In July and August 2006 we will contribute to a high level programme addressing trade topics with a particular emphasis on trade practitioners in the filed. The event will take place in Switzerland and will be hosted by the renowned trade law school, the World Trade Institute. This program has previously proven itself as an unparalleled forum for professionals and …

The Journal of World Trade published by Kluwer Law International, is one of only three internationally peer reviewed journals dedicated to the field of international trade law specifically. This journal recently placed an article authored by Hilton Zunckel, dealing with agricultural subsidies. Hilton has long been involved as a practitioner with an expertise in the WTO subsidies regime, with a …

The implementation of international obligations in terms of a country’s membership of an international trade agreement, at the WTO or regionally, is probably more important than the process of ratifying the treaty in the first place. In the WTO system countries are firstly required to make stringent demonstration that their domestic legal framework is capable of giving effect to its …

The Hong Kong Ministerial Conference held in December 2005 was a classic example of pressing water from a stone. An inordinate amount of negotiation went into a process that, despite four years of negotiation and a failed Ministerial meeting in Cancún Mexico in 2003, yielded only enough sap from the rock to allow negotiators to claim that a backsliding had …

Earlier this week the Bush administration announced the redeployment of their chief trade official, the United States Trade Representative, Robert Portman. The USTR is akin to the minister of trade in most other WTO Member countries. Ambassador Portman leaves the USTR post after less than a year at the helm, and will probably be best remembered for his effective support …

When one thinks of international trade law one thinks of trading in goods, whether they are manufactured goods or agricultural goods. However if we look at the economic reports released each year on various countries, including South Africa, most countries’ economies consists largely of services, always overshadowing the contribution made by goods. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (“GATS”) …

South Africa and its SACU partners met with officials from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office last week in Washington. The free trade agreement negotiations were half heartedly resumed at the end of last year after a year’s lapse. Local negotiators are concerned that the US proposals are too closely linked to a ‘standard template’ and not specific enough to match …

In the sphere of international economic law, economies in transition often have similar experiences in adjusting their economies and domestic legal regimes to align themselves with their international obligations under WTO law. This is so despite widely differing geographical location and cultural make up. “The experiences of South Africa in the latter 1990’s have a singularly uncanny resonance with the …

In the sphere of international economic law, economies in transition often have similar experiences in adjusting their economies and domestic legal regimes to align themselves with their international obligations under WTO law. This is so despite widely differing geographical location and cultural make up. The experiences of South Africa in the latter 1990’s have a singularly uncanny resonance with the …

The European Union admitted 10 former east block countries on 1 May 2004 as new members and thereby expanded the union’s membership to 25 member states. The expansion of the EU means that the trade benefits agreed upon in the TDCA will also apply in respect of South Africa’s relations with the new members. The formal requirements for this to …