Related Research Articles
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its preamble, its purpose was the "substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis."
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade in cooperation with the United Nations System. The WTO is the world's largest international economic organization, with 166 members representing over 98% of global trade and global GDP.
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control. NGOs often focus on humanitarian or social issues but can also include clubs and associations offering services to members. Some NGOs, like the World Economic Forum, may also act as lobby groups for corporations. Unlike international organizations (IOs), which directly interact with sovereign states and governments, NGOs are independent from them.
Trade justice is a campaign by non-governmental organisations, plus efforts by other actors, to change the rules and practices of world trade in order to promote fairness. These organizations include consumer groups, trade unions, faith groups, aid agencies and environmental groups.
Ecolabels and Green Stickers are labeling systems for food and consumer products. The use of ecolabels is voluntary, whereas green stickers are mandated by law; for example, in North America major appliances and automobiles use Energy Star. They are a form of sustainability measurement directed at consumers, intended to make it easy to take environmental concerns into account when shopping. Some labels quantify pollution or energy consumption by way of index scores or units of measurement, while others assert compliance with a set of practices or minimum requirements for sustainability or reduction of harm to the environment. Many ecolabels are focused on minimising the negative ecological impacts of primary production or resource extraction in a given sector or commodity through a set of good practices that are captured in a sustainability standard. Through a verification process, usually referred to as "certification", a farm, forest, fishery, or mine can show that it complies with a standard and earn the right to sell its products as certified through the supply chain, often resulting in a consumer-facing ecolabel.
Global governance refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly entails making, monitoring, and enforcing rules. Within global governance, a variety of types of actors – not just states – exercise power.
An international environmental agreement or sometimes environmental protocol, is a type of treaty binding in international law, allowing them to reach an environmental goal. In other words, it is "an intergovernmental document intended as legally binding with a primary stated purpose of preventing or managing human impacts on natural resources."
The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) was a draft agreement negotiated in secret between members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) between 1995 and 1998. It sought to establish a new body of universal investment laws that would grant corporations unconditional rights to engage in financial operations around the world, without any regard to national laws and citizens' rights. The draft gave corporations a right to sue governments if national health, labor or environment legislation threatened their interests. When its draft became public in 1997, it drew widespread criticism from civil society groups and developing countries, particularly over the possibility that the agreement would make it difficult to regulate foreign investors. After an intense global campaign was waged against the MAI by the treaty's critics, the host nation France announced in October 1998 that it would not support the agreement, effectively preventing its adoption due to the OECD's consensus procedures.
The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is a public business school headquartered in New Delhi, Delhi, India. It has been proposed to be declared as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India. Established in 1963, it functions under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India. It also serves as a training institute for the probationary officers of the Indian Trade Service. Its headquarters are in New Delhi and it has additional campuses in Kolkata and Kakinada.
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state's policies, highlightning the degradation of the planet's life-supporting systems on which humanity depends. A world economy that continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels translates into ongoing air and water pollution, acidification of the oceans, and rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These changes threaten the survival of species already suffering from widespread habitat loss, pushing them closer to extinction. Recent analyses show that humanity has already transgressed six out of nine critical planetary boundaries that define Earth's safe operating space — and is close to crossing a seventh.
B. S. Chimni is a legal scholar and academic who is presently distinguished professor of international law member at Jindal Global Law School. His areas of expertise include international law, international trade law and international refugee law. He has been chairperson of the Centre for International Legal Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He had a 2+1⁄2-year stint as vice chancellor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences. He has been a visiting professor at the International Center for Comparative Law and Politics, Tokyo University, a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School, visiting fellow at Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, and a visiting scholar at the Refugee Studies Center, York University, Canada.
The original members of theWorld Trade Organization are the parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) after ratifying the Uruguay Round Agreements, and the European Communities. They obtained this status at the entry into force on 1 January 1995 or upon their date of ratification. All other members have joined the organization as a result of negotiation, and membership consists of a balance of rights and obligations. The process of becoming a World Trade Organization (WTO) member is unique to each applicant country, and the terms of accession are dependent upon the country's stage of economic development and the current trade regime.
Since its creation in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has worked to maintain and develop international trade. As one of the largest international economic organizations, it has strong influence and control over trading rules and agreements, and thus has the ability to affect a country's economy immensely. The WTO policies aim to balance tariffs and other forms of economic protection with a trade liberalization policy, and to "ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible". Indeed, the WTO claims that its actions "cut living costs and raise standards, stimulate economic growth and development, help countries develop, [and] give the weak a stronger voice." Statistically speaking, global trade has consistently grown between one and six percent per annum over the past decade, and US$38.8 billion were allocated to Aid for Trade in 2016.
Steve Charnovitz is an American legal scholar. He teaches at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., and is best known for his writings on the linkages between trade and environment and trade and labor rights. He is also known for his scholarship on the historical role of nongovernmental organizations in international governance.
The Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy is a joint initiative between the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Yale Law School.
Daniel C. Esty is an American environmental lawyer and policymaker. He is the Hillhouse professor at Yale University with appointments at Yale Law School and the Yale School of the Environment. From 2011 to 2014, Esty served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. He launched a series of renewable power and energy efficiency finance programs, including Connecticut's first-in-the-nation Green bank and statewide property assessed clean energy (C-PAC) finance system.
Sustainability metrics and indices are measures of sustainability, using numbers to quantify environmental, social and economic aspects of the world. There are multiple perspectives on how to measure sustainability as there is no universal standard. Intead, different disciplines and international organizations have offered measures or indicators of how to measure the concept.
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) is an international non-profit research and advocacy organization that promotes sustainable food, farm, and trade systems. IATP has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., Geneva, Switzerland and Berlin, Germany.
Chantal J.M. Thomas, Cornell Law Professor at Cornell Law School, directs the Clarke Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East and North Africa. She teaches in the areas of Law and Development, Law and Globalization, and International Economic Law. She is active in the areas of human rights and social justice, particularly in the Middle East.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The WTO deals with regulation of trade between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which is signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994).
References
- ↑ Global Environment & Trade Study, 1995–1996 Biennial Report, p. 2.
- ↑ "Welcome | Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy".
- ↑ WTO | Environment - Negotiations on trade and environment
- ↑ David Palmeter & Petros C. Mavroidis, Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Organization, Cambridge U. Press, 2d ed. 2004, p. 35.
- ↑ John H. Jackson, "Justice Feliciano and the WTO Environmental Cases: Laying the Foundations of a 'Constitutional Jurisprudence' with Implications for Developing Countries," in Steve Charnovitz, Debra P. Steger & Peter van den Bossche, Law in the Service of Human Dignity, Cambridge U. Press, 2005.
- ↑ </>1995–86 Biennial Report, ibid, pp. 6–7.
- ↑ "Home - REEEP - The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership". Archived from the original on 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
- ↑ "Yale Law School | Faculty | Publications". Archived from the original on 2007-03-08. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
- ↑ Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development
- ↑ Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
- ↑ Untitled Document
- ↑ 1995–96 Biennial Report, ibid., pp. 10–11.
- ↑ Martin Neil Baily and Robert Z. Lawrence, "Competitiveness and the Assessment of Trade Performance," in Michael Mussa (ed.), C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy (Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2006).