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This thesis examines the impacts and implications of post-1995 linkages between the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the World Trade Organization. Chapters 1 and 2 provide data on the structures, functions, and procedures of the Codex Commission and the WTO and analyze their institutional approaches to risk, danger, risk management and the precautionary principle. Chapter 3 evaluates three impacts of post-1995 linkages between these institutions (the politicization of the Codex Commission, deadlock in the Codex standard elaboration process, and dispute in the WTO) as well as three implications of that linkage (risk v. danger assessment and management, changed interpretations of "science," and changed interpretations of "consensus"). Finally, Chapter 4 applies these impacts and implications to food safety cases. This chapter establishes a framework for understanding issues of food safety, Codex standard elaboration, and WTO dispute settlements in terms of scientific and political consensus and debate. This thesis argues, first, that the post-1995 linkage between the Codex Commission and the WTO changed Codex member state expectations and behaviors relative to standard elaboration procedures and that these changed expectations impacted both member state governments and the WTO. It further demonstrates that the extent of the Codex Commission's ability to elaborate universal standards and the WTO's responsibility for dispute settlement can be explained in terms of scientific and political dispute and consensus. Finally, it illustrates that risk and danger are different concepts, require different food safety approaches, and generate different institutional and national reactions. This analysis addresses existing critiques of the Codex Commission, the WTO, and their post-1995 linkages, examines the potential of both institutions to simultaneously pursue consumer safety and open trade objectives, and points to avenues for future research. / Master of Arts

<p>The rapid growth in the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has led to concern about the weakening of the multilateral trading system. This thesis examines the spread of such agreement and the extent to which they pose a threat to the multilateral system. Regionalism and multilateralism are complimentary as shown in the case study of the East African Community. The current regional trade agreement management rules are weak and ambiguous and possible amendments for these rules are proposed</p>

<p>The rapid growth in the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has led to concern about the weakening of the multilateral trading system. This thesis examines the spread of such agreement and the extent to which they pose a threat to the multilateral system. Regionalism and multilateralism are complimentary as shown in the case study of the East African Community. The current regional trade agreement management rules are weak and ambiguous and possible amendments for these rules are proposed</p>

Magister Legum - LLM / The rapid growth in the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has led to concern about the weakening of the multilateral trading system. This thesis examines the spread of such agreement and the extent to which they pose a threat to the multilateral system. Regionalism and multilateralism are complimentary as shown in the case study of the East African Community. The current regional trade agreement management rules are weak and ambiguous and possible amendments for these rules are proposed. / South Africa

This thesis examines whether there is an effect of the Mercosur free trade agreement on export and import between member countries. The study uses an extended gravity model framework on a panel data between the years 1975 to 2017 for 34 countries, including the member countries. Two different regressions were run using OLS and country fixed effect. A Linder effect was also added to the regressions to further understand the impact on trade. The results show a significantly positive effect of the FTA on imports. The FTA yielded insignificant and significantly negative result for OLS and FEM respectively on exports.

O MERCOSUL e a União Européia (UE) firmaram no ano de 1995, o Acordo Marco de Cooperação Inter-Regional, que tinha como objetivo fortalecer as relações bi-regionais e a preparar as condições para a criação de uma Associação Inter-Regional, que abrangesse a área comercial, cooperação econômica, tecnológica, financeira, e também cultural e social. A concretização da Associação representaria um grande ganho para o MERCOSUL devido à importância comercial que a UE representa para o bloco, sendo a sua principal parceira tanto nas exportações quantos nas importações. Desde a assinatura do acordo, os dois blocos realizaram diversas rodadas de negociações, mas não conseguiram avançar na direção de maiores realizações. Um dos principais entraves tem sido a intransigência da UE, principalmente no que diz respeito ao conceder melhores ofertas no setor agrícola. O presente trabalho objetiva, portanto, analisar a evolução das negociações comerciais entre os dois blocos, a fim de identificar os entraves no setor agrícola, que contribuíram para o impedimento da implantação da Associação Inter-Regional. A evolução das rodadas de negociações entre os dois blocos mostrou que o protecionismo agrícola é um dos pontos cruciais para a obtenção de um acordo de livre comércio. O fracasso das negociações provou para o MERCOSUL, que independemente das negociações acontecerem no plano multilateral ou bilateral, a UE não está disposta em maiores concessões. Portanto, enquanto a UE mantiver as subvenções, responsáveis por enormes excedentes na produção agrícola européia, não será possível a obtenção de melhores resultados, que conduzam a implantação de uma área de livre comércio entre MERCOSUL e União Européia. / MERCOSUR and the European Union (EU) signed in 1995, the Framework Agreement on Inter-Regional Cooperation, which aimed to strengthen bi-regional relations and prepare the conditions for the creation of an Interregional Association, covering the commercial area, economic cooperation, technological, financial and also cultural and social. The concretion of the Association would be a great gain for Mercosur due to the commercial importance that the EU accounts for the block, which is its main partner in both exports and imports. Since signing the agreement, the two blocks had several rounds of negotiations, but failed to move toward greater accomplishments. A major obstacle has been the intransigence of the EU, particularly with regard to grant better offers in the agricultural sector. This paper aims, therefore, to examine developments in trade negotiations between the two blocs, in order to identify the barriers in the agricultural sector, which contributed to impeding the implantation of the Inter-Regional. The evolution of rounds of negotiations between the two blocs has shown that agricultural protectionism is one of the crucial points for achieving a free trade agreement. The failure of the negotiations proved to MERCOSUR, that independently the negotiations occur multilaterally or bilaterally, the EU is not willing to further concessions. So, while the EU maintains subsidies, responsible for huge surpluses on European agricultural production, it is not possible to obtain better results, which conduce to establishment of a free trade area between MERCOSUR and the European Union.

