Acknowledging a relationship between international human rights and international trade law adds to the legitimacy of economic, social and cultural rights already enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the central institution for international trade law and it has demonstrated a commitment to enhance human rights. This commitment has been realized through WTO efforts to enhance human dignity and eradicate poverty. These WTO efforts ought to be fostered and used to promote human rights. The purpose of this study was two fold – first, demonstrate that a relationship between international trade law and international human rights exists; and second, that this relationship is useful in promoting economic, social and cultural rights. This relationship will be examined through WTO initiatives, case studies and the Accession of the Republic of China in 2001.

This study explored whether there is an inherent inequitable nature of the liberalization process with respect to the World Trade Organization Agreements, namely TRIMs (Trade-related Investment Measures), TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and the Agreement on Agriculture.

It is a well-known fact that international trade contracts bear inherently more risk than the trade contracts entered by the parties from the same country. This is due to the differences in business methods and practices used, trade cultures of the parties involved, laws and regulations in the respective jurisdictions. Under these circumstances, it is very important for the seller to have the assurance of that he receives the payment for the goods dispatched and for the buyer to receive the goods what has been ordered. One effective way of having such an assurance is to rely on a letter of credit as an international payment method. But for exporters in particular, this payment method has presented difficulties in meeting the compliance requirements necessary for the payment to be triggered. The UCP 600 published by the International Chamber of Commerce provide the rules that govern letters of credit transactions. At the introduction of the UCP 600, it was aimed to remove wording that could lead to inconsistent application and interpretation, as against the language and style used in the previous version, namely the UCP 500. Highlighting the experiences under UCP 500, the ultimate focus of the revision of the UCP was to minimise the level of litigations that had arisen under the rules provided in the UCP. In several surveys, it has been reported that, nearly 50% of the first presentation for payment under letters of credit are rejected by the banks. This situation implies the fact that the provisions which cover letters of credit transactions are not either clear enough or well understood by the parties involved. Similarly, the decisions made by Courts around the world on issues related to letters of credit have taken different approaches when applying and interpreting the rules. This can clearly be seen by a myriad of controversial judicial standards which have been applied to similar mistakes in documents presented to the bank for payment. This thesis is an investigation into those issues to find out the optimal standards that could be applied to solve the said problems. In doing so, this thesis will strive to ascertain what remedial measures could be taken to address the issues related to examination of documents, the rejection of payment and fraud exception. Key words: International Trade, International Trade Law, Law of Letters of Credit, Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credit 600, Examination of Documents and communicating the decision.

This study forms a unique study of South African diamond laws as developed in the context of the South African constitutional dispensation. This study is therefore a contribution to legal research and academia which forms an in depth consideration of international trade practices that influence the diamond industry which is used in this study specifically as a sample market. The diamond industry in South Africa provides a relatively comparatively small but resilient source of economic activity through trade in diamond products as luxury items and items used for industrial purposes. It is therefore crucial that laws related to the regulation of this industry are comprehensively and analytically studied for the purposes of understanding South African national and international diamond trade regulatory framework. This is done with the aim of illustrating that there has been a significant shift of prevailing wisdom in the South African diamond trade industry. It is now evident that more constitutionally justifiable and internationally sound diamond trade practices have been adopted and applied. This study not only serves to benefit South Africa as a diamond producing country but it will also add required knowledge related to the international trade context particularly having regard to the fact that South Africa plays a significant role in the global economy and its diamond trading activities do not occur in a vacuum. Therefore the international trade aspect of this study lends it a dual purpose analysis of diamond regulation laws. 1 Report of Task Team Appointed by the Minister of Minerals & Energy to Analyze the Memoranda and Evidence Laid Before The Commission of Inquiry into the South African Diamond Industry, 20 December (1999). Chapter 5. This was stated in the submissions by Mr. L.A. Lincon, a director of De Beers. He stated that South Africa had 10% by volume of the world total of around 105 million carats. South African mines are no longer major producers of all desired qualities. As a result it was agreed in 1992 that rough diamonds destined for South African factories could be provided from the CSO’s (Central Selling Organization) full range of diamonds available in London from sources world-wide. / Thesis (LL.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Acknowledging a relationship between international human rights and international trade law adds to the legitimacy of economic, social and cultural rights already enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the central institution for international trade law and it has demonstrated a commitment to enhance human rights. This commitment has been realized through WTO efforts to enhance human dignity and eradicate poverty. These WTO efforts ought to be fostered and used to promote human rights. The purpose of this study was two fold – first, demonstrate that a relationship between international trade law and international human rights exists; and second, that this relationship is useful in promoting economic, social and cultural rights. This relationship will be examined through WTO initiatives, case studies and the Accession of the Republic of China in 2001.

