Spring 2025
This course is designed to familiarize the students with the regulatory system of international trade. Through the materials discussed in the course, focusing on the case law and jurisprudence of the WTO/GATT, the course is aimed at understanding the institutional framework of that system and the ways in which it functions. In addition the course deals with a large number of substantive issues to be found on the agenda of international trade scholars and lawyers.
While the course is focused on legal theory and doctrine of international trade, we will approach each and every topic from economic and social perspectives. Thus, the course is designed to follow a truly interdisciplinary tour of the relevant subject-matter.
The issues covered in the course include: Theory and Policy of International Trade; The Legal Structure of the GATT/WTO System; Dispute Settlement; Tariff Bindings and Customs Law: Classification, Valuation and Rules of Origin; Quotas; The Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) Principle; Multilateralism and Regionalism; The National Treatment Clause, Discriminatory Taxes and Regulations; Government Procurement; Escape Clauses and Safeguards; Dumping and Antidumping Law; Subsidies and Countervailing Duties; Trade and Intellectual Property Rights: the TRIPS Agreement; Trade in Services: the GATS; Trade and the environment; and Technical Regulations and Standards: the SPS & TBT Agreements.