• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.43-72
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• 2019

This study examines the trends, current situation and implications of non-tariff measures (NTM) and specific trade concerns (STC) on the protection trade measures of ASEAN. ASEAN's non-tariff measures and the share of specific trade concerns are very significant as they are the second and third largest, respectively, of the major countries. This means that protection measures using non-tariff measures are a strong feature of ASEAN's trade policy. Also, in the future, ASEAN should try to prevent unnecessary disputes caused by exporting countries' specific trade concerns in the implementation of non-tariff measures. Activating trade policy cooperation is likely to reduce conflicts and costs caused by these trade disputes.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.74
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• pp.125-150
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• 2017

Environment protection is one of the important political goals along with trade liberalization. Some of the institutions associated with it, however, either hinder trade or exert distorted influence and can arouse trade conflicts eventually. Therefore, harmony between environment protection and trade policy is becoming a crucial issue nowadays. Among the policies for environment, those related to climatic change are regarded as major tasks to deal with in the world commonly. Saying that it is for environment protection, advanced countries impose fines for environment protection on developing countries through border tax adjustments about the items imported from them. However, there is no such agreement about it internationally, so disputes often arise regarding what extent is appropriate as countries cope with it differently in their own way. Disputes about measures for climatic change are highly influential economically, and due to the severe conflicts of interests between states, they often tend to become politicized. Accordingly, we can say that such disputes affect international trade based on the WTO system seriously. When it comes to negotiation for climatic change, we should establish international systems urgently which can work fairly and effectively for all the countries joining in it. Therefore, it is important to examine the treatment of trade restriction measures intended to solve climatic change in international negotiations and establish definite conditions about which measures are allowed and which are not. In conclusion, we should devise rules for environment protection internationally which all the countries in the world can accept and agree on and also make the definite criteria of interpretation as well. Also, through those trade regulations, we should be able to accomplish environment protection globally and at the same time produce synergy, that is, economic growth through trading.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.201-221
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• 2022

This study aims to analyze a harmonious approach between trade norms for the protection of human rights and the WTO agreements is increasingly necessary and important. conflicts and harmonization that may occur between major human rights protection trade norms and WTO agreements were comprehensively reviewed. The hard legalization of corporate social responsibility for sustainable development, such as human rights protection, was in conflict with the WTO Agreement, which was based on the principle of non-discrimination. As the currently expanding human rights protection trade norms reflect differences in the positions of developed and developing countries, it was also pointed out that there may be disputes over WTO compatibility and distorted protectionism measures. Accordingly, the applicability of the general exceptions to Article 20 of the GATT were reviewed together, and Article 20(a) of GATT, "necessary to protect public morals" may differ between developed and developing countries, and thus limitations were also considered. At the same time, When it is necessary to take regulatory measures such as prohibition of imports from a specific country for human rights protection, it was reviewed and proposed domestic trade norms revision.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.12
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• pp.615-641
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• 1999

Trade and the environment emerged as a major and complex issue for trade negotiators in the final stages of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The agreements and other international measures employing trade measures and trade sanctions for achieving global environmental objectives are Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer(1985), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer(1987), The Framework Convention on Climate Change(1992), the Convention on Biological Diversity(1992), the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal(1992), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Faunna and Flora(1975), the Rio Declaration, the Agenda 21, etc. The texts of the World Trade Organization(WTO) incorporated certain provisions which were designed to reflect some of the environmental concerns are Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Properity Rights(TRIPs), Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs), the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS), and Technical Barriers to Trade(TBT) There is the possibility of conflict between multilateral environmental agreements and WTO agreements granting waivers against trade measures and sanctions. This remains a possibility, especially between countries which are Member of WTO and which are not Members of the relevant multilateral environment agreements, and countries which are Members of both the WTO and the relevant MEAs. Measures taken under the trade-related provisions of MEAs could potentially give rise to conflicts under obligations arising in WTO texts. If the parties in dispute are WTO members while they are not members of MEAs, the WTO provisions can be granted a certain priority in terms of international norms and vice versa. When the parties concerned are both WTO members and MEAs, it will be rational to grant the WTO provisions a priority. However, such measures should neither constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries where similar conditions prevail, nor create a disguised restriction on trade. Also any trade measures taken should be necessary to prevent developments in trade from endangering the effectiveness of an MEA and they should be proportional and least trade restrictive.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.203-224
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to review and analyze the protection measures for the importer's interests through the utilization of electronic delivery order(e-D/O) with the implementation of trade facilitation measures such as the simplification of customs procedures by the Korea Customs Service. The Korea Customs Service has been introducing several custom facilitation measures through the use of EDI system in the export and import processes. Korea has also already achieved a comparable level of sophistication in trade automation and custom simplification field. However, the full benefits of the trade automation and custom simplification measures have not yet achieved through the frequent illegal delivery of the imported goods in the bonded areas. Therefore, it is argued in this study that the introduction and the full utilization of e-D/O would help to reap the trade automation and custom simplification measures in Korea. In conclusion, it is emphasized that it would be very crucial for the Korean government to introduce the trusted repository for distribution of the electronic trade-related documents and the construction of the one stop single window platform for the trade and customs facilitation.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.185-211
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• 2004