As relações entre a União Europeia (UE) e os seus parceiros comerciais incluem Acordos Preferenciais de Comércio (APCs) com países em desenvolvimento para produtos agrícolas e industriais, destacando-se países da África, Caraíbas e Pacífico. A política de caráter cooperativo no setor agrícola da APC-UE, possui por objetivo a preservação do ambiente, segurança alimentar, crescimento econômico e desenvolvimento sustentável. Excetuando-se esses Acordos Preferenciais, a União Europeia possui no setor agrícola um dos segmentos de maior proteção comercial. Trata-se do principal mercado para os produtos agrícolas brasileiros. No entanto, esse setor, no Brasil, poderia obter melhor desempenho caso a UE não praticasse tarifas de importação elevadas aos seus produtos. Assim sendo, aplica-se no presente trabalho o modelo gravitacional para mensurar o efeito de criação ou desvio de comércio, resultado da aplicação de tarifas pela União Europeia com relação aos seus 48 parceiros comerciais selecionados, incluindo-se o Brasil, e também o impacto de um possível Acordo Preferencial de Comércio entre Brasil e União Europeia. A análise enfoca os efeitos para um grupo selecionado de produtos agrícolas, que recebem a incidência de picos tarifários, incluindo-se carne bovina congelada, carne bovina fresca, carne de frango, carne suína, açúcar bruto e suco de fruta. O período considerado para a análise compreende os anos de 1996 a 2013, ou seja, desde o alargamento da União Europeia no ano de 1995. O modelo gravitacional é estimado por meio do modelo de efeitos fixos e os resultados mostram a existência de desvio de comércio com relação às importações europeias de carne bovina fresca (SH 0202) e carne suína (SH 0203) e impacto positivo da concretização de um Acordo Preferencial de Comércio para carne bovina fresca (SH 0201), carne bovina congelada (SH 0202) e carne de frango (SH 0207). Tais resultados confirmam as hipóteses levantadas na literatura com relação à consolidação do referido acordo. Ou seja, os resultados indicam que o Brasil pode aumentar suas exportações de produtos agrícolas para a União Europeia caso ocorra um acordo preferencial que elimine as barreiras tarifárias impostas pelo bloco da UE. / Trade relations between the European Union (EU) and its trading partners have feature for the granting of tariff reduction or exemption for developing countries, through preferential agreements. With regard to preferential trade agreements (PTA) put in place by the European Union, stands out those performed with the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries for agricultural and industrial products. The cooperative nature of politics in the ACP-EU agricultural sector has the objective of preserving the environment, food security, economic growth and sustainable development. Except for some preferred sealed agreements with some countries, the European Union has in the agricultural sector, one of the segments most subject to trade protection. With regard to Brazil, the European Union is the main market for its agricultural products. Even so, the Brazilian agricultural sector could have a better performance if the EU did not ascribe excessively high import tariffs to their products. Therefore, a gravity model is used in this analysis to measure the effect of trade creation or trade diversion as a result of the tariff applied by the European Union in relation for 48 selected trading partners, including Brazil and also the impact of a possible Preferential Trade Agreement between Brazil and the European Union. The analysis focuses on the effects for a selected group of agricultural products receiving the incidence of tariff peaks, including frozen beef, fresh beef, chicken, pork, raw sugar and fruit juice The period considered for the analysis covers the years from 1996 to 2013, which incorporates the enlargement of the European Union starting at 1995. The gravity model is estimated using the fixed effects model and the results show the existence of trade diversion with respect to European imports of fresh beef (HS 0202) and pork (HS 0203) and positive impact of the implementation of a Preferential Trade Agreement for fresh beef (HS 0201), frozen beef (HS 0202) and chicken (HS 0207). These results confirm the hypotheses rose in the literature with regard to the consolidation of the Agreement. That is, the results indicate that Brazil could increase its exports of agricultural products to the EU in the event of a preferential agreement eliminating tariff barriers imposed by the EU bloc.

