This book examines the interplay between cooperation on technical barriers to trade (TBT) in free trade agreements and the multilateral framework of the World Trade Organization. In recent years, TBT, especially differences in standards, have attracted increased interest and have been addressed as part of the WTO+ negotiated agenda in trade agreements. Because of a number of political and legal constraints, the process of further cooperation at the WTO have been stalled, which made free trade agreements a central pillar in setting the agenda of international trade governance. This leads us to rethinking the interrelation between the WTO and free trade agreements and to questioning the role of both fora in the future of trade. The book examines some TBT provisions in free trade agreements and highlights their positive and problematic aspects when it comes to the WTO-consistency and the ideas of open and inclusive trade. It also suggests that a more optimal way forward would be to increase parallel work on TBT cooperation at the WTO, a more inclusive forum that could address issues of global significance, such as environmental protection and regulation of digital goods. The book explores the potential for trade agreements to advance the WTO agenda, but notes that the organization would need to adapt its institutional structure and governance in order to do so. Drawing on the example of the EU and US so-called “new generation” trade agreements, the book provides a detailed analysis of the various methods used to navigate TBT cooperation, and offers insight into how these agreements can serve as inspiration for future multilateral disciplines. This book is a valuable resource for trade law academics, policymakers, and anyone interested in the intersection of technical barriers to trade, regional trade agreements, and the WTO.

Presents transparency as a key tool for managing trade disputes on regulatory barriers between WTO Members.

This book examines the interplay between cooperation on technical barriers to trade (TBT) in free trade agreements and the multilateral framework of the World Trade Organization. In recent years, TBT, especially differences in standards, have attracted increased interest and have been addressed as part of the WTO+ negotiated agenda in trade agreements. Because of a number of political and legal constraints, the process of further cooperation at the WTO have been stalled, which made free trade agreements a central pillar in setting the agenda of international trade governance. This leads us to rethinking the interrelation between the WTO and free trade agreements and to questioning the role of both fora in the future of trade. The book examines some TBT provisions in free trade agreements and highlights their positive and problematic aspects when it comes to the WTO-consistency and the ideas of open and inclusive trade. It also suggests that a more optimal way forward would be to increase parallel work on TBT cooperation at the WTO, a more inclusive forum that could address issues of global significance, such as environmental protection and regulation of digital goods. The book explores the potential for trade agreements to advance the WTO agenda, but notes that the organization would need to adapt its institutional structure and governance in order to do so. Drawing on the example of the EU and US so-called “new generation” trade agreements, the book provides a detailed analysis of the various methods used to navigate TBT cooperation, and offers insight into how these agreements can serve as inspiration for future multilateral disciplines. This book is a valuable resource for trade law academics, policymakers, and anyone interested in the intersection of technical barriers to trade, regional trade agreements, and the WTO.

Deep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as international flows of investment and labor and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade or deep integration. These agreements matter for economic development. Their rules influence how countries (and hence, the people and firms that live and operate within them) transact, invest, work, and ultimately, develop. Trade and investment regimes determine the extent of economic integration, competition rules affect economic efficiency, intellectual property rights matter for innovation, and environmental and labor rules contribute to environmental and social outcomes. This Handbook provides the tools and data needed to analyze these new dimensions of integration and to assess the content and consequences of DTAs. The Handbook and the accompanying database are the result of collaboration between experts in different policy areas from academia and other international organizations, including the International Trade Centre (ITC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and World Trade Organization (WTO).

This volume contains a collection of studies examining trade-related issues negotiated in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and how RTAs are related to the WTO's rules. While previous work has focused on subsets of RTAs, these studies are based on what is probably the largest dataset used to date, and highlight key issues that have been negotiated in all RTAs notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). New rules within RTAs are compared to rules agreed upon by WTO members. The extent of their divergences and the potential implications for parties to RTAs, as well as for WTO members that are not parties to RTAs, are examined. This volume makes an important contribution to the current debate on the role of the WTO in regulating international trade and how WTO rules relate to new rules being developed by RTAs.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are transforming economies, societies, and geopolitics. Enabled by the exponential increase of data that is collected, transmitted, and processed transnationally, these changes have important implications for international economic law (IEL). This volume examines the dynamic interplay between AI and IEL by addressing an array of critical new questions, including: How to conceptualize, categorize, and analyze AI for purposes of IEL? How is AI affecting established concepts and rubrics of IEL? Is there a need to reconfigure IEL, and if so, how? Contributors also respond to other cross-cutting issues, including digital inequality, data protection, algorithms and ethics, the regulation of AI-use cases (autonomous vehicles), and systemic shifts in e-commerce (digital trade) and industrial production (fourth industrial revolution). This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.