International
Trade Law Sources on the Internet
International trade law is a very complex and continuously expanding area with basically four levels of international trade relationships:
- unilateral measures (national law),
- bilateral relationships (Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement),
- plurilateral agreements, and
- multilateral arrangements (GATT/WTO).
The focus of this guide is on international trade generally and on some of the major bilateral or multilateral agreements: NAFTA, GATT/WTO, FTA, and CAFTA. Plurilateral agreements are left out as they by nature only cover a particular interest in the subject of the treaty among st a limited number of states.
One of the major drawbacks when researching international trade law is, that their is not a codified publications system or central database developed for international law researchers. But thanks to the internet, most organizations devoted to liberalizing international trade make a great number of legislation and accompanying documents available on the web. Internet resources have thus become an important source, if not the only one, to retrieve updated information on international trade law
Consequently this guide provides links to major international and regional trade organizations with brief annotations. Some primary legal documents on trade law are linked with full text. The guide is broken-up into the following six (6) sections:
The United States and International Trade
International Organizations
Regional Trade Organizations
North America | Europe
| Asia/Pacific | Africa
| South America
Trade Statistics
News Sources on International Trade
Links
U.S.
and International Trade
Texas and International Trade
Texas Economic Department
U.S. Governmental International Trade
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
The USTR was created by Congress in the Trade Expansion
Act of 1962. It was authorized to set and administer
overall trade policy. As a chief trade negotiator,
USTR represents the United States in the major international
trade organizations.
U.S. International
Trade Administration (ITA)
As a lead unit for trade in the Department
of Commerce, the ITA promotes U.S. exports of
manufactured goods, nonagricultural commodities
and services. ITA provides U.S. business with information
on market access to the international market and
protects U.S. business from dumped and subsidized
imports.
U.S. Import Administration (IA)
IA enforces laws and agreements to prevent unfairly traded imports
and to protect jobs and the competitive strength of American industry.
Here is the
overview of the IA. The latest investigations of alleged foreign trade
are available in pdf files from
"Highlights
and News" in right hand column.
Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States Annotated
U.S. Market Access and Compliance
Includes active, binding agreements between the United States and its
trading partners covering manufactured products and services (excluding
agriculture agreements). An excellent source for searching treaties and
agreements!
U.S. International Trade Commission
(ITC)
The ITC was established by Congress in 1916 as the
U.S. Tariff Commission. The Trade Act of 1974 renamed
it as the U.S. International Trade Commission. It
has broad investigative powers on trade issues and
serves as a national resource where trade data is
gathered and analyzed. The ITC provides both the
President and Congress with trade information on
which U.S. trade policy is based.
U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT)
CIT was established in 1980 as the successor to the Court of Customs.
It provides judicial review of any final determinations by the ITA and ITC.
(Folsom, International Trade and Investment in a nutshell 2ed. West Group
2000 p.147.)
U.S. Export/Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) was
created in 1934 to aid in financing and to facilitate U.S. exports.
U.S. Treaties in Force
from U.S. Department of State site,
provides a list of treaties and other international agreements of the
United States in Force as of January 1, 2000. Agreements on trade issues
are available.
Legislative histories
of the acts on international trade passed by the
Congress are important sources for research. The
following two sites provide comprehensive materials
on legislative history:
Congressional
Information Service (CIS)
Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet
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International
Trade Organizations
World Trade Organization
(WTO)
The WTO's official site is a comprehensive source
for doing international trade law research. However,
since this site contains a huge amount of documents
and the navigation is very complicated, sufficiently
surfing this site may not be as easy as flipping
a real book. So for new viewers, it is recommended
to read How
to find your way around www.wto.org first.
For experienced researchers, a good starting point is
A-Z
list or site
map which is much easier to navigate than its
graphic version. In general, there are three sections
in this site:
To understand the structure of the
the organization, who's who and the mechanism
of how the WTO works, see What
is the WTO? To locate documents on trade
issues, see Trade
Topics which includes rules and regulations
on trade in goods, services, intellectual property
and trade dispute settlement and other issues
such as investment, e-commerce. To
search for economic data of world trade, WTO publications,
documents, legal
texts, see Resources.
Report on Doha Round of Multilateral Negotiations
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP produces a periodic
report on the status of Doha Round of negotiations.
This is the latest update of the report. Courtesy
of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP.
Selected links (Prof. Zamora's
Class) on Trade in Goods and Services from WTO site:
Trade in Goods:
Antidumping
Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
Import licensing
Technical Barriers to Trade
Trade in Service:
GATS: objectives, coverage and disciplines
GATS
(full text in pdf)
Telecommunication Service
Financial Service
Maritime Transport
Dispute Settlement:
WTO: Dispute Settlement
WTO Archive list of panel and Appellate Body Reports
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International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) .
ICC is a world business
organization founded in 1919. It promotes international
trade and investment and market economy. ICC lays
out rules governing cross border trade. The rules
are observed by international businesses on a voluntary
basis.
The ICC international Court of Arbitration is
a leading organization for international trade dispute
settlement.
ICC Member companies
ICC Institute of World Business Law Conference Reports
ICC
Rules and Clauses for Disput Resolution Services
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UN
Commissions on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
is the core
legal body within the United Nations system. It
promotes the progressive harmonization and unification
of international trade law.
