Regional Rules in the Global Trading System

by Edited by Antoni Estevadeordal , Kati Suominen , Robert Teh

• ISBN13: 9780521760843
• ISBN10: 0521760844
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs) over the past two decades has led to the relationships between regional and WTO rules or disciplines becoming increasingly complex. A major obstacle to advancing the understanding of RTAs is the absence of detailed information about their contents. This limits empirical analysis of their economic effects and policy debate between those who view RTAs as discriminatory instruments hostage to protectionist interests and those who see them as conducive to multilateral opening. In response, contributors to this book provide analytical mappings of RTA rules in six key areas market access, technical barriers to trade, contingent protection, investment, services and competition policy across dozens of the main RTAs. The information collected sheds light on the interplay between regional and multilateral trade rules, advances empirical work on the economic effects of RTAs and informs the policy debate on ways to deal with their burgeoning number.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Big-think regionalism: a critical survey

Market access provisions in regional trade agreements

Trade remedy provisions in regional trade agreements

A mapping of regional rules on technical barriers to trade

Services liberalization in the new generation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs): how much further than the GATS?

Mapping investment provisions in regional trade agreements: towards an international investment regime?

Competition provisions in regional trade agreements

Appendix

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