Suchergebnisse

We analyze the optimal design and implications of international investment agreements. These are ubiquitous, potent and heavily criticized state-to-state treaties that compensate foreign investors against host country policies. Optimal agreements cause national but not global underregulation (""regulatory chill""). The incentives to form agreements and their distributional consequences depend on countries' unilateral commitment possibilities and the direction of investment flows. Foreign investors benefit from agreements between developed countries at the expense of the rest of society, but not in the case of agreements between developed and developing countries.

Most governments have yet to agree to binding disciplines on government procurement regulation, whether in the WTO or a preferential trade agreement. Empirical research suggests that reciprocally-negotiated market access commitments have not been effective in inducing governments to buy more from foreign suppliers. Foreign sourcing by governments has been rising for most countries, however, independent of whether States have made international commitments to this effect – although there is some evidence that this trend was reversed post-2008 in several countries that had the freedom to do so. The stylized facts suggest a reconsideration of the design of international cooperation on procurement regulation, with less emphasis on specific market access reciprocity and greater focus on good procurement practice and principles, efforts to boost transparency, and pursuit of pro-competitive policies more generally.

Many of the policies that affect international supply chains and associated trade flows are regulatory in nature. Governments generally do not pursue domestic regulation or design trade agreements with a view to support the "trade as production" model by reducing regulatory differences that have the effect of impeding trade. This paper proposes several mechanisms to help make policy more supportive of regulatory cooperation initiatives that are aimed at reducing excess costs that negatively affect supply chain trade and investments, and that can be incorporated into trade agreements. While the analysis and suggestions are general, specific context and examples are provided by recent trade agreements and regulatory cooperation initiatives involving Canada, the EU and the US.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the current stage of investment cooperation between the BRICS countries in terms of current investment projects and legislation regulating investment interaction. The methods of the research are as follows: investigating the issue of investment cooperation between different member states and the legal framework for such cooperation; finding sources such as books, magazines, journals, legal acts, and websites; collecting all the necessary data; critical analysis of the data on the issue of the research; developing an outline. The investment interaction under study is presented at three different levels: outward foreign direct investments from the BRICS countries; foreign direct investments into the BRICS countries; and investment cooperation between the BRICS countries. All levels of investment cooperation are regulated both at the national and international levels.

The article deals with problem of trade cooperation and Austrian investment activity in Ukraine over the past 25 years. The purpose of the paper was to find the reasons of interest in Ukraine by Austrian government and financial circles. Data for this study was collected from international documents and diplomatic statements of Austria and Ukraine. The study shows that Austrian investment activity in Ukraine has some good perspectives.

The article deals with problem of trade cooperation and Austrian investment activity in Ukraine over the past 25 years. The purpose of the paper was to find the reasons of interest in Ukraine by Austrian government and financial circles. Data for this study was collected from international documents and diplomatic statements of Austria and Ukraine. The study shows that Austrian investment activity in Ukraine has some good perspectives.

E15 Task Force on Regulatory Systems Coherence ; Ever since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), its Members have found it very difficult to negotiate new commitments to liberalize access to markets for goods and services, let alone cooperate on "new" policy issues to address the spillover effects of domestic regulation on international trade and investment, or agree on trade-related policy disciplines to address collective action problems such as safeguarding biodiversity or combating climate change. Disagreements among large players, most notably the United States (US) and other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations on one side and emerging economies such as Brazil, China, and India on the other, have impeded progress on the traditional market-access agenda (mostly tariffs and agricultural support), precluding efforts to move onto new issues. Many of the latter are regulatory in nature, with the "problem" being that differences across countries in the substance of regulation of a product or production process and/or national conformity assessment processes create negative international spillovers and/or waste (since they represent excess costs for firms). Instead of deliberation in the WTO, the focus of attention in addressing such spillovers has been shifting to regional and plurilateral fora. Indeed, even on traditional market access issues attention has moved away from the WTO and towards preferential trade agreements (PTAs). But PTAs are now also venues where the trade effects of (differences in) regulatory policies are the subject of discussion, often building on bilateral or regional regulatory cooperation that has developed independently of—or in the absence of—trade agreements. One reason for the use of PTA-centered trade strategies to discuss regulatory spillovers is that the traditional market-access agenda has become less important to OECD members. Average tariffs of these countries are very low and quotas have largely disappeared. The policy spillover agenda spans health and safety norms, certification requirements for services providers, policies pertaining to data security and privacy, and so forth. The rapidly changing composition of trade as a result of technical changes (for example, the increase in trade in services and associated cross-border flows of data and services suppliers) is also making regulatory policies more of a trade concern for high-income countries (although it is equally a matter of concern for many developing nations). As products are more integrated with value-added services and connected to each other (the "Internet of things"), national regulation—whether driven by security, privacy, intellectual property, consumer protection, or industrial policy motivations—is moving centre stage. Because products are increasingly connected to the Internet/"cloud" and embody a variety of value-added services that involve cross-border data flows, policies that limit or raise the cost of digital trade and data flows are rapidly becoming more important. There is a vast literature regarding the potential rationales and motivations for government regulation of producers and products. Regulation has a critical role to play in addressing domestic market failures and to achieve societal objectives. There is also an extensive literature on the pros and cons of international standards and standardization. National standards and regulatory measures may act as barriers to trade, either deliberately or inadvertently. This is because while standards setting often reflects a "genuine" need to regulate to address a market failure of some kind, it can also be influenced by political economy forces, and, consequently, there is a risk of capture of the process. The political economy literature on product standards shows that these are often beneficial for economic actors, but that they can also be used for protectionist purposes. The same applies to domestic regulation, which can be captured to "raise rivals costs" or used as an instrument to discriminate against foreign suppliers. The organization of an increasing share of production and trade into international value chains/networks means that end products are impacted by an ever greater number of regulatory jurisdictions. For example, World Economic Forum (2013) notes a case involving a chemical company that imports acetyl (used in aspirin and paracetamol) into the US. On average, the company had to comply with similar regulations from five different agencies that often did not coordinate and communicate effectively with one another, resulting in delays for one out of three shipments, with each day of delay costing it US$60,000. Empirical research has also shown that the costs for firms associated with differences in services regulation across countries are significant. This paper focuses on dimensions of the interface between domestic regulation and the trading system; the implications for trade of differences in regulatory regimes across markets; and approaches that have been/could be taken to reduce the impact of regulatory barriers to trade globally. Each section has some illustrative questions and potential topics for deliberation in the E15 Task Force on Regulatory Systems Coherence and for possible further research.

Central Asia is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). Although a first wave of foreign investments targeted Central and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, followed by a second one to South-east Europe in the early 2000s, FDI is now moving even further eastward towards Central Asia. The Central Asian countries are all relatively small landlocked economies and need to promote trade and investment which enable them to closely integrate into the international economic order to achieve sustainable economic development. The level of intra-regional trade in Central Asia is low and their trade is concentrated in few commodities and hence the possibilities of setting up joint ventures emerges so that instead of exporting and importing the same product, one country may decide to set up a joint venture in the partner country (with a more favourable investment climate and cost advantage) to buy back the same in the home country. The track record of FDI in Central Asia demonstrates the urgent need to strengthen good governance, transparency, stability and the fair application of the rule of law in the region. Therefore, this article seeks to examine the prospects and challenges of regional investment cooperation and provide some of the measures to enhance the effectiveness of bilateral investment treaties and double tax avoidance treaties among the Central Asian countries.