This paper argues that digital trade can benefit developing countries and result in substantial financial gains. The regulation thereof has been at the forefront of negotiations at the multilateral level and within regions of Africa. While developing economies do not typically reap the benefits of digital progression, this paper proposes that digital trade can be developed in such a way so as to prioritise the developmental considerations of Africa specifically. Through observing the progress of the WTO platform for digital trade, namely the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce, it is seen that the multilateral regulation of digital trade is a complex task. Developing country participation at this level is essential to the sustainable development of digital trade. Within Africa, there have been notable advancements in the regulation of digital trade, evidenced by the establishment of COMESA’s Digital FTA. The considerations for the advancement of digital trade for a developing continent are numerous as not only do the traditional barriers to trade still remain a primary concern but there is also the potential threat of furthering the existing digital divide that persists between the developing and the developed world. Therefore, the paper proposes that should Africa consider developing digital trade through AfCFTA (the African Continental Free Trade Agreement) digital trade in services should be prioritised ahead of digital trade in goods. This would help overcome Africa’s trade facilitation and development challenges and advance Africa’s position in the multilateral trading system.

Includes bibliographical references / The focal area of research is to ascertain, if whether the delivery of non-conforming goods, may or may not exist as an excusable impediment under Article 79 of the CISG? To determine this I have taken a different approach, than that, of the more conventional approach of critiquing the prevailing arguments. Essentially by analyzing the commentary of the relevant Advisory Council Members as well as other major contributors to the debate, of which one argument finds its basis on legislative intent of the negotiating parties (Travaux preparatoires) and the other being ascertained on a purely textual interpretation of Article 79. In order to reach a more precise conclusion, the author of this dissertation has funneled these two arguments through the different interpretative methods of treaties to discern which of the two arguments should be regarded as the more appropriate choice, which should be adopted. The existing question therefore would be, should we find a definitive conclusion with the fact that negotiators to the Sales Convention have decided that the delivery of non-conforming goods should not be excused under Article 79? Or should we side with a purely textual approach? Based on the phrase 'failure to perform any of his obligation', the words "any" and "obligation" would consequently include the obligation of the seller to meet the level of conformity as expressed under the contract according to Article 35 of the CISG.

Brexit is one of the most important events of the last decade, but it is still relatively poorly understood. This paper will look at the impact of Brexit, as well as analyse the development of British trade policy, in order to set out potential options for Brexit and a post-Brexit British trade policy. In order to understand Brexit in its full context, it is necessary to understand how British policy has fluctuated over the centuries, as well as look at the potential options for a Brexit deal and what these will mean for Britain going forward. As a relatively recent event, academic work on Brexit is relatively sparse, and previous work often fails to analyse it beyond its immediate impacts. By looking at a history of British trade policy; this paper aims to anaylse Brexit in the context of Britain’s frequent shifts in strategic priorities. Focusing on a review of the existing literature on British trade policy, and that on Brexit, this paper will look at the development of British trade policy, as well as Britain’s relationship with its primary partners (the United States, the EU, and its Empire), and set out both this history and the potential options for future British relationships and policy. While the exact outcome of Brexit is not yet known, this paper will set out some of the potential scenarios. Once Britain leaves the EU, it will have the chance to create its own trade policy independently for the first time in several decades. Although it may face resistance, there is an opportunity for Britain to grasp the chance to create a liberalized 21st century trade policy that caters for its services based economy. Implementing such a strategy could go a long way towards minimizing the inevitable negative consequences of Brexit.

The aim of this thesis is to examine whether South Africa's recently promulgated Protection of Investment Act represents a viable alternative to the bilateral investment treaty regime. In undertaking this examination, the bilateral investment treaty regime which preceded the Protection of Investment Act was first reviewed and some of the typical clauses found in these treaties were examined. Pursuant to this examination, the Foresti arbitration, through which a group of Italian and Luxembourgish investors challenged South Africa's affirmative action measures in the mining industry on the basis of the bilateral investment treaties that South Africa had entered into, was then introduced. The author examined the claim made in Foresti, South Africa's response and the final award. The next Chapter then turned to the effects of the Foresti arbitration, which set in motion South Africa's review of the BITs it had entered into, and then the eventual termination of these BITs and replacement with the Protection of Investment Act. In answering the central question of this thesis, a clause by clause analysis of the Protection of Investment Act was conducted in order to determine whether that Act is able to satisfy the deficiencies highlighted in the BIT review pursuant to Foresti. In conducting this analysis, the author highlighted some notable omissions in the Protection of Investment Act. Through this review and comparison, it was concluded that the Protection of Investment Act fails as a viable alternative to the bilateral investment treaty regime for a number of reasons, and in particular for crystallising the flawed BIT regime through a legislative savings provision. A better alternative for South Africa would have been renegotiating historical BITs based on a Model BIT incorporating the necessary amendments to rectify the perceived BIT limitations as highlighted in South Africa's BIT review.

