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At the request of the United States Government, effective as of April 1, 1981, the Japanese began voluntarily restraining exports of automobiles to the United States to provide the U.S. automobiles industry with a period of time to make the necessary adjustment to become more competitive with imports. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the impact of the VER, particularly the costs to consumers and the benefits to U.S. producers, quota rents captured by the Japanese producer during 1981-84 will also be examined. Between 1981 and 1984 the Voluntary Export Restraint Agreement cost the U.S. economy $8.4 billion. In terms of increases in the cost of purchasing a car, the estimate ranges between $95 in 1981 to as high as $241 in 1984. E During the four years of the VER, the consumer costs : amounted to $8.9 billion. Meanwhile, the U.S. producers of automobile benefited only $403 million as a result of the VER. If this benefit is translated to the number of jobs saved, it amounts to 29,000 jobs. Therefore, the consumer cost of creating each new job was $334,000. As for the impact of VER on the Japanese producers, the result shows that the price effects of the VER has increased over the four years as the restrictive effect of the VER has intensified. During 1981, the VER added $733 to the price of each Japanese automobile, but by 1984, it was adding about $2,000. / Master of Arts

This study uses annual data for the period 1975-2014 for South Africa and Botswana, and 1979-2013 for Lesotho to examine empirically the impact of trade openness on economic growth in these three South African Customs Union (SACU) countries. The motivation for this study is that SACU countries are governed by the common agreement for the union that oversees the movement of goods that enter the SACU area. However, although these countries are in a com-mon union, they have quite different levels of development. Based on the country’s level of development, Lesotho is a lower middle-income and least developed country, whereas Botswana and South Africa are upper middle-income economies. Thus, these disparities in the levels of economic development of SACU countries i are expected to have different implications in relation to the extent to which trade openness affects economic growth. It is within this background that the current study seeks to examine what impact trade openness has on economic growth in each of the three selected countries. To check the robustness of the empirical results, this study uses four equations based on four different indicators of trade openness to examine the linkage between trade openness and economic growth. While Equation 1, Equation 2 and Equation 3 employ trade-based indicators of openness, Equation 4 uses a modified version of the UNCTAD (2012a) trade openness index that incorporates differences in country size and geography. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and error-correction modelling, the study found that the impact of trade openness on economic growth varies across the three SACU countries. Based on the results for the first three equations, the study found that trade openness has a positive impact on economic growth in South Africa and Botswana, whereas it has no significant impact on economic growth in Lesotho. Based on Equation 4 results, the study found that after taking the differences in country size and geography into account, trade openness has a positive impact on economic growth in Botswana, but an insignificant impact in South Africa and Lesotho. For South Africa and Botswana, the main recommendation from this study is that policy makers should pursue policies that promote total trade to increase economic growth in both the short and the long run. For Lesotho, the study recommends, among other things, the adoption of policies aimed at enhancing human capital and infrastructural development as well as the broadening of exports, so as to enable the economy to grow to a threshold level necessary for the realisation of significant gains from trade. / Economics / Ph. D. (Economics)

Arbitration is central to the settlement of transnational commercial disputes. This dissertation discusses arbitration as an alternative method of dispute settlement as opposed to litigation. The work surveys the difficulties relating to international commercial arbitration and the enforcement of awards, and efforts made to overcome them. The research is divided into four chapters. The first chapter introduces the reader to the work. It gives a general background to international commercial arbitration and briefly explains what the dissertation is all about. Chapter two is definitional. It examines some of the definitions of international commercial arbitration and contains the author's thoughts on this issue. The author is of the view that the traditional definitions do not properly address the concept. It is concluded that the question whether an arbitration is international should largely depend on whether international norms are used to resolve the dispute rather than by reference to geographical considerations. This chapter also weighs the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration as against litigation. Chapter three deals with recognition and enforcement of awards. This is considered crucial since at the end of the day, parties to arbitration would want to enforce their awards in a court of law, in the event of non-compliance. Since the award might be made in a foreign country, enforcement may be problematic. The chapter examines efforts made in intemational and domestic law to overcome such problems and achieve enforceable awards. A selection of multi-lateral, regional and domestic laws is examined. This chapter also discusses problems of enforcing awards against states and steps taken to overcome them. The final chapter deals with general conclusion and suggestions. It is suggested that efforts should be made to harmonise international commercial arbitration. This can be achieved both in domestic and international law. / Jurisprudence / LL.M. (Jurisprudence)

