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Course Syllabus

Master 2020/2021

The Law and Jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization

Category 'Best Course for Career Development'
Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'
Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'
Type: Compulsory course (Law of International Trade, Finance and Economic Integration)
Area of studies: Law
Delivered by: School of International Law
Where: Faculty of Law
When: 1 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies: offline
Instructors: Daria Boklan, Yury Rovnov
Master’s programme: Law of International Trade, Finance and Economic Integration
Language: English
ECTS credits: 6
Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Full Syllabus

Abstract

The Law and Jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization is a compulsory course to be taught on-line in English. A good command of legal English is required. The course aims to familiarize the students with the main trends in development of contemporary trade law and law of the WTO, specifics of trade regulation in international trade system, and the main rules on resoling trade disputes in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. The course will also analyze the WTO covered agreements, jurisprudence of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body, and their interrelation with the regional trade agreements. Thus, the course will include elements of general international law, international trade law and law of the integration organizations. It is, therefore, desirable, that the students have already studied the course of “General international Law”. The target audience is both students of the Faculty of Law of the HSE and foreign students. The course is taught in English.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • Main purpose of the course is to make students able to use norms of law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), make legal research and solve cases in this field. The course’s objectives are numerous but its main purpose is to provide students with the necessary tools to understand and analyze the nature, role and effects of the WTO law, regulation, proceedings and decision-making. To that end, the first sessions will lay the necessary grounds, that is, introduce historical aspects of the establishment of the WTO, emergence of the WTO law, its general principles, main actors and an overview of general institutional design. After the necessary introductory sessions, we will look at the production and implementation of the WTO law; the WTO institutions; general access to the WTO dispute settlement system; WTO membership and decision-making; institutional structure of the WTO. Largely, half of the course is dedicated to WTO law and regulation of various trade aspects, such as trade in goods, trade in services, non-tariff barriers and trade related aspects of intellectual property rights.
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • Knowledge and understanding: demonstrate general knowledge and understanding of basic notions of WTO institutions and WTO law; demonstrate extensive knowledge and understanding of WTO principles of trade in goods, trade in services, non-tariff barriers and trade related aspects of intellectual property rights, etc.
  • Skills and abilities: demonstrate the ability to find, select and evaluate WTO law, as well as WTO case law; demonstrate a solid understanding of the WTO decision-making process, in particular in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism;
  • Students should gain the following competences: ability to work with information (search, evaluate, use information, necessary for fulfillment of scientific and professional tasks, from various sources, including application of the systematic approach); ability to carry out professional activities in WTO and international setting; ability to search, analyze, and work with legally relevant information by using the juridical, comparative and other specific methods;
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Legal status of the WTO
    WTO – the successor of the GATT. The origins of the WTO. Objectives and functions of the WTO. Membership of the WTO. Structure of the WTO. Decision-making in the WTO.
  • The Law of the WTO and its sources
    The Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization. Sources of WTO law. Interpreting of WTO law. WTO law and international law. WTO law and preferential trade agreements. WTO and national law.
  • WTO dispute settlement
    Understanding of Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes: basic principles. Jurisdiction of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Access to the WTO dispute settlement system. Process of WTO dispute settlement. Future challenges to WTO dispute settlement.
  • Most-favoured-nation treatment (MFN) and national treatment (NT)
    MFN under GATT. MFN under GATS. NT under GATT. NT under GATS.
  • General and security exceptions
    General exceptions under the GATT. General exceptions under the GATS. Security exceptions under the GATT and the GATS.
  • Sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade.
    Scope of application of the SPS and TBT agreements.
  • Trade in services
    Scope of application of the General Agreement on Trade in Servicers (GATS). General obligations under the GATS. The Modes of Supply. Market access under the GATT. National treatment under the GATT. Specific commitments under the GATS.
  • Intellectual property rights
    The origins and objectives of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 1994 (TRIPS). Scope of application of the TRIPS Agreement. General provisions and basic principles of the TRIPS Agreement. Substantive protection of intellectual property rights.
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Attendance, active participation and in-class discussion. Online.
  • non-blocking One in-class presentation. Online.
  • non-blocking Written assignment. Online.
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (2 module)
    0.2 * Attendance, active participation and in-class discussion. Online. + 0.4 * One in-class presentation. Online. + 0.4 * Written assignment. Online.
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Boklan, D. S. / Б. Д. С., Absaliamov, V. V. / А. В. В., & Kurnosov, Y. S. / К. Ю. С. (2018). Are Restrictive Measures and Countermeasures Justifiable by Wto Security Exceptions: Objective or Subjective Approach? / Могут Ли Антироссийские “Санкции” И Российские Ответные Меры Быть Оправданы В Рамках Вто Соображениями Безопасности: Объективный Или Субъективный Подход? Московский Журнал Международного Права, (3), 18–29. https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2018-3-18-29
  • EU state aid law, WTO subsidies disciplines and renewable energy support schemes: Disconnected paradigms in decarbonizing the grid. (2018). European Journal of Risk Regulation, 1–39. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsnar&AN=edsnar.oai.tilburguniversity.edu.publications.6852809e.b52c.40cc.ae8d.5e0430bbf866
  • Pogoretskyy,Vitaliy. (2018). Freedom of Transit and Access to Gas Pipeline Networks under WTO Law. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.b.cup.cbooks.9781316615249
  • Subsidies in WTO Law and Energy Regulation: Some Implications for Fossil Fuels and Renewable Energy. (2018). Hart Publishing. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsnar&AN=edsnar.oai.tilburguniversity.edu.publications.eba4e2b0.3a35.4036.9761.238f73da141e
  • Will, U. (2019). Climate Border Adjustments and WTO Law Extending the EU Emissions Trading System to Imported Goods and Services. Leiden: Brill | Nijhoff. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2226582

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Cook,Graham. (2015). A Digest of WTO Jurisprudence on Public International Law Concepts and Principles. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.b.cup.cbooks.9781107102767
  • Sifonios, D. (2018). Environmental Process and Production Methods (PPMs) in WTO Law. Cham: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1697488
  • Soprano, R. (2018). WTO Trade Remedies in International Law : Their Role and Place in a Fragmented International Legal System. Abingdon, Oxon [UK]: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1770153
  • The Return of Voluntary Export Restraints? How WTO Law Regulates (and Doesn’t Regulate) Bilateral Trade-Restrictive Agreements. (2019). Journal of World Trade, 53(2), 187–210. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsnar&AN=edsnar.oai.dare.uva.nl.publications.0fad9b86.5245.4303.bf46.402be2ddfe0f
  • Zvenyslava Opeida. (2019). U.S. Countervailing Duty Law and the WTO Rules for Subsidies: the Issue of Consistency. Lex Portus, (1), 7. https://doi.org/10.26886/2524-101X.1.2019.1