LAWS70028 International Trade Law
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The University of Melbourne
Assessment task two comprises four interrelated parts aimed at helping with the preparation of the final, full research paper:
Students are required to propose their own research topic. They can propose any research topic that covers some of the current issues related to the WTO International Trading System (covered, or touched upon, in seminars, in weeks 2 & 3). ‘The future of multilateralism at the WTO’, ‘the relationship between free trade agreements and the GATT’, ‘the WTO and development’, ‘the WTO trading system and climate change’, ‘the Paris Agreement and the WTO’, ‘coal extraction and climate change’, the impact of fracking on the environment’, ‘the tension between development and the need to protect the environment’, ‘international trade and the environment’, ‘international trade and human rights’, ‘the WTO trading system and women’s rights’, ‘the Trump Administration’s approach to international trade’, and ‘the impact of Brexit on the WTO’ are a few examples of such issues.
Research topics need to be clearly stated and accompanied by preliminary bibliography list containing at least 15 relevant sources cited in accordance with the rules in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Bibliography entries need to relate to the proposed topic and need to be of a recent date. Academic journal articles, books, case law and reports are examples of good research sources.
In part 2 of assessment task two, students are required to produce 1-2 pages long general introduction (ie, the first part of their research paper).
Each student is required to present in class an overview of their research paper. Oral presentations will be two minutes long. Each presentation will be accompanied by a brief question time aimed at helping students to enhance their research papers.
Students are required to produce full research paper, properly referenced and accompanied by the final bibliography list. Each research paper needs to include the following parts:
You are expected to conduct research around the current issues concerning the WTO International Trading System, on your own proposed topic, approved by Unit Coordinator. In your research you will rely on both primary sources (eg, legal instruments and case law) and secondary sources (eg, reports and scholarly writing (eg, books and journal articles)). Your research will have to be up-to-date and fully referenced
The task is designed to test students’ knowledge and understanding of the relevant law and to assess their ability to research the topic area, identify various issues emanating from their research, and to critically evaluate research findings. Their ability to communicate clearly, articulate arguments with support from their research and draw conclusions appropriate to their discussion will also be taken into account.
Full research paper (ie, part 4 of assessment task two) must be written throughout in proper paragraphs, using full sentences, and must be properly referenced, proof-read and spell-checked before submission. Good use of paragraph conventions, clear writing, correct spelling and grammar, as well as correct citation of the relevant case law, applicable legal instruments and other sources, will be rewarded.
The following research has been conducted in order to find out about the future of multilateralism at World Trade Organization (WTO). Multilateralism in simple terms can be understood as undertaking trading activities between more than two states. Multilateralism is believed to serve as a boon for foreign policy makers. The main objective of this research is to find out the relationship between the WTO as well as multilateralism as the main task that is undertaken by WTO is related to international trade activities. The following research is being conducted to know about the future of multilateral agreements of WTO as well as the reason for the current failures of these multilateral agreements of WTO.
What is the future of multilateralism at WTO?
The main significance of this research is that it will help the foreign policy makers as well as future researchers to gain insight over this topic. This research will also showcase about the relationship between multilateralism as well as WTO. This research will help to bring out the challenges being faced by multilateral agreements of WTO as well as the possible solutions in order to boost its effectiveness. The following research will help to know about the current position of multilateral agreements as well as the future of these agreements and how the multilateral agreements is the main pillar of World Trade Organization.
The main limitation of this research is assumed to be time constraint as multilateralism is a topic that includes foreign policy that is influenced by many different countries. Also WTO undertakes multilateral activities on a very large scale hence a lot of time will be invested on this research in order to get an in-depth analysis.
The main focus of this research revolves around multilateral activities that are undertaken by WTO. WTO is an international organization and hence looks after international trade activities and in order to manage these international trades the organization has to develop multilateral policies. Many research activities has been undertaken related to the topic multilateral agreements but this particular research will provide information related to the future scope of multilateral agreements of WTO and the reasons driving or influencing the future of WTO.
The research work of many researchers over the same subject will be analyzed for this research. This will help in gaining an in depth knowledge about the topic that is multilateralism and WTO as well as its past, present and future. Literature review will be presented in the form of secondary data in the research. Literature review is undertaken by analyzing the earlier research work conducted by subject experts on the same topic.
In order to fulfil the objectives as well as aims of the research, secondary data collection method will be used, under which the works of earlier researchers will be studied. The secondary data that will be collected will be reflected under the heading literature review.
The main argument of this research is that multilateralism is an important pillar of WTO as well as reflects the changes in the foreign economic policies. Hence, to some extent its future can be predicted at WTO as well as what are the changes that will have an impact on multilateralism will be analyzed through this research.
The research paper will start with the research proposal that includes about the research topic as well as the main aims and objectives of the research and few other details related to the headings going to be covered in the rest of the body. This will be followed by literature review, research methodology, and then results and findings, and finally concluding remarks will be made that will reflect the results of research.