The 1980 United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods, concluded under the auspices of UNCITRAL, creates a comprehensive statutory legal framework for international sales. Through the express incorporation of the principle of freedom of contract, the convention contains rules which the parties may freely adapt to the particular circumstances of their transaction, by filling any gaps that may arise with trade usages and other practices. In addition, the convention recognises the binding force of international trade usages in certain circumstances, in that it binds parties to usages which are so widely known and have acquired such regularity of observance in international trade as to justify an expectation that they will be observed in the particular transaction. Such acknowledgment of the changing patterns and norms of behaviour which characterise international trade law allows the CISG to be categorised as a major component of the modern lex mercatoria. / Constitutional International & Indigenous Law / LL.M.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The norms governing international trade on the one hand, and sustainable development on the other, have both different origins and objectives. This is the central problem that will be addressed in this research assignment, by analysing the structure, functioning and future of the World Trade Organisation Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM). Though there has been a significant shift from politics to legality, the dispute settlement system is still far from perfect. When looking at recent environmental trade disputes, the stress placed on the system is revealed. •• The focus is on the impact of environmental disputes on the nature and functioning of the DSM, and how these disputes have contributed to the development of international trade law, and the concept of sustainable development. These will all contribute to a greater understanding of the interaction of the World Trade Organisation and the multilateral trading system, and the future role the WTO should play on the agenda for sustainable development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die norme wat enersyds internasionale handel, en andersyds volhoubare ontwikkeling beheer, het uiteenlopende oorspronge en doelstellings. Hierdie is die sentrale probleem wat deur hierdie navorsingsverslag aangespreek word, te wete deur die struktuur, funksionering en toekoms van die Wereldhandelsorganisasie (WHO) Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) te analiseer. Hierdie dispuutskikkingstelsel is nog steeds nie volmaak nie, ten spyte daarvan dat daar reeds 'n betekenisvolle verskuiwing van politiek tot wetlikheid plaasgevind het. As daar na onlangse omgewingshandelsdispute gekyk word, kom die druk wat op die stelsel geplaas word, duidelik na vore. Die fokus word dus met hierdie navorsingsverslag geplaas op die impak wat omgewingsdispute op die aard en funksionering van die DSM het, en hoe die dispute bygedra het tot die ontwikkeling van internasional handelswette asook op die konsep van volhoubare ontwikkeling. Hierdie fokus behoort by te dra tot 'n groter begrip tot die interaksie tussen die Wereldhandelsorganisasie (WHO) en die multilaterale handelstelsels, asook op die toekomstige rol wat die WHO behoort te speel met betrekking tot die agenda vir volhoubare ontwikkeling.

Thesis (MScAgric (Agricultural Economics)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The Doha Round of negotiations on the liberalisation of agricultural trade inherited complications from its predecessor - the Uruguay Round (UR). It needs to be noted, as one of the fundamental differences, that agriculture sectors in the developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) get support from their governments. In contrast to the situation, in the developing countries, agriculture is taxed to generate government revenue. The subsidies that farmers receive in the developed countries affect farmers globally through world prices (world prices depression). Therefore protection and greater subsidies should be not encouraged. As such, after a long time of preferential treatment, agriculture trade was tabled as a separate issue of negotiations at the UR and resulted to the round to be prolonged. However, one of the achievements of the UR was imposing of bound tariffs on agricultural products and determining tariff equivalence for non-tariff measures. Then, the Doha Round (DR) also known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) which is the first round to place development and focus strongly on agricultural liberalisation as a tool for development. International trade theory supports agricultural liberalisation, as negotiated in the DDA. Therefore, the DDA, in seeking more liberalised agricultural markets, continues a theoretically sound approach, as in the UR. The effects of liberalising agricultural trade in the DDA will differ across countries, whereas some will gain, others may loose, and the same situation is true for different sectors within an economy. The focus of the DDA on agriculture, as a tool of development, links well to the fact that agriculture in the developing countries accounts for a substantial share of their gross domestic products (GDPs) and exports. This situation, therefore, calls for a closer consideration of the possible impact of agricultural liberalisation in South Africa even though agricultural share of GDP is less than 4 percent.

