WTO概論復習資料

1、Let s Talk about Trade Policy and Trade IssuesMD, whoelse?I Preliminary Knowledge1 Tariff(1) Specific Tariff （從量關稅） Weight, quantity, volume(2) Ad Valorem Tariff（從價關稅）A percentage of the price(3) Compound Tariff （復合關稅）A mixture of specific tariff and ad valorem tariff2 Non-tariff(1) Quota(2) License

2、 （進口許可證）General license and specific license; usually combined with quota, bidding(3) Custom Valuation(4) Technical Barriers(5) Environment issues(6) GMO （ Genetically Modified Organism，轉基因生物）3 VER & VIE(1) VER(Voluntary Export Restriction)(2) VIE(Voluntary Import Expansion)Aiming at trade balance,

3、either domestic or foreign.II GATT & Agreements1 Historical Perspective of WTO(1) Havana Charter (GATT 1947)a) Background: protectionism after WW II, Great Depression, need to establish ITO (International Trade Organization);b) The charter is mainly about trade and commercial policies, employment, e

4、conomic activities, economic reconstruction, investment, restrictive business practice;c) Failed to meet somecountries? interest,but much content of Commercial policy survived in GATT 1947, provisional rather than legal;(2) Marrakesh Agreements(establishing WTO)a) The importance of Uruguay Round on

5、Marrakesh Agreements and the establishment of WTO;b) Including Agreements about trade in commodity, GATS, TRIPs, DSU(Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes), TPRM, PTA(Plurilateral Trade Agreements);c) Entered into force on 1 Jan. 1995, 128 GATT signatories;d) 160

6、 members since 26 Jun. 20142 GATT 1947(1) Basic Principles of WTOa) Nondiscrimination(MFN, NT), Graduation Clauseb) Trade Liberalization(tariff, non-tariff, market access)c) Transparenced) Fair Competition(2) MFN clause-Article Ia) Most-Favored-Nation Treatment(MFN): any advantage, favor, privilege

7、or immunity granted by any contracting party to any product shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally to the like product of all other contracting parties;b) Accord the basic principles, nondiscrimination, promote trade liberalization as it?s Multilateral;c) Exceptions: GSP, FTA, Anti-dumpin

8、g. safety issues, etc.d) China?s benefits: double-edged sword;(3) National Treatment-Article IIIa) National Treatment on Internal Taxation and Regulation: the contracting parties should treat imported products and domestic products equally in terms of internal taxes and/or other internal charges, la

9、ws, regulations, and requirements;b) Exceptions: government procurement, domestic subsidies, etc.c) Preference Policy and NT: depending on different industries;(4) Anti-dumping-Article VIa) Dumping: products of one country are exported to another country at a price less than the normal value, and is

10、 causes or threatens material injury to the importer?s industry;b) “normal value ”is defined by the comparable price, in thearyordin course of trade, for the like product for consumption in the exporting country; or if domestic price not available: the highest comparable price for the like product e

11、xported to a third country, or the cost of the product plus a reasonable additional for selling and profit;c) Determinants in dumping: Dumping Margin and Material Injury(5) Rule of Origin(RoO)-Article IXa) Marks of Origin: marks, characters, patterns, etc. that indicate the original country/region o

12、f an imported product or service;b) Article 7: contracting parties cooperate to minimize the difficulties, andto prevent misrepresent of the true origin;c)Determining origin and whether“substantial transformation”:value-added, process test, change in tariff classification(CTC);d) Controversial issue

13、 on trade balance: different standards to determine origin and processing trade;e) MFN or not determined by the origin of the product;(6) Administration of Trade Regulations-Article Xa) Publication: laws, regulations, judicial decisions and administrative rulings of general application about interna

14、tional trade (e.g. custom classification and valuation, rates of duty/taxes, requirements, restrictions, etc.) shall be published promptly to enable traders become acquainted with them;b) Administration: contracting parties shall maintain, or institute judicial, arbitral, or administrative procedure

15、s to deal with custom matters, and administrate laws, regulations in a uniform and reasonable way;(7) QRs(Quantitative Restrictions)-Article XIa) Elimination of QRs: except duties, taxes or other charges, contracting parties shall eliminate restrictions made effect through quotas, licenses or other

16、measures.b) Exceptions: food, agriculture or fisheries product. (shortage or surplus)(8) General Exceptions-Article XXa) Protect public morals;b) Protect human, animal or plant life or health;c) Trade relating to gold or silver;d) Secure compliance with laws or regulations consistent with the provis

17、ions (e.g. intellectual property);e) Prison labor products;f) National treasures;g) Exhaustible resources;h) Intergovernmental commodity agreement that are approved;i) Ensure essential domestic quantities;j) General or local short supply;(9) State Trading Enterprise-Article XVIIa) Contracting partie

