Zehn Jahre WTO: eine Standortbestimmung

Am 1. Januar 1995 begann die World Trade Organization WTO als Nachfolgerin des Welthandelsabkommens GATT ihre Arbeit. Wie sieht die Bilanz ihrer zehnjährigen Tätigkeit aus? Welche künftigen Herausforderungen kommen auf sie zu? --

Brief 4: Lessons from the Multilateral Trading System for Reforming the Architecture of the International Environmental Regime

Recent studies on environmental regimes suggest that important lessons and policy recommendations may be drawn from the functioning of the multilateral trading regime. This brief compares the needs and goals of the trade and environment regimes, and discusses how insights from over sixty years of experience of the multilateral trading system might provide ideas for redesigning the architecture of the international environmental regime. It further calls for a better dialogue and improved complementarities between the two fields in order to enhance coherence within international law

Human Rights, Intellectual Property and Competition Law: From Fragmentation to Coherence

Paper presented by Cottier to the "IP, Competition and Human Rights" expert meeting held in 2004

Broad Concerns about Nanotechnology Patents: Symptoms and Diagnosis

We discuss the concerns that the patenting activity in the new nanotechnologies could blur the line between what is considered a discovery and what can be considered as an invention. We find that the nature of nanotechnology products, research, and the development agendas in science and engineering fields that include biomimetics pose a challenge to the present practice of including chemicals as eligible patent subject matter. After revisiting the historical development of patent law and noting its divergence from the developments in science and technology, we introduce the distinction between simple and complex machines as these relate to chemistry and nanotechnology. This distinction poses the question of what is the logical category of inventions that fall within patentable subject matter given that patent law was conceived to cover simple machines, not complex ones

The Potential of Tariff Policy for Climate Change Mitigation: Legal and Economic Analysis

This paper addresses a potential role that tariffs and tariff policy can play in encouraging countries to take part in a multilateral effort to mitigate climate change. It begins by assessing whether increasing tariffs on products from energy intensive or polluting industries amounts to a violation of WTO rules and whether protectionism in this case can be differentiated from genuine environmental concerns. It then argues that while lowering tariffs for environmental goods can serve as a carrot to promote dissemination of cleaner technologies, tariff deconsolidation is a legitimate stick to encourage polluting countries to move towards an international climate agreement. The paper further explores this view by undertaking a partialequilibrium simulation analysis to examine the impact of a unilateral unit increase in tariffs on the imports of the most carbon-intensive products from countries not committed to climate polices. Our results suggest that the committed importing countries would have to raise their tariffs only slightly to effect a significant decline in the imports of these products from the non-committed countries. For instance, a unit increase in the simple average applied tariffs on the imports of these carbon-intensive products in 2005 from our sample of non-committed exporting countries would reduce the imports of these products by an average 32.6% in Australia, 178% in Canada, 195% in the EU, 271% in Japan and 62% in the US, therebysuggesting the effectiveness of such a measure in pushing countries towards a global climate policy

The potential of tariff policy for climate change mitigation

This article addresses a potential role that tariff policy can play in encouraging countries to take part in a multilateral effort to mitigate climate change: it complements discussions on border tax adjustment which in law is limited to domestic taxation. It assesses whether increasing tariffs on products from polluting industries amounts to a violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and whether protectionism in this case can be differentiated from genuine environmental concerns. It argues that while lowering tariffs on environmental goods may serve as a carrot to promote dissemination of cleaner technologies, tariff deconsolidation is a legitimate stick to encourage polluting countries to move towards an international climate agreement. The article further explores this view by undertaking a partial equilibrium analysis to examine the impact of a unilateral 5% tariff increase on the most carbon-intensive imports from countries not committed to climate polices. Our results, however, suggest that plurilateral action would be more effective than countries pursuing tariff policy in isolation, with the former leading to an average 1.4% net reduction in carbon-intensive imports from a 5% increase in their tariffs

Renewable Electricity Tax Exemptions and Trade Remedies under International Law: An Assessment of Policy Space under WTO Law, the Swiss-EU FTA, and EU

A study prepared for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) The problem of increasing imports of subsidised renewable electricity from neighboring countries and Member States of the EU, undermining level playing fields for traditional hydropower in Switzerland, can be addressed by means of preferential taxation of electricity produced by means of renewable energy. Both under WTO law and the rules of the 1972 Free Trade Agreement, distinctions may be drawn on the basis of non-product related production and process methods, provided the same rules apply to domestic and imported electricity produced with similar methods. Differential taxation can be implemented on the basis of certificates of origin (CO) which need to be made available alike to domestic and foreign producers. A privilege exclusively granted to domestic producers cannot be lawfully sustained. Also, quantitative restrictions of imports cannot be properly justified. The study recommends adopting a system comparable to the UK model of renewable electricity exemption scheme, in place since 2001. It has not been challenged under EU law or under WTO law. To the extent that considerations of industrial policy dominate the motivation, rather than the promotion of green electricity, measures could be adopted on the basis of countervailing duties, offsetting foreign subsidies granted. Also, recourse to safeguard measures, albeit limited in time, can be contemplated. As Switzerland has little experience in taking recourse to trade remedies, a proper methodology taking into account WTO law would need to be developed and communicated in advance. Finally, efforts should be made to address the issue in negotiations with the European Union and Member States. Both unilateral measures relating to differential taxation as well as trade remedies may be used as an argument to bring about a settlement with exporting countries of subsidised electricity