Processes and Production Methods (PPMs) in WTO Law
Interfacing Trade and Social Goals

An analysis of the conditions under which trade-restrictive measures linked to PPMs are, and should be, legal in WTO law.

Christiane R. Conrad (Author)

9781107694156, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 January 2014

566 pages, 2 b/w illus. 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm, 0.75 kg

Despite a decades-long debate, starting with the 'Tuna-Dolphin' disputes of the 1990s, questions on the status of national regulatory measures linked to processes and production methods in WTO law have yet remained unsolved. Likewise, labelling requirements relating to unincorporated aspects of a product's life cycle remain strongly contested. These ongoing disputes at the WTO as well as global social and environmental challenges related to economic activities show how topical and important the search for adequate answers still is. Processes and Production Methods (PPMs) in WTO Law identifies and comprehensively analyses the key legal problems concerning such measures, setting them in the context of the current debate and its economic and regulatory background. Christiane R. Conrad develops a new approach to this debate which draws on the objectives and established economic rationales of the WTO Agreements.

Part I. Foundations. The Relevance of NPA Measures at the Interface of Domestic Regulation, Economic Globalization, and World Trade Law: 1. Setting the stage for the legal analysis
2. Putting the debate into perspective: analysis of the socio-economic context
Part II. Legal Analysis. Reviewing the Status of NPA Measures De Le Ge Lata: 3. Preliminary considerations. Applicability of WTO law and other international law to NPA measures
4. Consistency with GATT obligations
5. Limits to the justification of NPA measures under the general exceptions
6. The status of PPM measures under the TBT agreement and the SPS agreement
Part III. Outlook. New Perspectives on the Legal Status of NPA Measures: 7. The interface of international trade and public policies: an overview of existing proposals for reform
8. A regulation-based perspective on NPA trade measures.

Subject Areas: International economic & trade law [LBBM], Law [L], Trade agreements [KCLT1], International trade [KCLT], International economics [KCL]