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International Trade Law: The Law and Policy of the WTO - LAWS3084

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Crime & Criminal Process (LAWS1021/JURD7121) & Criminal Laws (LAWS1022/JURD7122) OR Crim. Law 1 (LAWS1001/JURD7101) & Crim. Law 2 (LAWS1011/JURD7111). Co-requisite: Litigation 1 [LAWS2311/ JURD7211] OR Res. Civil Disp. (LAWS2371/JURD7271)

Excluded: JURD7472, JURD7484, LAWS8972

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

The focus of this course is on the legal structure that affects globalization. For our purposes we can think of globalization as the process by which national economies become interdependent and interlinked. This course introduces students to the legal, business and policy aspects of international trade, focusing on the complex legal framework of the various WTO Agreements. This course analyses the legal framework of the WTO by studying the regulatory legal principles of the WTO and how they operate at both the national and international level. More specifically, the course covers issues such as tariffs and tariff negotiations, quotas, most favoured nation clauses, regional trading blocs, national treatment clauses and exceptions for environmental, health and safety and other policies, anti-dumping, export subsidies, countervailing duties and other topics of contemporary importance currently being debated. The course should give participants a sound understanding of key legal issues and principles relating to international trade and a thorough knowledge and understanding of the importance of domestic and international policy issues to the world trading system.

Recommended Prior Knowledge

There are no prerequisites for this course and no background in economics, international relations or international law is assumed.

Course Objectives

This course will assist student in:

Developing their knowledge and understanding of the core principles of international trade law applicable to the regulation of international trade in goods, services and investment
Learning to interpret WTO and FTA legal texts
Becoming knowledgeable about the WTO and FTA dispute settlement systems and dispute settlement decisions
Evaluating the complex intersections between the regulation of international trade and domestic regulatory authority
Recognising and appreciating the intersection between law, economics, politics and public policy that inevitably occur in any international trade negotiation or agreement

Main Topics

History and structure of the WTO
Dispute Settlement procedures
General principles of the WTO
Trade in goods, trade in services and trade and agriculture
Free trade agreements
Contemporary issues (such as trade and the environment, labour, etc)
The intersection between trade law and policy

Assessment

The final grade for the course for every student will be based upon research essay of a maximum 5000 words. Class participation will be maximisable and count, if it does count, for 20% of the assessment. 80% attendance is compulsory.

Course Texts

Prescribed
Simon Lester and Bryan Mercurio World Trade Law: Text Materials and Commentary (2008, Hart Publishing).

Students should also print out or purchase copies of the relevant WTO Agreements.

Recommended
None

Order from UNSW Bookshop

Resources

Refer to the course outline which will be provided by the lecturer at the beginning of the relevant semester.