18、s can establish or maintain state enterprises, but they shall act in a manner consistent with general principles of non-discriminatory treatment for governmental measures affecting trades by private traders;b) Such enterprises shall make purchases or sales solely in accordance with commercial consid

19、erations, including price, quality, availability, transportation, etc.c) Contracting parties shall not prevent enterprises from acting in accordance with the principles;(10) Subsidies-Article XVIa) Subsidies in General: when granting any subsidies, contracting parties shall notify other parties in w

20、riting of the extent, nature, estimated effect and necessity;b) In case of serious prejudice, the contracting party granting the subsidy shall discuss with other parties about the possibility of limiting the subsidization;c) Additional Provisions: parties shall seek to avoid the use of subsidies on

21、the export of primary products, or the subsidy shall not increase the party?s equitable share of the world export in that product;(11) Implemental Mechanism-Article XXIVa) Territorial Application-Frontier Traffic-Customs Unions-Free Trade Areas, an exception of MFN(12) GSP(Generalized System of Pref

22、erence)a) Between developed countries and developing countries;b) Nondiscrimination, unilateral;(13) History: Chinas reenter in GATTa) An original contracting party;b) Suspended its eligibility as a contracting party in 1950;c) Taiwan: observer to GATT in 1965;d) China?s efforts to reenter in 1986;e

23、) Complexity of China?s relevance to GATT;3 GATT 1994(1) The framework of URa) Agreements about trade in commodity, GATS, TRIPs,b) DSU(Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes),c) TPRMsd) PTA(Plurilateral Trade Agreements);(2) The initiatives of WTOa) Principles?(3)

24、 Legal instruments under GATT 1947a) Tariff concession;b) Protocols of accession;c) Waiver granted under Article 25(4) Understanding on Paragraph1(2) Article IIa) Aims at promoting the transparency of the rights and obligations;b)Agreement to record in national schedules“other duties or charges(whic

25、h ”shall be exempted) levied in addition to the recordedtariff, and to bind them at the levels prevailing at the date established in the UR Protocol;(5) Understanding on Article XVIIa) To promote the transparency of statetrading- enterprises? activities, contracting parties shall report such enterpr

26、ises to the committee, regardless of whether export has happened or not;b) Increase surveillance of enterprises? activities through stronger notification and review procedures;(6) Understanding on Article XVIIIa) Article 18: for the Balance-of-Payment(BOP) and development of economy, especially for

27、the less developed countries, tariff protectionand QRs can be imposed;b) The schedule for the restriction measures on import shall be notified as soon as possible;c) Contracting parties imposing restrictions for BOP purposes shall do so in the least trade-disruptive manner, and shall favor price-bas

28、ed measures, like import surcharges and import deposits, rather than quantitative restrictions.d) Agreement is also on procedure for consultations by GATT BOP Committee, as well as for notification.(7) Understanding on Article XXIVa) Clarify and reinforce the standard and procedures for the review o

29、f newor enlarged custom unions or FTA and for the evaluation of their effects on third parties;b) Clarify the procedure to be followed for achieving any necessary compensatory adjustment in the event of contracting parties forming a customs union seeking to increase a bound tariff;c) The obligations

30、 of contracting parties in regard to measures taken by regional or local governments or authorities within territories are also clarified;4Other Agreements(1) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade（TBT ，技術性貿(mào)易壁壘協(xié)議）a) Narrow TBT: processing and production methods related to the characteristics of th

31、e product itself;b) Dilemmaon Broad TBT: needs for industrialization vs. potentiality toward protection;c) This agreement will extend and clarify the Agreement on TechnicalBarriers to Trade reached in the Tokyo Round. It seeks to ensure that technical negotiations and standards, as well as testing a

32、nd certification procedures, do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. However, it recognizes that countries have the right to establish protection, at levels they consider appropriate, for example for human, animal or plant life or health or the environment, and should not be prevented from tak

33、ing measures necessary to ensure those levels of protection are met. The agreement therefore encourages countries to use international standards where these are appropriate, but it does not require them to change their levels of protection as a result of standardization.Innovative features of the re

34、vised agreement are that it covers processing and production methods related to the characteristics of the product itself. The coverage of conformity assessment procedures is enlarged and the disciplines made more precise. Notification provisions applying to local government and non-governmental bod

35、ies are elaborated in more detail than in the Tokyo Round agreement. A Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards by standardizing bodies, which isopen to acceptance by private sector bodies as well as the public sector, is included as an annex to the agreement.