Hong Kong is considered to be the most economically free country in the world, but also has the highest amount of income inequality of any developed country. The Hong Kong government is able to sustain laissez faire policies due to its monopoly on land supply. Maintaining high property values allows the government to maximize revenue from property tax, which acts as a hidden tax. A major contributor to income inequality is the formation of oligopolies in Hong Kong that creates an anticompetitive environment. The interests of the government and oligarchs are aligned as both obtain significant portions of revenue from the property sector. As globalization makes Hong Kong even more vulnerable to external shocks, the government faces the challenges of increasing competition, diversifying its revenue streams, and closing the income gap while standing by its principles in order maintain regional competitiveness as an international business hub.

L’objectif de la thèse est de comprendre dans quelle mesure le conflit entre l’Amérique du Nord et l’Europe sur l’utilisation d’hormones de croissance en élevage a participé à l’histoire institutionnelle de la régulation du commerce mondial de denrées alimentaires. Entre 1980 et la période contemporaine (2016), plusieurs épisodes critiques ont mis en évidence la perspective atypique de l’Union européenne à l’égard de l’emploi de ces médicaments vétérinaires ainsi que la contestation suscitée par cette réglementation spécifique dans le cadre de la mondialisation commerciale. Ce conflit se joue sur plusieurs scènes : au sein de la Communauté européenne qui, pendant la décennie 1980, peine à trouver un accord interinstitutionnel quant à une législation commune sur les hormones de croissance ; dans le cadre du General agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) puis del’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) ; et enfin au sein du Codex Alimentarius, l’organisation internationale chargée d’élaborer des normes alimentaires. Dans chacune de ces instances, la gestion du conflit coïncide avec une phase importante du point de vue institutionnel : création d’organes spécifiques, nouveaux principes et procédures de travail. Dès lors, notre travail visait à détailler l’impact éventuel du conflit sur les hormones de croissance sur chacune de ces institutions ainsi quesur la façon dont, globalement, elles participent à la régulation du commerce international dans le domaine agroalimentaire.Notre travail s’est appuyé sur une enquête socio-historique utilisant un matériau riche et varié permettant de couvrir l’ensemble des institutions identifiées sur la période 1980-2016 : un corpus documentaire a été constitué grâce aux archives des différentes institutions, une trentaine d’entretiens semi-directifs ont été menés. Enfin, plusieurs centaines d’heures d’observationethnographique ont pu être réalisées, la plupart grâce à notre statut de fonctionnaire française du ministère de l’agriculture. Il met en évidence l’évolutivité des fonctions remplies par le conflit sur les hormones de croissance : celui-ci a en premier lieu permis de fédérer l’ensemble des acteurs concernés de la nécessité de renforcer les institutions supranationales, que ce soit à l’échelon européen ou international. Il a ensuite participé à l’élaboration concrète des institutions en permettant d’en tester les instruments au fur et à mesure de leur création, et ainsi, de permettre de réaliser les ajustements jugés nécessaires. De ce point de vue, la gestion du conflit sur les hormones révèle la perception des relations internationales des différents acteurs et sa variabilité temporelle. Enfin, constituant un paramètre pérenne que les acteurs intègrent à leur stratégie de négociationinternationale, le conflit sur les hormones est devenu un point d’ancrage autour duquel s’est structurée une communauté. Il doit ainsi être considéré pour son potentiel socialisateur.Notre enquête apporte également des informations concernant les attentes d’un certain nombre d’acteurs privés en termes de régulation internationale. Le cas des hormones mobilise l’attention des grandes firmes pharmaceutiques qui poussent à l’établissement de normes internationales contraignantes pour le commerce de produits agricoles et concentrent plus particulièrement leur action sur les instances productrices de normes (comme le Codex Alimentarius). Ce comportement semble indiquer que ces acteurs utilisent les instruments de régulation mondiale pour la diffusion de principes d’action publique. / The goal of this work is to understand how deep the commercial war between North America and Europe regarding the