qualitative and in a quantitative dimension. The US is applying the principle of substantial equivalence, which means that GM products are in their substance identical to products produced by conventional methods. Therefore, no new regulations are necessary for the trade with GM products. In contrast, the European Union (EU) disagrees that GM products are equivalent to their conventional counterparts due to the different production process. Instead, the EU refers to the precautionary principle in its GMO policy, meaning that trade with GM products should be restricted until it will be proven that no additional risks are implied by the use of these products. The divergence of opinions about the right policy to regulate GM products has significant impacts on trade flows and welfare effects. The US and the EU have already tried to resolve their dispute before the World Trade Organization (WTO). Relevant laws of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the WTO are presented as well as indications for a potential consensus.

This book explores the significance of the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), as well as some of the issues brought into sharper focus by the Seattle demonstrations of 1999. Located within the broader study of global governance, Multilateralism and the World Trade Organisation offers a critical examination of the legal framework of the WTO. The book uncovers a series of discriminatory practices embedded in the WTO's legal framework, which act to the disadvantage of smaller, developing and transitional states.

As tariffs have fallen dramatically over the past decades, behind-the-border measures—such as technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures—have become increasingly important for international trade policy. To facilitate trade, governments sign trade agreements in which they agree to base such measures on international standards. But who actually develops these standards? This book takes a close look at the International Organization for Standardization and the Codex Alimentarius – two prominent standard-setting organizations in the area of TBT and SPS – to investigate how international standardization influences the design of international trade agreements, and vice versa.

The initial leaps forward in international trade liberalisation were achieved under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) when trade barriers in the form of tariffs were significantly reduced or removed up until the mid-1970s. However, this advancement was counteracted by a new protectionism which surfaced in the oil crises and the subsequent world economic recession. The term new was not to indicate the novelty of protectionist tendencies regaining momentum, but instead referred to the ever more subtle instruments, deploying non-tariff barriers to trade. Among thes