Previous issues:

We highlight the developments that occurred in WTO dispute settlement between 17 August 2007 and 31 January 2008.

A review of Australia's anti-dumping activity in 2007 shows a moderate decline, with an overwhelming focus on the plastic and chemical sectors.

It is well understood that quarantine measures may be subjected to review in the World Trade Organization , but a recent case under the North American Free Trade Agreement highlights the possibility that quarantine measures may also be reviewable under investment treaties.

Contrary to popular belief, the World Trade Organization can accommodate environmental protection measures so long as, amongst other things, the discriminatory nature of such measures are minimised as much as possible.

The treatment and transparency of Sovereign Wealth Funds has been thrown into the spotlight following concerns arising from the credit crunch fallout.

A recent arbitral decision in Europe has confirmed that 'most favoured nation' clauses can extend investor-state dispute settlement rights.

In an attempt to reinvigorate Australia's export market and strengthen our presence on the international stage Australia's new Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, has indicated that Australia's trade polices and programs will be reviewed.

A summary of dispute settlement activity between 1 May and 17 August 2007.

A discussion paper on services exports issued by the Business Council of Australia, argues that a fundamental policy shift is needed to realign Australia's services export levels with the growing value of services exports globally.

The International Trade Integrity Bill 2007 was recently introduced into Australian Parliament to help strengthen Australia's regime for dealing with the behaviour of domestic companies within international markets. Once enacted the Bill will require traders to seek a permit to export to any country subject to sanctions.

Tonga has recently joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is one of the relatively small group of Pacific Island Forum Countries to hold WTO membership.

In recognising the importance of enhancing the economic relationship between the two countries, the bilateral investment agreement between Australia and Mexico has now entered into force. The Agreement offers Australian companies enhanced protections for their investments in Mexico (and vice versa).

There is a delicate balance between effectively combating climate change and recklessly protecting domestic industries from fair trade. In recent times, some of the tools being advocated and used to address climate change appear to have crossed that line, including the 'food miles' concept'.

The World Trade Organization's ongoing negotiations are struggling, notwithstanding recent efforts by the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups on Agriculture and Non-Agriculture Market Access.

A summary of dispute settlement activity between 30 January and 30 April 2007.

Trade policy was largely absent from political debate during the recent French presidential campaign. The issue was sidelined in favour of domestic issues, with the importance of agriculture in French culture made starkly obvious.

The World Trade Organization reviews each member's trade and related policies at regular intervals. Australia and the European Communities have recently undergone their trade policy reviews. Australia was acknowledged as a relatively open economy and active supporter of the WTO system, even though a number of Australia’s trading partners continued to voice concern over the strictness of Australia’s biosecurity regime. The EC in turn was praised for its active involvement in multilateral trading system and its relatively liberal trade regime, apart from agricultural products, which remain highly protected.

This article explains the distinction between bound and applied tariffs and how they are used.

As Australia negotiates new Free Trade Agreements with emerging markets such as China, investor-state dispute settlement provisions in international trade treaties provide an important opportunity to secure better rights and protections for Australian investors overseas.

A World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel has just issued the latest ruling in the ongoing dispute between the United States and Antigua and Barbuda over US compliance with its WTO obligations. The ruling is significant because it considers a country's fundament rights to regulate its gaming industry and protect public morals, raises the issue of equal access to justice in the WTO context and raised some novel issues in relation to the trade in services.

The 2007 edition of the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) was released recently by the United States’ Trade Representative. The NTE canvasses a range of 'barriers' to US trade Australia and New Zealand.

With the clock ticking on trade negotiations, the likelihood of increasing disputes and uncertainty provides global economic players a chance to assess their real priorities. This article examines key issues that will impact on the relevance of the WTO negotiations and trade liberalisation

A summary of dispute settlement activity between 9 December 2006 and 30 January 2007.

The World Wine Trade Group comprising Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, New Zealand and the United States, recently signed an international treaty on wine labelling in an attempt to standardise the information contained on wine labels such as product designation, volume, alcohol content and country of origin.

Historically dismissed as largely irrelevant to the day-to-day business decisions of Australian companies in Thailand, recent events may make the TAFTA an important safeguard for Australian companies doing business in the Thai market.

Vietnam successfully brought to a close its accession negotiations and formally joined the World Trade Organization in mid-January 2007.

Key World Trade Organization (WTO) trade ministers recently met on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The informal ministerial gathering was an attempt to revive the WTO negotiations which were suspended last year.

A summary of activity in the WTO's dispute settlement system between 10 October and 8 December 2006.

The Australian Government recently accepted all 22 recommendations in a recent report on the Joint Study of the Administration of Australia's Anti-dumping System by the Australian Customs Service and the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources.

The WTO Secretariat recently released statistical reports on the use of anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard remedies.