WTO undertakes various multilateral agreements that have the ability to change the international trading pattern. WTO was established in the year 1947 as GATT but since the inception of globalization WTO has been able to do wonders in international trading system, it has given a new shape as well as has revolutionized the way international trade works. The different multilateral agreements that are undertaken by WTO includes multilateral trading agreements for preferential trading agreements; multilateral agreements related to environment; related to free trade agreements; related to climate change; etc. Henrik Horn in his article have mentioned that the multilateral agreements that are signed by WTO should not be treated as an obligation that is legally binding the WTO members rather it should be taken as a source of information that will help countries in developing their economies.
The preferential trade agreements are found to be encouraging the members of WTO in order to obtain increased bargaining power as well as give a boost to their multilateral trade agreements. The multilateral trade agreements are helping the nations in trade negotiations as well as in increasing their accessibility for markets. It has been seen that transparency is one if the latest issue that is being faced by WTO. Iza Lejárraga has suggested that regional trade agreements has the ability to solve this issue and will provide with instruments that will help in strengthening the transparency in the multilateralism at WTO. It has been seen that many a times WTO face challenges over certain multilateral agreements because of the deadlock created over negotiations.
Like for example Doha Development Agenda (DDA) faced deadlock over certain negotiations, and the main reasons that were highlighted that acted as deadlock includes the fast changes taking place in the world economic structure as well as the explosive growth rate being earned by China (Hoekman, 2014). So, it can be seen that how different countries play a major role in creating a deadlock over multilateral agreements disrupting the normal work of WTO.
Multilateral trade negotiations have the ability to transform the way economies work presently. There is always scope for improvement and hence, efforts are taken in order to improve the effectiveness of multilateralism at WTO. One of the solution provided to this is that domestic level sources of negotiations needs to be made more flexible, as well as it is important to make the involved members understand that who is going to benefit from such agreements. Also it is recommended by researchers that many times WTO is seen as playing an ambiguous role and this need to be avoided to improve the effectiveness of multilateralism. It is recommended that the WTO can make use of preferential trade agreements as well as free trade agreements at the time of stalled negotiations in order to break the deadlock that is affecting the multilateral agreements.
Also it is recommended that WTO should make use of regional trade agreements in order to boost the multilateral trade agreements and should not shift their focus wholly on regional trade agreements as multilateralism is the base of WTO (Winters, 2015). The increase in the preferential trade agreements as well as the regional trade agreements is believed to bring serious challenges to WTO as well as also threaten the credibility of WTO whereas; on the other hand multilateral agreements give a boost to WTO. It has been suggested that WTO should also reconsider their negotiation procedures as this will have direct positive impact on the multilateral trade agreements of WTO.
It has also been seen that preferential trade agreements hamper the smooth functioning of the multilateral trade agreements. The most common PTA is FTA which is often considered as hampering the liberalization of WTO. Though, they are also believed to merge in multilateralism at later stage but, it is presently being considered as a stumbling block for multilateralism.
WTO is seen as the pillar for the multilateral economic governance system. Through multilateral trade agreements the WTO establishes certain rules as well as a road in order to deal with negotiations as well as facilitate trade liberalization. The first major challenge that has been highlighted by authors is regionalism over multilateralism. This is so because the author believes that regionalism will act as a hindrance in the path of global free trade. Another challenge that is faced by multilateralism is the bilateral trade agreements.
This is so because this also does not facilitate global trade and also it may favour most favoured nations ignoring few markets. So, the impact of this is seen at the time of the negotiations of multilateral agreements that include nations that are not under the most favoured nations list. They try to create deadlock and because of this many agreements does not reach to conclusion. Another challenge that is being faced by multilateral agreements includes that the claims mentioned in the agreement if not fulfilled leads to unrealistic expectations of the members.
And if they are not fulfilled the members do not easily agree on the next rounds of the multilateral agreements. Hence, false claims are also one of the challenges. Some of the recent challenges highlighted by researchers include investment issues, transparency issues being faced in the government procurement as well a competition policies. Some of the new issues reflect the issues mentioned under the Singapore Issues in the year 1996. Few other challenges that are present as well as may occur in future related to multilateralism have been mentioned by the authors.
Challenges like financial crisis or economic crisis may act as future challenge to multilateralism; the deadlock in the Doha Development Agenda may wake up future challenges for multilateralism; transparency is a major issue that is present and is also expected to occur in future; etc. are some of the challenges that pose a serious threat on the future of multilateralism.
Depending upon the above mentioned statements made, it can be said that many challenges are being faced by multilateralism presently as well as is also accepted to haunt in future. Because of these challenges it is being seen that multilateralism which was the only pillar of WTO is no more the single pillar of WTO. WTO is heading towards adopting a two pillar system. The first pillar that is being adopted by WTO involves the traditional trading activities that are being followed by the organization since its inception.
