LAWS370-16S2 (C) Semester Two 2016

Problems in International and Regional Trade

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 11 July 2016
End Date: Sunday, 13 November 2016
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 22 July 2016
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 7 October 2016

Description

The course examines selected problems in international and regional trade from a New Zealand perspective. Alternate year offering.

While the World Trade Organisation (WTO), covered in LAWS338, constitutes the framework agreement of the world trading system, and is therefore of systemic importance, New Zealand's trade is increasingly governed by bilateral and regional rules, thus tying the NZ economy even closer to its principal trading partners. The NZ Government has been very active in this regard: it has negotiated free trade agreements (FTAs) with, inter alia:
• Australia (Closer Economic Relationship) and
• The ASEAN Member States (AANZFTA);
• Brunei, Chile and Singapore (P4 Agreement);
• China and
• Korea
It is negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (with, inter alia, Japan and the NAFTA countries) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (with, inter alia, Indonesia, India and China). This results in a spaghetti bowl of international trade rules made up of WTO, regional and bilateral rules, rules with concomitant risks of forum shopping and potential clashes of jurisdiction.

Typically, bilateral and regional FTAs go beyond the standards agreed on the WTO with respect to trade remedies, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, government procurement and regulatory cooperation. This being the case, a second component of the course will be to contrast these disciplines with the respective WTO standards set out in the agreements on Safeguards; Subsidies and Countervailing Measures; Anti-dumping; Technical Barriers to Trade; Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; and Government Procurement.

The course thus combines comparative trade law with an examination of the state of integration achieved in the Asia-Pacific region. Together with LAWS338 (World Trade Law) and LAWS371 (International Investment Law and Arbitration), this course belongs to the broader area of International Economic Law.

Learning Outcomes

  • Students will be expected to gain a solid knowledge of the relevant legal framework as well as to develop their capacity to critically analyse issues and developments in this field. The present course will be of interest to students wanting to know more about the trading system from a New Zealand perspective and to broaden their knowledge of international law. Furthermore, the course is of interest to students studying the European Union and wanting to contrast the European integration model with the course of action pursued in the Asia-Pacific region.

    Upon successful completion of this course and in accordance with the graduate profile of the Bachelor of Laws degree, students will be able to:

  • Carry out independent research and communicate the findings of their research in written form
  • Understand and explain the interplay between regional trade rules and other legal instruments
  • Locate relevant primary materials, subject those primary materials to critical analysis and use them to create an argument based on international law
  • Relate the knowledge acquired to current matters of international concern
  • Identify legal issues in factual scenarios and construct legal responses to those issues
  • Understand, interpret, apply and critique relevant legal instruments of international/regional trade law
  • Read, understand, interpret and critique treaties and the rules relating to their operation

Prerequisites

(i) LAWS101 and (ii) LAWS110; RP: LAWS324

Restrictions

Co-requisites

(i) LAWS202 - LAWS206 and (ii) LAWS338

Recommended Preparation

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Christian Riffel

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Essay 30 Sep 2016 35%
Final Examination 65%


This course may be assessed by way of an essay (35%) and a final exam (65%).

The assessment in this course will be confirmed in the first week of lectures.

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Bossche, Peter van den. , Zdouc, Werner; The law and policy of the World Trade Organization : text, cases and materials ; 3rd ed. ;

Trebilcock, M. J. , Howse, Robert, Eliason, Antonia; The regulation of international trade ; 4th ed; Routledge, 2013.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $759.00

International fee $3,450.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

Minimum enrolments

This course will not be offered if fewer than 10 people apply to enrol.

For further information see Faculty of Law .

All LAWS370 Occurrences

  • LAWS370-16S2 (C) Semester Two 2016
Next year