'Trade remedies' is a generic term used to refer to measures that governments, pursuant to the relevant WTO rules, may use to protect domestic producers from certain trade practices that are (or might ) injure a domestic industry.  They include anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguard measures.

In February this year, an agreement was made to reform the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement's rules of origin methodology to move to a 'Change of Tariff Classification' methodology. Under the CTC approach, an export will be covered by CER, provided the manufacturing process involves a specified change in its tariff classification.

This article summarises the outcomes of the APEC Economic Leaders meeting in November in Hanoi, where APEC leaders pledged to spare no effort in breaking the current deadlocks in world trade negotiations. At the same time, the recent US congressional elections means that business and governments need to consider the ability of the US to actually deliver on its rhetoric at the multilateral, regional and bilateral levels.

The WTO panel considering the EU's regime on genetically modified organisms recently released its final ruling.

2006 is shaping up to be a watershed year in Australia's and India's economic relationship. Several significant trade agreements have been signed amid growing recognition in the Australian business community that India may be the next big opportunity.

Since1 September, a special safeguard (SSG) has been imposed by Australia on canned pineapple from Thailand, triggered by imports reaching agreed volume thresholds for 2006.

A summary of activity in the WTO's dispute settlement system between 1 July and 29 September 2006.

The Cairns Group's Ministerial meeting in Cairns in late September was mooted as a catalyst to restart WTO negotiations. The actual outcomes were more modest, but the Group remains committed to multilateral trade in agriculture and global agricultural policy reform.

The 'food miles' concept - which posits that the further food has to travel to market, the worse its impact on the environment - has been debunked by a recent study by Lincoln University in New Zealand.

Having struggled for some time under the weight of an overloaded and unrealistic agenda, the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) multilateral trade negotiations were formally suspended in late July. One likely consequence of the failed negotiations is a significant increase in disputes initiated within the WTO's dispute settlement framework. Another possible consequence is the rise in bilateral and/or regional FTAs, placing the whole multilateral system is at risk. WTO members like Australia and New Zealand - who have most to gain from multilateralism - can play a critical role in ensuring that the system is not completely undermined or discarded during the next few years.

US pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly has initiated the first test of review measures established by the Australia and United States Free Trade Agreement, requesting an independent review of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee’s (PBAC) recommendation to not list its osteoporosis drug - Forteo - on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

The Australian Customs Service is busily engaged in several substantial dumping cases. Meanwhile, the joint study into the administration of Australia's anti-dumping system continues, with a significant number of submissions being received.

The conclusion of a new Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between Germany and China may create important new rights in 'investor-state disputes' for Australian investors in China, thanks to the Most Favoured Nation provisions of the Australia-China BIT.

With current World Trade Organization negotiations at a critical juncture, the 'negotiate not litigate' mood of its members seems set to change, and dispute settlement activity is on the rise for the first time in three years.

Australia has joined 12 other countries to protest elements of the European Union's (EU's) proposed reforms on the Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

Summarises developments in the the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system between 8 April and 30 June 2006.

The latest requests, panels and reports in the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement system.

Famously – or notoriously (depending on one's perspective) – the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement system has been used more frequently than any similar framework in the history of public international law.

It is a little known fact that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) does not currently have any legal personality at either the international level or in the domestic laws of each of its member countries, but a change to this approach may be on the horizon, with a proposed ASEAN charter.

In recent months, WTO members have been considering the issue of 'regionalisation' in the context of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, which has been regarded as one of the most important results to flow out of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations that culminated in the creation of the WTO on 1 January 1995.

The Australian Industry and Customs Ministers established a joint study into the administration of Australia's anti-dumping system on 24 February 2006 and a report is expected to be delivered to the relevant Ministers by 24 August 2006 and will, amongst other things, examine options for improving access to the system, particularly for small and medium enterprises.

The recent WTO preliminary ruling on the EU's genetically modified organisms regime has generated many headlines, but careful consideration of the panel's conclusions and the circumstances in which the dispute arose is needed.

The inaugural East Asia Summit (EAS), held on 14 December 2005, was a call to action for the regional community but it is yet to establish itself as an integral part of the evolving regional architecture for financial stability, and trade expansion and liberalisation.

The European Commission's recently released Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals for 2006-2010 explores options for responding to consumer concern about animal welfare standards in the EU.

The Kingdom of Tonga and Saudi Arabia accede, while Russia is still to conclude its 12 year negotiations.

A series of recent WTO panel and Appellate Body (AB) decisions highlight the growing legal complexity of WTO dispute settlement matters, particularly in high profile cases like Softwood Lumber and FSC where satisfactory settlement following original WTO decisions has not been possible.

Judging whether AUSFTA has succeeded or failed depends very much on how it is measured. The progess of the AUSFTA is compared to the Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (CER) with New Zealand.

In December 2005, the WTO's almost 150 members reached a deal to try to get the stuttering WTO negotiations back on track. Significant challenges still exist before negotiations can be concluded.