Inaugural CIL-NUS Academy of International Trade
Regional Trade Agreements - The Law and the Practice | Johanna Jacobsson
Thu 11–Fri 12 May 2023, 3–5pm Singapore Time
Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have risen in number and reach over the years, including an increase in large plurilateral agreements. Non-discrimination among trading partners is one of the core principles of the WTO; however, RTAs, which are reciprocal preferential trade agreements between two or more partners, constitute one of the derogations and are authorized under the WTO, subject to a set of rules. In practice, there is, however, little control of compliance with these rules and today regional trade agreements have become a standard way to liberalize trade between WTO members.
In the first session of 2 hours, we will review the WTO rules for RTAs. These rules cover free-trade areas and customs unions in the area of trade in goods and economic integration agreements in the area of services. We will see how these disciplines have been designed, what is their rational and how they are enforced. We will discuss positive and negative sides to the phenomenon of preferential trade in the form of RTAs.
In the second session of 2 hours, we will continue the discussion on the rational of RTAs, focusing on modern bilateral and regional agreements that go beyond trade and include very diverse policy areas. We will also review the possibility to grant preferential treatment to developing countries in line with the so-called Enabling Clause. Finally, the session finishes with a discussion of the future of multilateral v. regional trade considering the current geo-political environment.
READINGS:
1) The Primary Sources:
- GATT Article XXIV:4-10
- Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
- GATS Article V
- Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (Decision of 28 November 1979 (L/4903)), also known as the Enabling Clause:
(…)
- Notwithstanding the provisions of Article I of the General Agreement, contracting parties may accord differential and more favourable treatment to developing countries1 , without according such treatment to other contracting parties.
- The provisions of paragraph 1 apply to the following:
(…)
(c) Regional or global arrangements entered into amongst less-developed contracting parties for the mutual reduction or elimination of tariffs and, in accordance with criteria or conditions which may be prescribed by the CONTRACTING PARTIES, for the mutual reduction or elimination of non-tariff measures, on products imported from one another; …
- WTO website on regional trade agreements, available at:
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/bey1_e.htm
For information on regional trade agreements that have been notified to the WTO, see:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/region_e/region_e.htm
- auses and Effects of PTAs: Is it all about preferences? World Trade Report 2011, pp. 92-121, available at:
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/anrep_e/wtr11-2c_e.pdf
Johanna Jacobsson is a lawyer and independent consultant in EU law and international trade law. She is also an adjunct professor at IE University (Madrid, Spain), where she teaches international law and EU law to students in Bachelor's and Master's programs. She holds a PhD from the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) and LL.B., LL.M. and BA degrees from the University of Helsinki (Finland). She has previously been a full-time law professor at IE Law School, a law clerk at the Court of Justice of the European Union, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affair and a practitioner in a law firm. Johanna’s research has been mainly in the area of international trade law where she has focused particularly on services trade, preferential trade agreements and the international regulatory environment for digital services. Since July 2018, Johanna is a member of the Executive Council of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL).