The Multifibre Agreement ("MFA") regulated textile trade until 1 January 2005. It was
predominantly focused on curtailing textile exports from developing countries, like South
Africa and China. With the end of the MFA, a textile crisis occurred in South Africa due to
the domination of the domestic market by more affordable Chinese textile products. This
case study is applied to illustrate the inadequacy of domestic legislation to provide for the
resolution of an international trade dispute that affects an industry. No legislation refers to
the resolution of the trade dispute by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding
("MOU"), or recourse to the neutral dispute settlement body of the World Trade
Organisation ("WTO"). Due to the absence of legislation that directly addresses either
forum, all the power is vested• in the government to determine the appropriate course of
action. Applications brought by textile industry representative bodies like TEXFED,
CLOTRADE and SACTWU were inadequately investigated due to the limited powers of
the independent investigative body, ITAC, and were ultimately abandoned. The
government entered into a MOU with the Chinese government and in doing so violated
international agreements, rights and obligations. An analysis of the inadequacy of the
MOU that was entered into and the suitability of the WTO as dispute settlement body is
conducted. It is concluded that the current legislation is inadequate in that it doesn't
provide for recourse to the WTO and in that it doesn't clearly set out the obligations on
government and the independent powers of an independent body. / LLM (Import and Export Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/10882 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Kruger, Melissa Chantel |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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