Introduction
to the UNCITRAL
UNCITRAL Text and Statues
UNCITRAL Case Law
International Labor
Organization (ILO) Labor standards
are hot issues that are often raised in international
trade disputes. The ILO is the UN specialized
agency that promotes social justice and internationally
recognized human and lab our rights. It was founded
in 1919.
ILO
Constitution
FAQ on International Labor Standards
ILO
Reports
ILO
Legislative Information
International Program on Elimination of Child
Labor
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Established in
1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body, UNCTAD
is the principal organ of the United Nations General
Assembly dealing with trade, investment and development
issues.
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International
Monetary Fund The idea
of establishing IMF was conceived in 1944 at a
United Nations Conference which was held in Bretton
Woods, New Hampshire. It came to official existence
in 1945. Now the IMF has 184 member countries.
The objective of the IMF is to promote international
monetary cooperation and to foster economic growth
and high levels of employment.
World Bank Founded in 1944, the World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of development assistance. The Bank provided US$19.5 billion in loans to its client countries in fiscal year 2002, is now working in more than 100 developing economies. World Bank: International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) was created in 1966 to facilitate the settlement of investment disputes between governments and foreign investors.
List of Contracting States
Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) PCA was founded in The Hague in 1899 during the first Hague Peace Conference. The 1899 Convention, which provided the legal basis for the PCA, was revised at the second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. There are currently 97 States which are parties to one or both of the Conventions.
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Regional
Trade
Regional
Trade-North America
Regional Trade-North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the site of the NAFTA secretariat with information on the dispute settlement proceedings, legal texts and panel decisions and reports respecting the NAFTA.
Related Sites on NAFTA:
North American Consortium on Legal Education (NACLE)
Center for the Study of Western Hemisphere at Texas A&M University.
SICE Site Free Trade Agreements Provides trade agreements (full text) between Central and South America Countries as well as with the U.S. , Canada and the European Union.
Regional Trade-Europe
European Union (EU) The European integration process was launched in 1950's.
European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
The EFTA was established in 1960 based on a Convention signed in Stockholm. Now the Association includes 4 member states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, with headquarters in Geneva and offices in Brussels and Luxembourg.
The main objective of the EFTA is to provide a framework for the liberalization of trade in all forms among its member countries. The EFTA countries also maintain close trade relations with EU countries. Here is the the full text of the EFTA convention including annexes and joint declarations
The EEA (European Economic Area) was created in 1994 and allows the EEA EFTA States (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) to participate in the Internal Market on the basis of their application of Internal Market relevant acquis.
Central Europe Free Trade AreaCEFTA was based on the Central European Free Trade Agreement, which was signed on 21 December 1992 in Krakow, Poland. Since then it has expanded tremendously and the list of all member states as well as all legal texts can be found on the CEFTA2006 website. It was created as a preparation for full EU membership, with the major objective of the CEFTA to remove trade barriers and promote fair trade among member states.
Regional Trade-- Asia/Pacific
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)The APEC was established in 1989 with a goal of advancing Asia-Pacific economic corporations and trade. The U.S. is a member of the APEC.
Economic Indicators for APEC Member Economies This website was created in 2010 and provides a detailed analysis of trade, financial and socio-economic trends in the Asia-Pacific region. Access to this database is free-of-charge and the data can be exported to Microsoft Excel.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) A regional organization to promote economic growth, social progress, culture development and regional peace.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
The OPEC is an international Organization of countries which rely heavily on oil revenue. It was created at the Baghdad Conference in 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Currently the OPEC has 12 members--Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. The 12 member states of the OPEC collectively supply the majority of the world's oil output, and possess more than three-quarters of the world's total proven crude oil reserves.
Regional
Trade-Africa
Economic Community of West African States The ECOWAS is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded in 1975. Its mission is to promote economic integration in all fields of economic activity.
Regional Trade-Central and South
America
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) The objective of FTAA is to integrate the economies of the Western Hemisphere into a single free trade arrangement. It will progressively eliminate barriers to trade and investment among its member countries. The FTAA agreement was signed in 1994 in Miami, Florida. This site is one the most valuable sources for searching economic and trade information about south and central countries.
FTAA ministerial meeting
Organization of American States (OAS) The OAS was established in 1948. According to the Charter of the OAS, the objective of the OAS is to achieve an order of peace and justice, to promote solidarity, to strengthen collaboration, and to defend sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence.
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Trade
Statistics
U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics is the official source for U.S. export and import statistics and responsible for issuing regulations governing the reporting of all export shipments from the United States.
U.S. International Trade Administration: Office of Industry Analysis within the International Trade Administration, provides information and analysis pertaining to issues affecting U.S. industry competitiveness to facilitate the establishment of sound policies that contribute to U.S. economic welfare.
International Accounts Data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to promote a better understanding of the U.S. economy by providing the most timely, relevant, and accurate economic accounts data in an objective and cost-effective manner.
Canada: Economic Analysis, Statistics Provides statistics on trade and economy in Canada.
WTO Trade statistics
World Bank: Data & Statistics
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International
trade in the news
Sources for which the O’Quinn Law Library has a subscription:
The following a links to a number of news sources on the web:
LINKS-RESEARCH GUIDES
Apart from research guides created by UHLC law librarians and available on the law library website, there are a number of good guides “out there”. In particular:
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Saskia Mehlhorn, Visiting Foreign and International Law Librarian - 2011
This page was last updated on February 10, 2011. |