The second system that is being adopted by WTO is centralized at investment as well as intellectual property protection, as well as trading activities related to intermediate goods and services as well as movement of the major players towards mega regionals. Because of the increasing regionalism the future of multilateralism is very uncertain. At the same time the other reason for the uncertain future of multilateralism is the failure of multilateral negotiations which was aimed to achieve broad as well as huge reductions in the global trade barriers was going along with the flourishing regionalism and bilateralism. Hence this has raised questions against the future of multilateralism at WTO.
This is so because the ability of WTO is being frowned by other international institutions as well as countries as WTO is not getting success in removing the deadlock stuck for years now. Also WTO was established in order to deal with the trading practices of 20th Century. But, as the 21st Century has pulled over as well as information and communication technology is on rise the trading patterns have changed to a great extent. This change is still not embraced by WTO and this is reflected by the deadlock in the multilateral negotiations of WTO. Hence, until these changes are adopted by WTO multilateralism at WTO is not going to flourish and will also have a negative impact on the reputation of WTO as it won’t be able to undertake the negotiations related to global free trade which is the main aim of WTO since its inception.
This part of the research describes about the research methodology that has been selected in order to fulfil the objectives of the research. This part will include the headings like research design, research technique, and data collection methods. Research methodology helps in finding about the results of the research as well as in presenting the result in ideal manner so that the research can be used for future references by other researchers. The main aim of research methodology is to provide with a work plan in order to complete the research.
Primary data collection as well as secondary data collection is the main two types of data collection. Primary data collection includes survey analysis, interview analysis (Aitrs, 2018). In this research secondary data collection method is selected as this is the simplest method and requires least expense. Another reason for selecting this method was that studying the research work of other experts would have helped in a better way to fulfil the objectives of this research.
Research approach is an important part of research methodology as it provides the researcher with the correct approach to undertake a research. The two main approaches are quantitative and qualitative approach. Quantitative approach majorly involves statistical data collected for the purpose of satisfying the objectives of the research. One of the major drawbacks attached to this method is that it is a time consuming process as well as also require investment. The approach adopted in this research is qualitative research approach.
This includes studying the research work published by earlier experts of the subject as well as it also includes interview analysis. In this research the research work published earlier by experts has been analyzed. This work has been represented in the literature review section of the research.
From the above research conducted it has been found out that multilateralism is a very important part of WTO and this is proved by the reference made as pillar to multilateralism in regard to WTO. The results show that WTO has been undertaking multilateral agreements since its inception as this is the main aim of WTO that is make global trade free.
Though it has been seen that because of the recent failure experienced by the multilateral agreements as well as at the same time the rise of the regionalism as well as bilateralism have affected the reputation of WTO as well as has raised the question against the future of multilateralism of WTO. With the help of secondary data collection many challenges has also came in the forefront that is being faced by the multilateral agreements at WTO. Some challenges to name include, deadlock over negotiations, concept of most favoured nations, competition policies, lack of transparency in government bodies, as well as the advancement in information and communication technology that has not yet been embraced by WTO.
It was found out that the 21st century has brought many changes in the trading patterns at national as well as at international level. These changes have not yet been adopted by WTO and because of this WTO are failing in its agreements (Centre for Economic Policy Research, 2015). In order to gear up as well as save the pillar of WTO it is very important that immediate solutions should be adopted by WTO. So, it can be said that the future of multilateral agreement at WTO is very uncertain and because of obvious reasons. Though, WTO should not let go multilateral agreements so easily and in order to replace it come up with regional agreement as well as bilateral agreements. This is so because the main aim of WTO since its inception has been to make procedures as well as provide directions in order to make global trade free.
To conclude it can be said that multilateral agreements helps to bring the economy of the world together as well as bind them with common laws and procedures. WTO was established with the aim of connecting the global economy together and facilitating as well as managing the international trade effectively. The rise in bilateralism as well as regionalism has evoked question against the future of multilateral agreements of WTO. The multilateral agreements of WTO are being facing hard time because of some of the recent failures that has been experienced by WYO. The major reason behind this is the failure of breaking the deadlock over the Doha Development Agenda from years.
Also WTO is facing issue at agreeing the members of the organization at common negotiations of multilateral agreements because of certain disagreements between few member nations. Like in the case of Doha Development Agenda major hindrance is being created by China and this is impacting the negotiations because of the powerful growth that has been achieved by China. Because of all this multilateral agreements effectiveness is at stake and also its future. Many challenges has been highlighted in the above research that is creating a hindrance in the growth of multilateral agreements at WTO to name some, deadlock over negotiations, lack of transparency, lagging behind in the 20th Century, etc.
Trading patterns is being changing at a great pace and so WTO needs to bring some amendments in its working pattern. If this is not adopted then for sure the future of multilateral agreements is going nowhere, which will be like the biggest black spot on WTO. The main aim of WTO is to connect the global economy in a single thread and the organization is not going to achieve this through bilateral agreements or regional agreements. In order to effectively connect international trading activities it is important that WTO strengthens its multilateral agreements.
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