Globalization and new policy concerns: the WTO and the EU's sustainability criteria for biofuels

The transfer of some decision-making authority from the domestic to the supranational arena as a result of the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 potentially changed domestic policy dynamics. The WTO agreements reflect the trade policy concerns addressed in the Uruguay Round in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This article applies and adapts historical institutionalism to explain how international organizations may constrain and facilitate certain domestic policy options. It demonstrates that, while the WTO legal framework has become more receptive of environmental sustainability concerns, the social sustainability concerns that were increasingly entering the debate over biofuel policies were not easily accommodated, and this was seen as a constraint on the content of the European Union’s (EU) policy adopted in 2009. Only the environmental dimension of a broader concept of sustainability was included in the policy design.

The WTO: no longer relevant for CAP reform?

The chapter explores the role the World Trade Organization (WTO) played or, rather, did not play in the 2013 ‘recalibration’ of the CAP. It is organised as follows: first, a brief review of policy changes from 1992 to 2008 and their (apparent) conformability with evolving WTO rules; second, a re-examination of the relevance of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) in the mid-2010s; and, third, a short account of how WTO constraints were addressed by the European Commission and the European Parliament in the 2013 CAP reform debate.

Impacts of the proposals for tariff reductions in non-agricultural market access (Nama)

O Estudo Visa Avaliar os Impactos de Propostas Alternativas de Redução da Proteção Tarifária de Bens Não-Agrícolas Sobre a Economia Brasileira Usando um Modelo de Equilíbrio Geral Computável. Foram Simulados os Impactos da Implementação de Cortes Tarifários de Acordo com Diferentes Coeficientes para a Fórmula Suíça. as Simulações Foram Realizadas com o Modelo Gtap e Todos os Choques Tarifários Foram Calculados a Partir de Informações da Base de Dados Macmap. Além de Analisar Resultados Macroeconômicos e Setoriais, Também foi Testada a Sensibilidade dos Resultados em Relação ao Aumento das Elasticidades de Armington e À Ocorrência de uma Simultânea Liberalização de Tarifas Sobre Bens Agrícolas.

Pharmaceutical patent bargains: the Brazilian experience

In the backdrop of the strict patent regime flatly adopted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) for all countries, a few countries constantly challenge this system through aggressive patent bargains. Within the pharmaceutical sector, noticeably, some countries now threaten to issue or otherwise actually issue compulsory licenses that may sway large pharmaceutical companies into selling drugs with large discounts or into granting voluntary licenses domestically. That is conspicuously the negotiation strategy adopted by Brazil in its negotiations with big international pharmaceutical companies.This paper explains Brazil’s aggressive bargaining approach based on an analysis of two aspects of its political economy. The first has to do with the international context of patent bargaining in the post-WTO era. Accordingly, the existence of large and fast growing domestic markets position countries such as Brazil as strategic destinations for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and trade. Together with an absence of a propensity to innovate in pharmaceutical products, these conditions boost Brazil’s bargaining power for issuing compulsory licenses over pharmaceutical products. The second aspect is related to political economy dynamics inside Brazil. Accordingly, the political framework in Brazil undermines long-term policies and favors short-sighted ones also vis-a-vis R&D investments in the pharmaceutical industry. This remains true regardless of the strictness of the patent regime in place. The lesson of Brazil is relevant arguably for other more powerful developing countries which presently examine Brazil's approach while further challenging the WTO's strict patent policy for the future.

Acordos preferenciais de comércio e a OMC: um estudo sobre seus mecanismos de solução de controvérsias

Este trabalho analisa os Acordos Preferenciais de Comércio (APCs) com ênfase em seus Mecanismos de Solução de Controvérsias (MSC). A partir da seleção de alguns APCs bilaterais celebrados por Estados Unidos e União Europeia com outros parceiros comerciais, o trabalho objetiva (i) explicar como funcionam os MSC previstos pelos APCs para, em seguida, (ii) testar a hipótese de que a forma como os MSC são negociados nos APCs possibilita, em alguma medida, sua coexistência com o Órgão de Solução de Controvérsias (OSC) da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC). This paper analyzes Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) focusing in its Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (DRM). Bilateral agreements signed by the United States and the European Union with other countries were selected with the aim to (i) explain how the DRMs stablished by PTAs work and, aftwards, (ii) test the hypothesis that the way the DRMs are negotiated in the PTAs enables its coexistence with the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization.