Problem: Japan är en av Sveriges största exportmarknader med 127 miljoner konsumenter och en intressant marknad för svenska företag. Den japanska marknaden innehar många hinder och utmaningar och har tidigare varit restriktiv mot utländska företag. Svenska små och medelstora företag har oftast mindre kapital och resurser än stora företag vilket kan påverka deras val av etableringsstrategier samt vilka hinder och utmaningar de stöter på. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka etableringsstrategier som svenska företag kan använda för att göra affärer i Japan. Metod: I denna studie har det använts en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med totalt sex informanter. Intervjuerna har genomförts med tre företag som har verksamhet i Japan. De övriga tre intervjuer var med en universitetslektor samt statliga/halvstatliga organisationer. Slutsatser: Hinder som framkommit är icke tariffära barriärer som komplicerade administrativa procedurer, lagar och regler, förståelse av den japanska affärsmiljön samt de höga konsumentkraven. Utmaningar som framkommit är det japanska språket, höga operationskostnader, konkurrensintensiteten (främst på B2B-marknaden) samt långsiktiga relationer och förtroende som tar lång tid att bygga upp. Ursprung och nätverk är något som bör tas hänsyn till då de kan underlätta etableringen på den japanska marknaden. Svenskt ursprung är något som uppskattas i Japan och nätverk kan bidra till att lokala kunskaper och erfarenheter tas vara på. Etableringsstrategier som svenska företag kan använda sig av i Japan är direkt eller kooperativ export samt etablering genom intermediate modes som exempelvis joint venture och mellanhand. Dessa etableringsstrategier respekterar värden som förtroende och långsiktiga relationer vilket är essentiellt för att göra affärer i Japan. / Problem: Japan is one of Sweden’s largest export markets with 127 million consumers and an interesting market for Swedish companies. The Japanese market has many obstacles and challenges and has previously been restrictive to foreign companies. Swedish SMEs usually have less capital and resources than large companies which can affect their choice of establishment strategies as well as the obstacles and challenges they encounter. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the entry strategies that Swedish companies can use to do business in Japan. Methodology: In this study, a qualitative method was used in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of six informants. The interviews were conducted with three companies operating in Japan. The other three interviews were with a university lecturer and state / semi-governmental organizations. Conclusions: Obstacles that emerged in this study are non-tariff barriers such as complicated administrative procedures and laws and regulations, understanding of the Japanese business environment and high consumer demands. Challenges that have emerged are the Japanese language, high operational costs, the intensity of competition (mainly in the B2B-market), as well as long-term relationships and trust that take a long time to build. Origin and networks are something that should be taken into account as they can facilitate the entry in the Japanese market. Swedish origin is something that is appreciated in Japan and networks can help to utilize local knowledge and experience. Entry strategies that Swedish companies can use in Japan are direct or cooperative exports and intermediate modes such as joint venture. These entry strategies respect values such as trust and long-term relationships, which are essential for doing business in Japan.

The avocado production and trade impose economic, social and environmental challenges for producers, and concerns for consumers. This ‘sustainability challenge’ will be analysed from a social- psychological viewpoint. The case study follows a two-method based approach: a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. Laws and restrictions on the avocado production in Mexico exist, still, avocados are not sustainable. The reasons are unveiled by a closer look into the trade agreements and by interviews with the Mexican civil society. The responsibility for the implementation of controls on sustainable avocados is pushed in a circle from the governments to civil society and back. Ideas on how to change the system are mainly based on EU citizens. Can a greater knowledge and awareness of EU citizens improve the sustainable avocado production in Mexico? The survey reveals that only few participants are fully informed and highly interested in eco-friendly produced avocados. The low percentage can be explained through the high costs for certified avocados, the mistrust in the certification system and the lack of the certified fruit in the supermarkets. However, after some background information the participants stated that they would change their behaviour: buying certified avocados, spending more money and going to special supermarkets. To raise awareness and clarify doubts, civil society in Mexico suggested campaigns in cooperation with civil society in the EU. The idea for the campaign is based on behaviourist theories. A further step is a cooperation between EU citizens with civil societies from Mexico and the EU to pressure the government into a system change to support the offer of cheaper certified sustainable avocados in the EU supermarkets, and thus to raise the standards and controls for the avocado production.