36、(2) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures（ SPS ，實施動植物衛(wèi)生檢疫措施協(xié)議）a) Specific in the protection of human health and ecological balance,(3) Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures（TRIMs ，與貿(mào)易有關的投資措施協(xié)議）a) This Agreement, negotiated during the Uruguay Round, applies only

37、 to measures that affect trade in goods. Recognizing that certain investment measures can have trade-restrictive and distorting effects, it states that no Member shall apply a measure that is prohibited by the provisions of GATT Article III (national treatment) or Article XI (quantitative restrictio

38、ns). Examples of inconsistent measures, as spelled out in the Annex,s Illustrative List, include local content or trade balancing requirements. The Agreement contains transitional arrangements allowing Members to maintain notified TRIMs for a limited time following the entry into force of the WTO 。T

39、he Agreement also establishes a Committee on TRIMs to monitor the operation and implementation of these commitments.(4) Agreement on Agriculture（農(nóng)業(yè)協(xié)議）a) Long-term objectives: substantial progressive reduction in agricultural support;b) A decisive move towards the objective of increased market orient

40、ation in agricultural trade;c) Total AMS(Aggregate Measure of Support): covers all support provided on either a product-specific or non-product-specific basis;d) Market access-tariffication: non-tariff border measures are replaced by tariffs that provide substantially same level of protection; Tarif

41、f-quota: under 10% & outside 80%;e) Domestic support-amber, blue, green box.f) Amber box:All domestic support measures considered to distort production and trade (with some exceptions) fall into the amber box, which is defined in Article 6 of the Agriculture Agreement as all domestic supports except

42、 those in the blue and green boxes. These include measures to support prices, or subsidies directly related to production quantities.These supports are subject to limits: minimal supports are allowed (5% of agricultural production for developed countries, 10% for developing countries); the 30 WTO me

43、mbers that had larger subsidies than the de minimis levels at the beginning of the post-Uruguay Round reform period are committed to reduce these subsidies.“ deminimisg) Blue Box: This is the “ amber box with conditionsconditions ” designed to reduce distortion. Any support that would normally be in

44、 the amber box, is placed in the blue box if the support also requires farmersto limit production (details set out in Paragraph 5 of Article 6 of the Agriculture Agreement).At present there are no limits on spending on blue box subsidies. In the current negotiations, some countries want to keep the

45、blue box as it is because they see it as a crucial means of moving away from distorting amber box subsidies without causing too much hardship. Others wanted to set limits or reduction commitments, some advocating moving these supports into the amber box.h) Green Box: In order to qualify, green box s

46、ubsidies must not distort trade, or at most cause minimal distortion (paragraph 1). They have to be government-funded (not by charging consumers higher prices) and must not involve price support.They tend to be programmes that are nottargeted at particular products, and include direct income support

47、s forfarmers that are not related to (are“ decoupled” from) current productionlevels or prices. They also include environmental protection and regional development programmes. “ Green box ” subsidies are therefore allowed without limits, provided they comply with the policy-specific criteria setout

48、in Annex 2.In the current negotiations, some countries argue that some of the subsidies listed in Annex 2 might not meet the criteria of the annex?s first paragraph because of the large amounts paid, or because of the nature of these subsidies, the trade distortion they cause might be more than mini

49、mal. Among the subsidies under discussion hereare: direct payments to producers (paragraph 5), including decoupledincome support (paragraph 6), and government financial support forincome insurance and income safety-net programmes (paragraph 7),and other paragraphs. Some other countries take the oppo

50、site viewthat the current criteria are adequate, and might even need to be mademore flexible to take better account of non-trade concerns such asenvironmental protection and animal welfare.i)Export competition: Members are required to reduce the value ofmainly direct export subsidies to a level 36 p

51、er cent below the 1986-90base period level over the six-year implementation period, and thequantity of subsidized exports by 21 per cent over the same period.(5) Agreement on Textiles and Clothing（紡織品與服裝協(xié)議）a) MFA(Multifibre Arrangement): Up to the end of the UruguayRound, textile and clothing quotas

52、 were negotiated bilaterally and governed by the rules of the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA). This provided for the application of selective quantitative restrictions when surges in imports of particular products caused, or threatened to cause, serious damage to the industry of the importing country.

53、The Multifibre Arrangement was a major departure from the basic GATT rules and particularly the principle of non-discrimination. On 1 January 1995 it was replaced by the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing which sets out a transitional processfor the ultimate removal of these quotas.b) ATC(Agreem

54、ent on Textiles and Clothing) is a transitional instrument built on the following key elements:(a) the product coverage, basically encompassing yarns, fabrics,made-up textile products and clothing;(b) aprogramme for the progressive integration of these textile and clothing products into GATT 1994 ru

55、les;(c) a liberalization process to progressively enlarge existing quotas (until they are removed) by increasing annual growth ratesat each stage;(d) a special safeguard mechanism to deal with new cases of serious damage or threat thereof to domestic producers during the transition period;(e)establishment of a Textiles Monitoring Body (“ TMB ” )tosupervise the implementation of the Agreement and ensure that the rules are faithf