WTO-plus commitments on the elimination of export duties: evidence of a two-tier membership?

This descriptive paper examines the prevalence of ‘WTO-plus’ commitments in accession protocols of newly acceded Members, with a focus on commitments on the elimination of export duties. It presents preliminary results of a mapping exercise carried out with respect to these commitments and seeks to answer two questions. First, can any general conclusions be drawn as to the prevalence of these commitments or are they, per definition, country-specific. Second, has the political nature of the WTO accession process allowed for the creation of a two-tier membership. The first question is answered by relying on data gathered as part of the ongoing PhD-research project conducted by the author. The project aims to construct a typology of WTO-plus commitments to allow for a more detailed analysis of the relationship between these commitments and the baseline obligations in the covered agreements. The accession of China to the WTO is commonly considered as the prime example of the inclusion of WTO-plus obligations in accession protocols. The paper tries to answer the question whether this particular accession was truly unique in nature, or whether the inclusion of “Plus” obligations is less exceptional than often assumed. Additionally, the accession protocols of other recently acceded-Members are examined to establish whether the hypothesis holds. In the PhD-research project this comparative methodology will also be applied to map WTO-plus commitments in other areas, such as anti-dumping and transparency. The second question will be answered in two stages. In a preliminary stage, international institutional law will be used to by analyzing the way in which the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body has dealt with this type of WTO-plus commitment in its jurisprudence. The second stage deals with the question of hierarchy: Accession Protocols are negotiated with the WTO Membership, by each country willing to accede to the WTO. This poses questions as to their exact position in the system of WTO law. To establish whether evidence of a two-tier membership is present, one first has to turn back to the question whether Accession Protocols are a separate (or independent) legal instrument or an “integral part” of the WTO system of covered agreements. If newly acceded Members do not benefit from the general exceptions in order to balance their more stringent, WTO-plus, obligations, this may support the conclusion that the membership of the World Trade Organization is becoming, in fact, two-tiered.

Competitividade brasileira nas exportações - Fase 1 metodologia para pesquisa e análise de dados

O Brasil vem aumentando anualmente a sua participação no comércio exterior mundial, mas apesar de seu significado na economia mundial, o seu volume negociado internacionalmente corresponde a somente 1,1% das exportações mundiais de mercadorias (23ª posição no ranking mundial), e 0,6% das exportações de serviços comerciais (35ª posição no ranking mundial), segundo a organização mundial do comércio (WTO, 2005). Na Fase 1 desta pesquisa, que se encerra com este Relatório, foi desenvolvida uma metodologia para a pesquisa e análise de dados relativos às dificuldades enfrentadas pelas empresas brasileiras no processo de exportação de mercadorias. Essa fase incluiu uma ampla revisão da literatura nacional e internacional sobre os fatores que têm impacto sobre o desempenho das exportações e a formulação e pré-teste de um questionário. Na Fase 2 será realizada a pesquisa propriamente dita através da aplicação do questionário a uma amostra de cerca de 1.000 empresas exportadoras, selecionadas no Catálogo de Exportadores Brasileiros da CNI – Confederação Nacional da Indústria. Os dados resultantes da pesquisa serão utilizados para avaliar o impacto dos gargalos no volume das exportações, no valor FOB das exportações e na variação anual do valor FOB, utilizando a técnica multivariada de regressão múltipla.

