This paper examines liberalization of the basic telecommunications sector in a number of Asian countries and the role of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in this process. It begins by explaining the working of the GATS as a mechanism for multilateral liberalization efforts. It...

A major challenge for the multilateral trading system is to secure the benefits of trade liberalization without infringing on the freedom of governments to pursue legitimate domestic objectives. The difficulty lies in distinguishing between two types of situations. In one, a non-protectionist...

This paper provides an overview of institutional, economic and legal aspects of the relationship between national environmental policies and the multilateral trading system. In particular, it analyses some of the difficulties the WTO Dispute Settlement System faces when having to evaluate...

The objective of this paper is to assess the adequacy of multilateral rules dealing with monopolies and state enterprises, particularly in the domain of services. This paper argues that since these rules depend largely on the other obligations undertaken by Members, a variety of exemptions and...

This paper analyses the results of the financial services negotiations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the World Trade Organization (WTO). It shows that the negotiations have contributed to more stable and transparent policy regimes in many developing and transition...

This paper regards the regulation of intellectual property, services and investments in some preferential trade agreements. We analyze the systematization of intellectual property, services and investment rules contained in treaties signed by the United States, European Union, India and China in...

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...

The evolution of the international trade law has reduced the scope for States to adopt public policies oriented to economic development. The loss of sovereignty in this field has been wider for developing countries, since the norms that regulate the international economy have expressed, mainly,...

This article is the result of a research on regulation of global trade, particularly on regional agreements and bilateral trade of the Institute for Applied Economic Research. The results presented here i) address the presentation of data and scanning of existing preferential agreements for the...

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...