This minor-dissertation considers the issue of data protection coverage within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its importance to the Internet Telecommunications (ICT) sector in the various states of SADC but also its importance in providing protection to individuals in a region where internet penetration is increasing at a rapid pace. SADC introduced the SADC Model Law with the assistance of the Support for Harmonisation of the ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa (HIPSSA Project). This is meant to provide a model in terms of which states in SADC could introduce or improve their own data protection regimes. Nevertheless, this instrument has not been successful in changing data protection practices within SADC, with only one state introducing a draft Bill on the basis of the Model Law. Nonetheless, despite the apparent failure of the Model Law, there will still be a degree of harmonisation between the various data protection laws in the sub-region due to the influence of the European Union (EU)'s Data Protection Directive. The approach taken is a comparative study which first considers the data protection laws of Mauritius and South Africa which have the two largest ICT sectors in SADC, the Zimbabwean draft Bill on Data Protection which was based on the SADC Model Law, and the Model Law itself. The purpose of this analysis is to determine whether a level of harmonisation has been achieved in SADC, despite the failure of the Model Law. The next step was a comparative study between the Model Law and the European Union's Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and the General Data Protection Directive (GDPR) 2016/679. The purpose of this was to track the development of data protection law in the European Union due to the impact which these laws had on data protection globally and to show differences between data protection regimes in SADC and the European Union. The comparative study of laws in SADC illustrated that there is significant similarity between the laws considered, thereby proving that the Data Protection Directive played a more significant role in the harmonisation of data protection laws than the SADC Model Law. Nonetheless, the Model Law bared a significant resemblance to the other two existing data protection regimes. It also illustrated the weakness of the Model Law by demonstrating the lack of protection and shortcomings found in the Zimbabwean Bill based on the Model Law. The comparative study between the regimes in the EU and the Model Law illustrates disparities in the level of protection found in the Current European regime, the GDPR and in SADC. The GDPR is stricter than the Model Law and has extra-territorial application with the potential to apply in SADC. Further, the Model Law is based upon the Directive, and is, thus, outdated and weaker. The Model Law has, therefore, failed its stated goal of harmonising data protection laws in SADC yet there is still a degree of harmonisation due to the influence of the Data Protection Directive. The study showed the importance of having a strong data protection regime and also the shortcomings of existing regimes in SADC, when compared to the European Union.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (hereafter referred to as "the Constitution"), outlines the different roles and functions of the arms of government, namely the Executive, Judiciary and Legislature. In terms of international agreements, Section 231 of the Constitution provides the parameters within which the Executive and the Legislature are responsible for when entering into international agreements. The Executive is responsible for negotiating and signing all international agreements, which must then be approved by the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces in order to be ratified. Furthermore, the Constitution requires the Legislature to oversee the work of the Executive. In this regard, Parliament, as the representative of the people of South Africa, has a duty to ensure that even international agreements will benefit the citizenry and not undermine national objectives. However, due to the democratic principle of separation of powers, Parliament has little control over the outcomes of the negotiations which the Executive undertakes on behalf of the nation. Signed international agreements may not always be in the national interest. In these instances, Parliament cannot alter the terms of the agreement. It can at best approve this for ratification with reservations or reject it once it has been tabled. Several challenges arise in relation to the approval for ratification of international agreements. This is primarily related to Parliament's capacity and the time available to consider signed agreements, and its knowledge and understanding of the content and implications of international agreements. This study, therefore, considers how Parliament can effectively oversee developments during international trade negotiations. This is to circumvent situations where the trade agreements do not support national strategic objectives. A grounded theory approach was used to develop a theory on how to strengthen Parliament's oversight role during international trade negotiations. Grounded theory is a qualitative research method, which uses a mainly inductive approach. Data was gathered through conversational interviewing with a number of stakeholders such as Members of Parliament and parliamentary officials, as well as technical and nontechnical literature. These were analysed to develop key concepts or variables. Next, a literature review was conducted to determine the parent body of knowledge within which the research study falls. This process yielded further variables. It also assisted in determining the linkages between the key concepts. Finally, I undertook a theory building process to determine the relationships between the key concepts and the key concern variable. From the analysis, this study proposes that the Executive and Members of Parliament need to understand the importance and relevance of holding the Executive accountable for its actions in relation to international trade negotiations. Once this is clearly established, there will be an incentive to develop institutional capacity to perform oversight over this type of Executive action. This enhanced capacity will lead to more effective oversight over the Executive's involvement during international trade negotiations and thus greater accountability by the Executive to ensure that these negotiations support national strategic objectives.