Desafios da acessão da Rússia à OMC

O presente artigo pretende analisar os compromissos assumidos pela Rússia quando de sua acessão à Organização Mundial de Comércio (OMC), a fim de averiguar os impactos que esses podem trazer ao sistema multilateral de comércio. A Rússia era a última grande economia que estava ausente da OMC e, para que sua acessão fosse aceita pelos membros da organização, submeteu-se a uma série de obrigações que concediam aos demais membros maior acesso ao mercado russo e visavam assegurar que o país conformaria seu sistema econômico às regras do sistema multilateral. Assim, foram estabelecidas obrigações em temas relacionados ao setor de petróleo e gás, à participação do Estado na economia, aos programas de subsídio e à observância das regras de propriedade intelectual. A partir da análise de tais compromissos, em conjunto a uma comparação com a acessão da China à OMC, em 2001, serão identificadas as principais características da economia russa que poderão ensejar desafios à sua plena participação no sistema multilateral

O “elo perdido” entre a organização mundial do comércio e o fundo monetário internacional

One of the main objectives of the Bretton Woods negotiations was to guarantee the firm control over competitive exchange rate devaluations, which had worsened the effects of the economic crisis of the 1930s. The par value exchange rate system was thus created, representing a link between the international financial system and the international trading system, guaranteeing, to the latter, the neutrality of the currency issue. The present article analyses how the institutional revolutions suffered by the IMF ended up representing the loss of this link and discusses its consequences to the WTO

Barreiras regulatórias: um novo desafio para a governança da OMC

Over the last decades, there is an increasing concern around what should be the role played by the World Trade Organization before the proliferation of preferential and plurilateral trade agreements (PTAs). Moreover, the expansion of the trade agenda through issues not encompassed by the WTO agreements, such as sustainability and global value chains led to a process of fragmentation of international trade law, strengthening the false idea that there would be a complete antagonism between preferentialism and multilateralism. As tariff preferences have diminished in importance, non-tariff measures as domestic regulation have become relatively more significant as determinants of market access and the conditions of competition. Given this equation, and regarding the importance to safeguard the progress achieved by the multilateral trade system, the present article seeks to elucidate some points considered relevant to the regulatory barriers subject and, therefore, address the role that can be attributed to the WTO as a key to effective governance of trade regulatory cooperation

Reach: is such regulation WTO consistent?

This present study analyses the Regulation on Chemicals of the European Union – so called REACH, and some of its main features. Technical barriers to trade have become the new instrument of distorting international trade benefits and creating protection for domestic industry, on the basis of protection of human health and the environment. It aims at identifying REACH’s most primary and controversial element and its consistency under the World Trade Organization System, in context of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade

A aplicação do acordo sobre subsídios e medidas compensatórias pelo estado brasileiro

The Multilateral Trading System has evolved and presented new international mandatory rules to States. Along with the World Trade Organization constitutive treaty, Brazil has incorporated the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) in the national legal system. That treaty limits de scope of subsidies concession by governments since this practice can constitute a mechanism of commercial disloyalty, affecting national industrial development in the importing country. At the same time, the multilateral agreement grants defense legitimate instruments to States, among them the possibility of domestically and unilaterally imposing countervailing measures to subsidized products that enter the national territory. Since the issue concerns both international and domestic level in complementary grounds, this research, besides investigating the treaty related obligation, aims at studying the national legal fundaments to ASCM s application by the Brazilian State. Therefore, the essential point resides in the State s conduction of its international trading and also in its available and constitutionally established mechanisms of economic intervention. State s regulating power reveals itself as a fundamental prerogative to succeed in the internalization of international agreement s requirements in the domestic legal system, which represents a basic prerequisite to the implementation of countervailing measures. Once the whole normative outlines are apprehended, this study shall scan the administrative process of trading defense main elements, along with the means of controlling public administration acts. The action taken by the public organs that directly intervene in foreign trade shall be analyzed as well, so as to enable reasoning if the unilateral application of countervailing duties by the Brazilian State is happening on legitimacy grounds

Negociações comerciais internacionais e democracia: o contencioso Brasil x EUA das patentes farmacêuticas na OMC