use of growth hormones in food-producing animals impacted institutional history of global food trade regulation. Between 1980 and the contemporary period (2016), several crises revealed the atypical nature of the European Union ban. As a result, the European Union views legitimacy was contested in the globalization context. The conflict takes places in several arenas. First of all, it constitutes an issue for Europe, which strived to find an interinstitutional agreement on how to legislate on growth hormones at the European level during the 80ies. Then, it has been one of the most talked about disagreements of the General agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) and the World trade organization (WTO) negotiations from 1987 onwards. Finally, it involves the CodexAlimentarius Commission, the international organization in charge of setting food standards. In each of these institutions, the beef-hormones conflict management goes with important institutional changes: new specific units, working principles and procedures were created. Thus, my work aimed to precisely describe what consequences the beef-hormones conflict might have had on any of these institutions. As a result, I show how this specific case contributed to the instauration of internationalfood trade regulation.My work relies on a socio-historical inquiry based on diverse and rich empirical data, in order to cover the three aforesaid institutions between 1980 and 2016. I constituted a documentary corpus from institutional archives, and I performed about thirty sociological interviews. I spent several hundreds of hours realizing ethnographing observation, most of which being facilitated by my belonging to the ministry of agriculture’s services. Analysis of this data emphasizes the transforming role of the beef-hormones conflict at an international scale. The conflict first convinced all the stakeholders that it was crucial to strengthen supranational institutions (be it at the European or at the global level). It also allowed to test newly created instruments in their practical functioning. From this prospective, the beef-hormones conflict management reveals the different actors’ internationalrelations perceptions and their evolution during the studied period. Finally, as the beef-hormones conflict has constituted a pattern to the establishment of negotiation strategies, it became a cultural reference structuring an international community. It is therefore a socializing factor.My inquiry also enables a better understanding of private actors’ expectations about international regulation. Veterinary drug industries are actively involved in the institutional discussions surrounding the beef-hormones case, requesting for binding international food trade standards. They are more particularly interested in the activity of standard-setting bodies like Codex. This attitude indicates that those actors use global regulation instruments to advocate for their preferred collective action principles

Durante a década de 80 os movimentos ambientais começaram a se intensificar e os governos tiveram que incorporar novos instrumentos de política na busca de um crescimento econômico combinado com a conservação e preservação do meio ambiente. A sociedade passou a demandar produtos ambientalmente saudáveis e os setores da economia sofreram pressão para mudar seus métodos e processos tradicionais de produção para se adequar a essa nova demanda. Dessas exigências da sociedade, decorrem mudanças na legislação ambiental e em legislações correlacionadas, com foco na regulação da produção e comercialização de bens e serviços. Discute-se na literatura que muitas vezes, as exigências podem se configurar como barreiras comerciais, mesmo não tendo como objetivo primordial afetar o comércio. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal investigar como evolui a regulação ambiental no comércio internacional e tendo como ilustração a análise do caso da regulamentação internacional do etanol no Acordo sobre Barreiras Técnicas ao Comércio (TBT). Para tanto, foram analisadas 1.649 notificações ao Acordo TBT, cujo objetivo principal alegado foi de proteção do meio ambiente. Em seguida destas foram separadas as notificações que tinham como produto alvo combustíveis, totalizando 94 notificações. Deste subtotal, foram ainda segregadas as que afetavam o etanol, chegando-se a um total de 28 regulamentos notificados por 13 países ou blocos econômicos, com destaque para os EUA, União Europeia, e países da América Central e Caribe. Dentre os países que notificaram regulamentos técnicos ambientais para o etanol, os que se destacaram como importadores