Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT OF 6,000 WORDS | 80% |
| Semester Assessment | VISUAL AND WRITTEN PRESENTATION | 20% |
| Supplementary Assessment | WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT OF 6,000 WORDS TO BE SUBMITTED, IF FAILED | 80% |
| Supplementary Assessment | VISUAL AND WRITTEN PRESENTATION TO BE DELIVERED, IF FAILED | 20% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the rationale and drivers behind the WTO and its regulatory framework as well as its impact on global governance and geo-politics of world trade
2. Demonstrate an awareness of the concepts, rules and instrumentalities for WTO standard setting and adjudication
3. Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate GATT and the core legal concepts that frame it and the commercial and political interests and tensions that drive them
4. Demonstrate an awareness of the specific WTO regulation as applicable to particular sectors (agricultural products), commercial practices (dumping) or legal fields (IP law)
5. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the wider push for global trade liberalization within which the WTO operates
6. Demonstrate an understanding of the interaction between domestic law and international trade law
Brief description
This module provides insight into the WTO, one of the most powerful standard setting and adjudicating bodies of the 21st century. It examines the history, objectives and institutional design of the WTO and the legal concepts and instruments it uses to promote global trade through dismantling trade barriers, particularly in relation to goods. Using case studies, such the trade in agricultural products, this module critically explores the rationale behind the WTO framework and tensions to which it has given rise and how competing interests have been resolved or could be resolved. It highlights the intersection between international trade law and development, human rights and environmental protection and other social, economic and cultural agendas.
Content
1. From GATT 1947 to the World Trade Organization – its history, objective and institutional design
2. WTO dispute settlement : basic principles, panel proceedings, appellate reviews and ‘enforcement’
3. Basic principles of trade in goods (GATT 1994): Tariffs and quantitative restrictions, the most favoured nation and national treatment principles
4. Basic principles of trade in goods (GATT 1994): Safeguards and exceptions (e.g. environmental protection)
5. Specific regulations of trade in goods: The Antidumping Agreement
6. Specific regulations of trade in goods: The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Duties (e.g. agricultural products)
7. Other WTO regulations: Trade in services (GATS)
8. Other WTO regulations: Intellectual property (TRIPS)
9. Regional trade agreements
10. Trade Liberalisations and Development
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | |
| Communication | Assignment and poster presentation; participation with online discussion group |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Studying the material and writing the assignment |
| Information Technology | Module requires the use of IT as a core resource for locating legal material |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Gaining confidence in legal thinking and analysis |
| Problem solving | Assignment on the chosen theme and poster presentation |
| Research skills | The module seeks to develop practical legal skills and a theoretical engagement with law and regulation |
| Subject Specific Skills | Apply generic skills to specific subjects of the theme through the assignment |
| Team work | Online discussion group |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7