Includes bibliographical references / The transport sector is critical to the performance of various sectors of the economy both trade in goods and services hinges on an efficient and reliable transport services sector. South Africa has undertaken limited commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in the transport sector. South Africa's transport sector in general is controlled by the government through state owned firms. The transport sector is competitive relative to Africa, however, relative to developed economies, the transport sector lags behind in terms of efficiency and cost (DBSA, 2012). Inefficiencies result in increased transaction costs and impede the overall competitiveness and economic performance of the country. The transport sector and other services sectors in general are mainly governed by domestic legislation. Barriers to trade in services may be located in laws and regulations of individual economies often referred to as behind the border measures such as license, technical, educational, registration and local ownership requirements and as such are more difficult to address than barriers to goods. (Hartzenberg, 2012). To identify these measures it is important to undertake an assessment of the legislation governing sector. This study analyses both vertical and horizontal legislation governing the sector. This study aims to assess the level of liberalisation of South Africa's transport sector to gauge the presence of trade restrictive measures in the sector that would limit access, establishment and or operation by foreign service suppliers. This is done through an analysis of domestic legislation governing the transport sector and its related sub - sectors. This effectively entails a comparison between actual commitments as reflected in South Africa's GATS schedule of specific commitments and applied policy as reflected in legislation. Data from such a study provides valuable technical information to trade negotiators regarding the policy space available allowing them to develop and formulate informed negotiating positions. The methodology employed in this study is adapted from the World Bank's Regulatory Assessment of Services, Trade and Investment (RASTI) and has been adapted for purposes of this study. A country, prior to engaging in a services negotiation should conduct an assessment of the level of liberalisation of each service sector to gauge its competitive strengths and weaknesses. Such an assessment entails an assessment of the country's regulation to determine if such regulation is overly burdensome to the extent that it inhibits competition and trade in services in an economy. Once such an assessment is concluded, a large number of countries have found that domestic regulatory reforms are necessary for effective participation in services negotiations. (Molinuevo & Sáez, 2014). The importance for such assessments often referred to as audits, have been confirmed as the most effective way of ensuring that regulations are not restrictive of trade. (Molinuevo & Sáez, 2014). Moreover, periodic regulatory audits serve the purpose of identifying discriminatory measures and minimising discriminatory effects that have the effect of increasing costs and discriminating against foreign service suppliers. A comparison of the liberalisation of South Africa's transport sector in terms of the actual commitments (as reflected in the GATS services schedule) against the applied domestic regulation is an important exercise in view of the discussions at the WTO level about the liberalisation of services and at a regional level in view of South Africa's regional and continental aspirations to promote regional integration. The transport sector has been identified as a priority sector in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) invol ving, COMESA, E AC and SADC. In the TFTA negotiations, even though the first phase focused on trade in goods, the second phase will address trade in services, including transport services. Negotiations in SADC based on the Protocol on Trade in Services are ongoing and wil l include transport services. A study of this nature is important for undertaking and formulating negotiating positions for trade in services and may be replicated across various service sectors.