do Brasil são os EUA, União Europeia Colômbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador dentre os temas de regulamentação ambiental, destacam-se os relacionados a requisitos para redução de emissões de gases de efeito estufa. Os dados de notificações ambientais ao etanol junto ao TBT foram analisados conjuntamente aos dados das exportações brasileiras de etanol para o cálculo dos coeficientes de frequência e de cobertura. Os coeficientes de frequência não ultrapassaram os 32,7% no período analisado, enquanto que o coeficiente de cobertura atingiu valor máximo em 2006, quando os EUA tiveram grande representatividade. Embora a princípio, o alto índice de cobertura pudesse levar à inferência de presença de barreiras comerciais ambientais, esse alto índice pode indicar também que a comercialização do etanol não foi afetada negativamente pela medida. Outro elemento importante para a discussão é que, ao se analisar com detalhes, o conteúdo regulatório proposto pelas notificações técnicas ambientais, nota-se uma preocupação com a redução na emissão de gases de efeito estufa. Pelos resultados deste estudo, verifica-se que a importância da discussão cresce e se amplia, mas não se pode afirmar que os regulamentos técnicos ambientais prejudicam os fluxos do comércio externo do biocombustível brasileiro. As discussões em torno dos combustíveis renováveis são recentes e são foco em fóruns internacionais ambientais e comerciais e podem futuramente gerar importantes alterações nesse setor, atentando-se principalmente para exigências em certificação. / During the 80s, environmental movements began to intensify and governments had to incorporate new policy instruments in pursuit of economic growth combined with the conservation and preservation of the environment. The society began to demand eco friendly environmental products and sectors of the economy suffered pressure to change their traditional methods and processes of production to adapt to this new demand. These requirements of society resulted in changes in environmental legislation and other laws correlated, with a focus on regulating the production and marketing of goods and services. It is argued in the literature that often the requirements can be configured as trade barriers, even not having as the main purpose to affect the trade. This thesis aims at investigating how environmental regulation evolves in international trade and to illustrate the analysis with the case of international regulation of ethanol in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Altogether, we analyzed 1,649 notifications to the TBT Agreement, whose main objective was alleged protection of the environment. Afterwards these notifications have been separated as a product target that had fuel, totaling 94 notifications. From this subtotal, were still segregated affecting the ethanol, adding up to a total of 28 regulations notified by 13 countries or economic blocs, especially the U.S., EU, and countries of Central America and the Caribbean. Among the countries reporting environmental technical regulations for ethanol, those who stood out as importers from Brazil are the United States, European Union Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador among the topics of environmental regulations, include those related to requirements for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Data from environmental reports to ethanol by the TBT were analyzed together with data from the Brazilian ethanol exports to the calculation of coefficients of frequency and coverage. The coefficients of frequency did not exceed 32.7% in the analyzed period, while the coverage ratio reached a peak in 2006 when the U.S. had great representation. Although at first, the high coverage rate could lead to the inference of the presence of environmental trade barriers, this high rate may also indicate that the marketing of ethanol was not negatively affected by the measure. Another important element for discussion is that, when analyzing in detail the contents by the proposed regulatory environmental technical reports, there is a concern with the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases. According to the results of this study, it appears that the importance of the discussion is growing and expanding, but we can not say that the environmental technical regulations affect trade flows outside of the Brazilian biofuel. The discussions on renewable fuels are recent and are also the focus in international environmental forums and trades and it can further boost important changes in this sector, paying attention mainly to certification requirements.