Emergency safeguard; WTO and the feasibility of emergency safeguard measures under the general agreement on trade in services

Yazdani, Shahid (2012) Emergency safeguard; WTO and the feasibility of emergency safeguard measures under the general agreement on trade in services. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) along with other agreements was concluded in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in 1994. However, negotiations continued within the WTO framework and are still a work in progress on some specific issues under the GATS including the question of Emergency Safeguard Measures, which has been raised in Article X of the GATS as part of its ‘built-in agenda’. The thesis looks at the concept of the Emergency Safeguards Measures (ESMs) in the GATT/WTO and tries to develop an answer to the ‘question of ESMs’, which is deluding the negotiators and researchers for more than fifteen years. The thesis tries to analyse whether the GATT type ESMs can be transposed to GATS. It also explores that whether ESMs that are modelled on GATT are feasible under GATS, and if feasible, are these really desirable. If these are feasible and desirable then what should be their possible structure remaining within the existing GATT paradigm. The thesis walks through the provisions that already exist in the GATS to meet the circumstances perceived by the countries that are seeking specific ESMs under GATS and whether these provisions address the concerns of the demanders of the concept. The thesis not only takes into account the academic and legal literature on the subject but also and perhaps more practically, takes into account the dynamics of the negotiations, discussions and debates within the WTO system on the subject. The thesis tries to provide an in-depth analysis of the issue and goes beyond what is already available in the International Trade Law literature on the ESMs under the cross border trade in services. It seeks to answer a question that presently exists in the International Trade Law especially with reference to the law emerging out of WTO.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	© 2012 Shahid Yazdani
Library of Congress subject classification:	J Political Science > JZ International relations
Sets:	Departments > Law
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/573

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