Includes bibliographical references / The study examines the export tax as a trade policy tool in Malawi, with a specific focus on the timber industry. This study was motivated by the sudden imposition of an export tax on timber trade by the Malawi Government in 2011, as a reactive policy to an upsurge in timber exports from Malawi. The objective of the study was, therefore, to investigate why the Malawi Government decided to impose the export tax, and whether this trade policy tool has been effective in meeting the objectives. In this regard, the study was done in a broad manner to cover both the theoretical aspects of the export tax, as a trade policy tool, and the practical realities about the Malawi Government's management of the forestry sector and the timber trading in an environment where the Government decided to join the global rules-based trading system. The study used a descriptive explanatory design, employing qualitative methods that involved the use of questionnaires and analysis of the existing literature. The results revealed that an export tax is a duty that is applied on products before they are exported in order to achieve certain objectives, which include government revenue collection, domestic price stabilization, achieving food security, or promoting value addition, hence, industrial development. The review of the literature has demonstrated that care should be exercised when adopting this policy tool because export taxes can be trade-restricting and welfare diminishing on a country, or can constitute a "beggar-thy-neighbour" policy when not properly designed. It is in consideration of such consequences that it has now become fashionable for modern free trade agreements (FTAs) to include provisions on export taxes. For instance, the SADC Protocol on Trade includes Article 5 which prohibits Member States from applying any export duties on goods for export to other Member States. However, from the study, it has been established that if the export taxes are properly designed and implemented, they can boost Government revenue and catalyse industrial productivity. In this respect, evidence has shown that the Government imposed the export tax on timber to curb influx of foreign traders who have been buying the timber because it was cheaper that the timber found in the neighbouring countries. This was a reactionary use of export tax as a trade policy tool, rather than taking a proactive approach to ensure that the Government achieves the policy objectives. Thus, the available literature has shown that the Government could combine the various objectives for introducing the export tax on timber. In this regard, the efficacy of the export taxes depends on the creation of proper linkages with other policy initiatives, such as existence of local knowledge, technological development and processing capacity for increased local production to meet high standards of the international market. Thus, while the Malawi Government can maintain the export tax on timber, it should be done with a very clear objectives and timeframe for using it as a trade policy tool. The Government can combine a number of policy objectives, such as, revenue generation and use the proceeds to undertake re-afforestation programme and protect the environment while, at the same time, encouraging value addition or encouraging global value chains. Such initiatives have the capacity to generate economic gains because as the country builds the productive capacities, there is employment creation and use of other domestically produced inputs or raw materials. In this respect, it is important that the pricing of timber or forestry products should also reflect the appropriate or true economic rent, which should be levied from the use of the natural resource. The study has, therefore, revealed that the Malawi Government should review the method of collecting the export taxes to ensure maximum compliance, curb corruption, and avoid loss of foreign exchange earnings. The Government should devise other ways of collecting the export taxes than at the points of exit or the designated borders. One recommendation is for the Government to place the Malawi Revenue Authority officials at the sites where the timber is harvested, and make such sites as the collection points. More importantly, the study recommends that Government should conduct civic education campaigns targeted towards timber producers and exporters, highlighting the benefits of the export taxes to avoid illegal trade and corruption. The study has further revealed that it is possible for the Government to increase the stumpage fee to the levels that would be comparable to the stumpage fees in other countries such as Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania.

Includes bibliographical references / The purpose of this study was to analyse the Automotive Industry in Southern Africa, to assess how best Lesotho can contribute to this supply chain. This analysis was done to better understand the sector, to identify Lesotho's potential to produce car seat covers for South African automotive assembly plants, and find the best trade policies and programmes to support value chains in the sector. The plan was to assess the possibility for Lesotho made automotive components manufacturers to supply the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs - the main automotive assembly plants), and use the South African Automotive Industry as the entry point for the Lesotho components to penetrate the Regional Automotive Value Chain. The main focus of this study was the manufacturing of car-seat covers to supply the seven Original Equipment Manufacturers namely: Volkswagen, BMW, Renault, Toyota, Daimler Chrysler, Ford and Mercedes Benz. The impact of Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) and Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) on the industry was assessed. The impact of the APDP on relocation of components manufacturers to other Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries was assessed, Lesotho being used as a case study. It set out to find out if Lesotho firms have the potential to contribute to the automotive value chains through manufacture of car seat covers.

No description available.