Dans cet article, on cherche la viabilité analytique du Jeu à Deux Niveaux - JDN pour examiner la situation brésilienne dans l'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce - OMC. on cherche à voir, en même temps, si le perfectionnement des institutions démocratiques brésiliennes en ce qui concerne le processus de formulation de la politique extérieure sera capable d'améliorer la réponse aux demandes des groupes d'intérêt et d'élargir la compétence technique de la diplomatie brésilienne dans les négociations commerciales internationales. on cherche aussi à savoir si ce perfectionnement peut faire monter la crédibilité et la légitimité internationale des démarches brésiliennes au sein de l'OMC, dans le sens de tourner en leur faveur les régimes internationaux. Pour cela, on analyse le contentieux des brevets pharmaceutiques mené contre les États-Unis au sein de l'OMC.

Origens dos instrumentos de formação da política comercial norte-americana

L'objectif de cet article est de montrer l'existence de traces historiques permettant de lier les concepts de libre-échange et protectionnisme, tous les deux employés dans la politique de commerce extérieur des Etats-Unis. Parallèlement, on cherche à souligner l'importance de la législation et des principes formulés dans ce pays et leur rôle explicatif concernant les motivations de la structure du commerce international après 1945. Ce rôle a en effet contribué à qu'on puisse mieux comprendre les tournées de négociations du GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) jusqu'à la création de l'OMC (Organisation Mondiale du Commerce), en 1995. on traite également des raisons pour lesquelles le commerce international aux Etats-Unis est non seulement une question d'Etat mais encore une question de la société.

Comércio internacional e meio ambiente: estímulo à produção sustentável ou mero protecionismo comercial a posição do Brasil em dois casos de litígio

The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1994 as a result of the Uruguay Round, and has as its principal aim advocate for the maintenance of free trade between nations. The preamble of its Constitutive Agreement specifically cites as an institution the goal of achieving sustainable development and the pursuit of protecting and preserving the environment, bringing into the sphere of world trade the idea that concern for the environmental cause is not restricted only the group of environmentalists, but rather has entered the economic landscape in a way not only ideological, but also pragmatic. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947, part of the GATT 1994, contains a device that allows the adoption of trade restrictive measures, provided that such measures aimed at protecting the environment - Article XX. The Settlement Body (DSB) is part of the WTO and acts in dissolving disputes between the countries motivated by trade. It examines two cases where countries have imposed restrictive trade measures with environmental justification. The first case was closed in 1996, with award of damages given to Brazil, on the breakdown of U.S. environmental legislation imposed on imported gasoline from Brazil - and the second, begun in 2005 and closed in 2007, coming out victorious again Brazil is on the import ban on retreaded tires to Brazil. The objective is to answer the question: how the environment is treated in the midst of trade discussions - which is aimed at its protection or its use with economic objectives in disguise? For the preparation of this work, extensive documentary research was undertaken with the virtual site of the WTO to review the entire production of legal cases and subsequent analysis of the key issue for the work, and literature of authors who have studied the tense relationship between trade international environment. The first case, it could be seen that the political movement performed by the U.S. with the aim of achieving acceptable standards of air quality was an institutional effort to ensure the quality of air, and thus would be inappropriate to say that the regulation of gasoline was merely a disguised trade barrier.However, a careful analysis of the implementation and operation of gasoline regulation may reveal intentions disguised trade and U.S. environmental argument did not hold. The weight of this environment was relegated, since there were clearly outside interests to the environmental cause. The second case, it was realized that, despite clear attempts by the EC to promote ecological dumping, send when brought to Brazil, supposedly a country with weaker environmental structure on surveillance, a residue that, pursuant to internal policies, as could not be sent to their own landfills, the Brazilian discourse remained focused on the environmental cause, and this sort there was the existence of disguised trade barriers, but of importance, at least a priori, the discussion of foreign forces on the environment environment because there is no way to legally justify the reversal of the total understanding of the first judging body, the sight of all the arguments presented by Brazil and the nonsubmission of new facts upon appeal. Still, quite heartening to reflect on the role of trade liberalization on the environment in general, because, while they do not reach a definitive conclusion will reveal positions in both directions, both for and against, the that only adds to the discussions and makes this a very fertile topic for future research