Magister Legum - LLM

Magister Legum - LLM / This research paper pays particular attention to the EAC because of its unique composition of four LDCs46 and 1 DC47 and the fact that three of these countries are landlocked least developed countries (LLDCs).48 The EAC was notified as a RTA to the WTO under the Enabling Clause on 9 October 2000 and registered as a Custom Union49 under WT/COMTD/N/14.50 The notification of the EAC under the Enabling Clause is due to the nature of composition of members therein and to the fact that the Enabling Clause does not require regional trading arrangements to cover substantially all trade, or to achieve free trade in the bloc within ten years after notification. Additionally, it provides an avenue for giving special consideration to the LDCs through making concessions and contributions,51 allows automatic exemptions from MFN (non-discrimination) treatment in favour of DCs,52 and thus allows other WTO members to accord more favourable treatment to DCs in many cases without according the same treatment to other WTO members.53. / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM

Magister Legum - LLM / The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods 1980 (CISG) seeks to provide a standard uniform law for international sales contracts. This research paper analyses the rationale behind South Africa’s delay in deciding whether to ratify the CISG, and its possible effect on trade with other nations. The CISG drafters hoped that uniformity would remove barriers to international sales thereby facilitating international trade. Ratification of the convention is only the beginning of uniformity; uniformity must then be extended to its application and interpretation. Not all countries have ratified the Convention yet they engage in international trade in goods: this state of affairs presents challenges since traders have to choose a national law that applies to their contract where CISG does not apply. This takes traders back to the undesirable pre-CISG era. On the other hand, those States that have ratified the convention face different challenges, the biggest one being a lack of uniformity in its interpretation. The problem of differing interpretations arises because some CISG Articles are vague leading to varied interpretations by national courts. Further, the CISG is still largely misunderstood and some traders from States that have ratified CISG exclude it from application. South Africa can only ratify an international instrument such as the CISG, after it has been tabled before Parliament, and debated upon in accordance with the Constitution. CISG’s shortcomings, particularly regarding interpretation, make it far from certain that CISG would pass the rigorous legislative process. Nonetheless, the Constitution of South Africa requires the South African courts and legislature to promote principles of international law. The paper, therefore, examines, whether the Legislature has a constitutional obligation to ratify CISG. South Africa’s membership of the WTO requires that it promote international trade by removing trade barriers. It is, therefore, vital for South Africa to be seen to be actively facilitating international trade. Even though the trade benefits which flow from ratification are not always visible in States that have ratified the CISG, there is some doubt whether South Africa can sustain its trade relations without ratifying the CISG. The paper shows that the formation of contracts under the South African common law is very similar to formation as set out under Part II of the CISG and if the CISG were to be adopted in South Africa, no major changes would be needed in this regard. International commercial principles as an alternative to the CISG still require a domestic law to govern the contract and would, therefore, leave South African traders in the same position they are in currently, where their trading relations are often governed by foreign laws. Ratifying CISG would certainly simplify contract negotiations particularly with regard to governing law provisions. Overall the advantages of ratification for South Africa far outweigh the shortcomings of the CISG, and ratification will assist in ensuring that South African traders get an opportunity to enter the international trade arena on an equal platform with traders from other nations. / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