This study explored whether there is an inherent inequitable nature of the liberalization process with respect to the World Trade Organization Agreements, namely TRIMs (Trade-related Investment Measures), TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and the Agreement on Agriculture.

In the early 2000’s Canada and France were at the forefront of what appeared to be a counter-hegemonic movement in the rapid creation of the Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions at UNESCO to perceived US cultural hegemony at the World Trade Organization. However, the final Convention lacks the fundamental protections it set out to create and reinforces the commodification of culture and the promotion of cultural industries, rather than challenging commodification or supporting arts and culture. This thesis uses Marxian critical theories to interrogate the nature and form of the Canadian government’s involvement in the creation of the Convention and posits Gramscian evidence of the presence of behaviours of hegemony and resistance to hegemony, the formation of a Weltanschauung (common sense world view) led by organic intellectuals in civil society and demonstrates important instances of trasformismo (absorption of counter-hegemonic ideas) at work. / Graduate

Includes bibliographical references / The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a unilateral trade policy concession governing United States - Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) trade and investment relations. AGOA provides United States market access for 40 SSA countries, including South Africa. This piece of legislation has the fundamental objective of facilitating the global integration of SSA countries into the world economy by extending preferential access to the United States market for exporters from eligible countries. Over the past decade, AGOA has emerged as a topical issue as scholars and policy makers sought to understand its impact on SSA, especially South Africa. This has been awarded more impetus given its pending expiration in 2015. This, naturally, raised questions about the performance of United States preference programs (such as AGOA) as part of a larger ongoing debate on the form that United States preference programs may take in the foreseeable future. With South Africa facing a serious opposition to inclusion in the next shape of AGOA given the number of trade agreements South Africa has signed with countries that are competitors to United States in certain product categories. This study will seek to highlight the importance of the AGOA dispensation to South Africa, and through that analysis make a case for the continued inclusion of South Africa in the future trade dispensations that may develop. This study focuses on two research objectives; firstly, the study seeks to assess the extent to which increased preferential access to the United States market has translated into a real and tangible increase in exports from South Africa to the United States. Secondly, the study seeks to identify the areas where South Africa and the United States have high trade potential, and help make a case for inclusion of these high potential trade products in the next iteration of the AGOA dispensation. In achieving the first research objective, the study carried out a detailed trade statistics analysis with the hope of gaining greater understanding of the extent to which AGOA has influenced trade patterns between the United States and South Africa. South Africa's trade figures show that the United States is an important trade partner. A key conclusion that can be drawn from the analysis is the observation that a fair amount of growth in South Africa's exports to the United States is fundamentally characterized by two key aspects namely; growth in specific commodities and an export base that is becoming gradually concentrated over time. This implies that trade between South Africa and the United States is shifting towards a new focus in line with AGOA incentives and by extension one may conclude that South African firms are utilizing the market opportunities and the networks that enable them to effectively exploit the United States market. In fulfilling the second research objective, the detailed trade potential analysis that is propped up by a robust analysis of trade trends was carried out. The trade potential analysis identified thirteen commodity groups as having high potential for further exports into the United States market, and Pearls, precious stones and metals were identified as having the highest indicative trade potential, although the picture changes as the data is further disaggregated. This suggests that there is enormous potential and a great scope for export of pearls, precious stones and metals to the United States.

Regional integration is not a new phenomenon in Africa. It can be traced back to the creation of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in 1917, which was the world's first customs union. Upon gaining independence, states formed the Organization of African Unity (OAU). At that time, Heads of States viewed regional integration as a protectionist measure against colonialism and as a way of forming a self-sustaining continent. However, the additional challenges facing Africa over time prompted various initiatives by Heads of States which were aimed at deepening integration on the continent. Notable actions include the signing of the Abuja Treaty, which established the African Economic Community (AEC), and the replacement of the OAU by the African Union (AU). Further, the continent experienced an increase in the number of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and there are now fourteen RECs. Despite the steps taken to further integration, the success of such regional integration on the continent has been minimal and Africa has become even more marginalized on the global market. This lack in progression can be attributed to challenges such as inadequate resources, overlapping memberships in multiple RECs and duplicated programmes and efforts. Another challenge that is not readily recognized is the lack of attention to the role of law in economic integration. RECs have largely focused on the economic and political aspects of regional integration but have given minimal attention to the necessity of a strong legal foundation. RECs develop community law and these laws should be enforceable within Member States. However, due to the weak legal systems of RECs in Africa that do not make community law supreme, enforceability of this law has proven challenging. Comparatively, other RECs such as the European Union, have achieved deeper levels of integration and this can partly be attributed to the strong legal systems that have been developed. It is on the basis of this challenge that this study is conducted. The study aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the weaknesses of existing legal systems of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). The study further analyses the manner in which other RECs, such as the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States, have successfully integrated through law, with the aim of identifying solutions for the existing weaknesses in Southern Africa.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished