GLOBAL TRADING SYSTEM
 DISPUTE SETTLEMENT IN TRADE

CD29 Outline                                                                         Course Structure Index

Goals

To familiarize students with the extent to which international rules and procedures can and are used to solve difficult inter-firm and inter-governmental problems in international trade and investment.

Topics Covered
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 FTA/NAFTA. 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. 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.

 
Key Books and Articles

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

 Hudec, Robert E., The GATT Legal System and World Trade Diplomacy (Salem, New Hampshire: Butterworth, 2d edition, 1990).

 Hudec, Robert, his new book Diplomacy (Salem, New Hampshire: Butterworth, 1994).

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

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

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

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

Criteria for Evaluating Teaching and Student Performance
Students should be able to describe the basic steps and concepts involved in the WTO and NAFTA dispute settlement procedures; a take-home exam will provide students with a hypothetical situation involving the application of dispute settlement procedures under one of these agreements.