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New Frontiers in the Relationship Between National and European Courts
The central question pervading this discussion is simply stated: whether and to what extent the European Court of Justice (“Court of Justice” or “Court”) (and the European institutions more generally) can count on the courts of the Member States to perform their judicial tasks in ways that are faithful to the ground rules of European Union (“EU”) law, be those rules substantive or procedural in character. Looking back over the past five decades, I am struck by the succession of different forms this question of national court “fidelity” to Community law, for lack of a better term, has taken. (The quoted term is meant to evoke precisely the general duty of loyal cooperation *526 imposed on Member States under Article 10 of the current EC Treaty.) I would suggest that we have witnessed essentially three generations of such “fidelity challenges.” In the early years, the fidelity challenge--or “infidelity risk,” if you prefer--ran something like this: Will national courts accept and conform to the Grundnorms of European constitutional law, that is to say, the principles of supremacy and direct effect expounded by the Court of Justice? Or, to take a second example, will national courts genuinely make preliminary references to the Court of Justice in accordance with the criteria for the making of preliminary references that have been established in the Treaty and in the case law of the Court? Considering the indispensable role that preliminary references and preliminary rulings play in the development of EU law, the importance of these ground rules should not be underestimated
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International Trade: Rules of Origin
[Excerpt] Determining the country of origin of a product is important for properly assessing tariffs, enforcing trade remedies (such as anti-dumping and countervailing duties) or quantitative restrictions (tariff quotas), and statistical purposes. Other commercial trade policies are also linked with origin determinations, such as country of origin labeling and government procurement regulations.
Rules of origin (ROO), used to determine the country of origin of merchandise entering the U.S. market, can be very simple, noncontroversial tools of international trade as long as all of the parts of a product are manufactured and assembled primarily in one country. However, when a finished product’s component parts originate in many countries, as is often the case in today’s global trading environment, determining origin can be a very complex, sometimes subjective, and time-consuming process.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the agency responsible for determining country of origin using various ROO schemes. Non-preferential rules of origin are used to determine the origin of goods imported from countries with which the United States has most-favored-nation (MFN) status. They are the principal regulatory tools for accurate assessment of tariffs on imports, addressing country of origin labeling issues, qualifying goods for government procurement, and enforcing trade remedy actions and trade sanctions.
Preferential rules are used to determine the eligibility of imported goods from certain U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) partners and certain developing country beneficiaries to receive duty-free or reduced tariff benefits under bilateral or regional FTAs, trade preference programs (such as the Generalized System of Preferences), and other special import programs. Preferential rules of origin are specific to each FTA, which means that they vary from agreement to agreement and preference to preference.
This report deals with ROO in three parts. First, we describe in more detail the reasons that country of origin rules are important and briefly describe U.S. laws and methods that provide direction in making these determinations. Second, we discuss briefly some of the more controversial issues involving rules of origin, including the apparently subjective nature of some CBP origin determinations, and the effects of the global manufacturing process on ROO. Third, we conclude with some alternatives and options that Congress could consider that might assist in simplifying the process.
This report will be updated as events warrant
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