Ten to fifteen new preferential trade agreements are notified to the World Trade Organization transparency mechanism each year. As of May 2011, WTO secretariat calculated that 297 of all agreements were in force. Major economies have always been appointed as the leaders of this movement, but...

This study analyses the creation and implementation of rules in preferential trade agreements concerning government procurement, competition, environment and labour issues - all qualified as new topics to the international negotiations agenda on trade. It aims at identifying the main trends in...