GLOBAL TRADING SYSTEM
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT 

CD29 Syllabus                                                                       Course Structure Index
Professor Michael Hart

Wednesday 6:00-9:00
Spring Term

This optional module studies the development and practice of dispute settlement procedures in interna­tional trade agreements.

Goals

To familiarize students with the extent to which international rules and procedures can be and are used to solve difficult inter-firm and inter-governmental problems in international trade and investment. As a result, students should be able to advise future employers or clients on the procedures involved and, based on the knowledge and skills learned in earlier courses on international trade organizations and rules, on the kinds of issues that can be successfully litigated under these procedures.

Topics

The module will provide an in depth examination of four recent, specific cases that have been litigated either at the GATT/WTO or under the NAFTA. The selection of cases will depend on part on recent events and the availability of suitable material, but could include such cases as the Canada-US dispute over salmon and herring export controls (disputed under both the GATT and the Canada-US FTA); the US-Japan dispute over import controls on agricultural products; the EU-Japan dispute over circumvention of antidumping duties through the establishment of so-called screwdriver assembly plants; and the EU-Canada dispute over the ‘appellation’ of scallops as Coquilles St Jacques. Using specific cases, the module will consider both the rules involved in the dispute, i.e., the application of international law, and the con­cepts and procedures used to try to resolve the  dispute.

Simulation and Grading

The class will simulate the panel proceedings of a current WTO dispute settlement case. We will agree on the case in the first class and divide the students into three groups: complaining party, responding party, and panel and secretariat. Each group will prepare their part of the simulation separately and meet with me on Monday evenings to monitor progress and consider problems. Group 1 will meet with me at 6:00; group 2 at 7:00; and group 3 at 8:00

Simulation of the dispute settlement case will provide the basis for the final grade. Forty percent of the grade will be based on preparation for and simulation of the case; forty percent will be based on the written work for the simulation: the complainant’s brief for one group; the respondent’s  brief for the second group; and the panel decision for the third group. The final twenty percent will be based on general class participation.

Office Hours

Professor Hart  will maintain office hours at the Trade Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00-12:00 or by appointment (647-6535). 


Week One

Topics

Principles and procedures in the settlement of international disputes

The role of dispute settlement in the enforcement of international trade law

Evolution of dispute settlement procedures in international trade law

The WTO dispute settlement procedures

The NAFTA dispute settlement procedures

Dispute settlement in international investment disputes

Domestic procedures in the settlement of international trade and investment disputes


Week Two 

Topics

Dispute settlement cases under the GATT and the WTO

Cases and Empirical Material

Case material from the Internet


Week Three

Topics

Dispute settlement cases under the NAFTA

Cases and Empirical Material

Case material from the Internet


Week Four

Topics

Simulation of selected case

Suggested Readings

Davey, William, Pine and Swine: Dispute Settlement under the Canada-US FTA (Ottawa: Centre for Trade Policy and Law, 1996), 1-86.

Robert E. Hudec, The Adjudication of International Trade Disputes (London: Trade Policy Research Centre, 1978).

Robert E. Hudec, “The Legal Status of GATT in the Domestic Law of the United States,” in Meinhard Hilf, et. al., The European Communities and the GATT (Boston: Kluwer, 1986), 187-249.

John H. Jackson, The World Trading System: Law and Policy of International Economic Relations (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989), 83-113.

Michael J. Trebilcock and Robert Howse, The Regulation of International Trade (New York: Routledge, 1995), 383-407.

Jon Johnson, The North American Free Trade Agreement: A Comprehensive Guide  (Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 1994), 275-293; 502-511.

John H. Barton and Bart S. Fisher, International Trade and Investment: Regulating International Business (Boston: Little Brown, 1986), 897-921.

Sornarajah, The International Law on Foreign Investment (Cambridge: Grotius, 1994), 357-414.

Frieder Roessler,  “Diverging Domestic Policies and Multilateral Trade Integration,” in Jagdish Bhagwati and Robert E. Hudec, eds., Fair Trade and Harmonization, volume 2: Legal Analysis (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996), 21-56.

Robert E. Hudec, Enforcing International Trade Law: The Evolution of the Modern GATT Legal System (Salem, New Hampshire: Butterworth, 1993).

Cases and Empirical Material

WTO, The WTO Dispute Settlement Procedures: A Collection of the Legal Texts (Geneva: WTO, 1995).

NAFTA, dispute settlement procedures in chapters 11, 19, and 20.

Case material will be available on each of the cases to be covered and used as the basis for class discussion. 

 

OUTLINE
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