It is a common and prevailing Construction that recent environmental problems such as earth's warmer climate and depletion of ozone layers can never be solved by the efforts of any one nation. That is why the international conventions have been held more often lately in order to discuss the matter of environment protection and there has been increased tendency of using economic activities of any nation especially their international trades as means for achieving the purpose of environment protection. Furthermore, there is an ample possibility for the advanced countries to use the regulatory restrictions for environment protection as an another measure of none-tariff barrier against countries including Korea which has high dependence on international trade with not very high technological capability of environment protection. Some of the developed countries have recently moved toward the creation of a new system of international regulatory measures on world trade in the name of Environment Protection. They Plan to impose strict control over the process and technology of production of good they are importing from other country. However, ever though the international regulatory measures, in a short term, could play a negative role on our trade capability, they could, in the long run, also play a role of helping hands if we usefully work out positive countermeasures as a result of hand-working government supported by industry and all the society as a whole.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.19-34
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• 2019

This study investigates the WTO dispute over Japanese fishery products originated from Fukushima and another seven prefectures. Being subject to an import ban and additional radioactive test requirements, Japan complained that the Korean government's trade measures are inconsistent with the principles of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. This paper considered the contrasting judicial decisions made by the Panel and Appellate Body and analyzed the debates with respect to their trade-discriminatory effects (Article 2.4), the relevance of appropriate level of protection (Article 5.6) and the precautionary approaches (Article 5.7). Consistent with the final rulings, this paper identifies the need for a broaden understanding of regional conditions and qualitative aspects of protection in risk analysis. Findings also suggest that Korea has diverted its fishery imports from Japan to other countries, while Japan has created export diversion from Korea to other destinations.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.196-208
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• 2018

This paper described the contents of the WTO (world trade organization) SPS (world trade organization) Agreement and trends in the WTO SPS provisions such as equivalence, localization, transparency, and risk assessment. The purpose of the WTO SPS agreement is to promote international trade by preventing arbitrary and unreasonable use of SPS measures, which are the rights of a country for the protection of human health and animal and plant health, and by abolishing the non-tariff barriers. To this end, the requirements for implementing the SPS measures taken by the importing country are restricted to those that can scientifically prove to be inevitable for SPS protection. The major provisions in WTO SPS agreement were elaborated to promote international trades. When trade-restricted SPS measures such as prohibition of imports are made, a scientific basis should be provided. Therefore, it is essential to provide scientific evidence based on risk analysis to protect people's health from potentially harmful imported foods.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.177-191
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• 2019

Global trade protectionism has increased further and U.S. priorities and protectionism have strengthened since Trump took office in 2017. Trump administration is actively implementing tariff measures based on U.S. domestic trade laws rather than the WTO rules and regulations. In particular, the American government has recently been imposing high tariffs due to national security and imposing economic sanctions on other countries' imports. According to the U.S. Trade Expansion Act Section 232, the American government imposed additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to WTO member countries such as China, India, and EU etc. on march 15, 2018. Thus, this study aims to investigate whether the U.S. Trade Expansion Act Section 232 is consistent with GATT/WTO rules by comparing the legal basis of US / China / WTO regulations related to Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act, and gives some suggestions for responding to the Section 232 measure. As the Section 232 measure exceeded the scope of GATT's Security Exceptions regulation and is very likely to be understood as a safeguard measure. If so, the American government is deemed to be in breach of WTO's regulations, such as the most-favored-nation treatment obligations and the duty reduction obligations. In addition, American government is deemed to be failed to meet the conditions of initiation of safeguard measure and violated the procedural requirements such as notification and consultation. In order to respond to these U.S. protection trade measures, all affected countries should actively use the WTO multilateral system to prevent unfair measures. Also, it is necessary to revise the standard jurisdiction of the dispute settlement body and to explore the balance of the WTO Exception clause so that it can be applied strictly. Finally, it would be necessary for Chinese exporters to take a counter-strategy under such trade pressure.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.247-271
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• 2012

This paper finds out that the WTO's member countries' environmental measures have sometimes reflected the interests from their domestic industrial fields under the name of environmental protection. For the harmonious linkage between the trade and environments under the WTO mechanism, it is required for the concerned parties to reach the consensus for the measures to be imposed domestically and internationally, as well as the WTO's judicial efforts to make more scientific approach. Such coordination and consensus among the concerned parties to the domestic and international environments would be the efficient way to solve the conflicts between the trade and the environments, together with the WTO's more scientific approach in interpreting and applying the environmental provisions.