Magister Legum - LLM

"Zimbabwe and South Africa are facing an HIV/AIDS epidemic of such proportions that the populations of these countries will markedly decline in the next ten years despite the existence of effective drugs to treat the symptoms of AIDS and dramatically lower the communicability of the virus. These drugs are under patent protection by companies in the developed world and the patents raise the prices above the level of affordability for HIV infected persons in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has declared a national emergency on HIV/AIDS, apparently in conformance with TRIPS and has issued compulsory licenses to a local company that has started to manufacture and sell cheap anti-retroviral drugs. South Africa has not declared a national emergency and has not invoked the TRIPS flexibilities or utilized flexibilities inherent in its own legislation. However, while thousands of people die every week in the two countries, neither government has yet provided an effective HIV/AIDS policy. Extensive litigation and public pressure in South Africa has led the government to announce a policy of supplying free HIV drugs in public hospitals while the Zimbabwean government has announced the provision of the same drugs, also in public hospitals, apparently utilising the state of emergency. The TRIPS agreement under which the two governments undertook to protect international patents allows compulsory licensing under certain circumstances (not limited to a national emergency) and the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, and subsequent agreements by the Ministerial Council of the WTO allow the manufacture and, in limited circumstances, the parallel importation of generic drugs. These provisions provide a theoretical mechanism for poor countries to ensure their citizens' rights of access to health (care). The research is aimed at identifying the extent of the effectiveness of the legal norms created by Articles 20 and 31 of TRIPS, the Doha Declaration and subsequent Council of Ministers' decisions, which together ostensibly provide a framework to allow provision of generic drugs. It is further aimed at investigating how the state of emergency in Zimbabwe has been utilised to provide cheap generic drugs to Zimbabweans and whether this would be an option for South Africa. A comparison of the legal provisions governing the provision of drugs in the two countries will also be undertaken to examine the extent to which international and national constitutional and legal provisions may be utilised to give effect to the right to health." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Enid Hill at the American University in Cairo. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

There is a complex set of variables influencing a country's potential for economic growth. One of these is investment, and in order to attract foreign capital flows a country needs, amongst other things sound macro-economic policies and solid financial institutions. Solid financial institutions must be coupled with an attention on integration of a country's financial markets. Through the building of these institutions and a focus on integrating its financial markets a country is likely to become more attractive in the eyes of the investors. The reason for this being important is that investment carries with it promises of economic growth and the subsequent social upliftment. Therefore, closer cooperation between the IBSA members is likely to offer great opportunities for India, Brazil and South Africa. It has been highlighted that a closer integration of their financial markets might lead to them also becoming competitors in the quest for the attention from the investors of the North. However, the loss in terms of competition is likely to be outweighed by the benefits found in not having to face unilateralism as separate entities. New Regionalism stresses the importance of regionalisation as a counter measure to the harmful effect of globalisation for the marginalised countries of the world, and the topic of investment aptly illustrate this point. Furthermore, a closer collaboration between the IBSA members as well as a continuous focus on further integrating their financial markets into the world economy could offer great benefits. Moreover, the trickledown effect could also broaden the scope of these benefits to include other emerging markets. Because of this, investment is, amongst other very important sub-sectors of focus in terms of IBSA cooperation, one of the most important one - both in terms of benefits for the individual countries, but also due to what a successful cooperation could come to mean for the developing world in general. The next chapter, the conclusion, will draw together the various discussion of this thesis in order to highlight the arguments put forward and to suggest ways forward for the IBSA coalition, as well as possible fields of further study / Political Science / M.A. (International Politics)

Magister Legum - LLM

There is a complex set of variables influencing a country's potential for economic growth. One of these is investment, and in order to attract foreign capital flows a country needs, amongst other things sound macro-economic policies and solid financial institutions. Solid financial institutions must be coupled with an attention on integration of a country's financial markets. Through the building of these institutions and a focus on integrating its financial markets a country is likely to become more attractive in the eyes of the investors. The reason for this being important is that investment carries with it promises of economic growth and the subsequent social upliftment. Therefore, closer cooperation between the IBSA members is likely to offer great opportunities for India, Brazil and South Africa. It has been highlighted that a closer integration of their financial markets might lead to them also becoming competitors in the quest for the attention from the investors of the North. However, the loss in terms of competition is likely to be outweighed by the benefits found in not having to face unilateralism as separate entities. New Regionalism stresses the importance of regionalisation as a counter measure to the harmful effect of globalisation for the marginalised countries of the world, and the topic of investment aptly illustrate this point. Furthermore, a closer collaboration between the IBSA members as well as a continuous focus on further integrating their financial markets into the world economy could offer great benefits. Moreover, the trickledown effect could also broaden the scope of these benefits to include other emerging markets. Because of this, investment is, amongst other very important sub-sectors of focus in terms of IBSA cooperation, one of the most important one - both in terms of benefits for the individual countries, but also due to what a successful cooperation could come to mean for the developing world in general. The next chapter, the conclusion, will draw together the various discussion of this thesis in order to highlight the arguments put forward and to suggest ways forward for the IBSA coalition, as well as possible fields of further study / Political Science / M.A. (International Politics)