International Trade Law

International Trade Law includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between countries. However, it is also used in legal writings as trade between private sectors, which is not right. This branch of law is now an independent field of study as most governments, has become part of the world trade, as members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since the transaction between private sectors of different countries international trade law is important part of the WTO activities, this latter branch of law is now very important part of the academic works and is under study in many universities across the world.

International trade law should be distinguished from the broader field of international economic law. The latter could be said to encompass not only WTO law, but also law governing the international monetary system and currency regulation, as well as the law of international development.

The body of rules for transnational trade in the 21st century derives from medieval commercial laws called the lex mercatoria and lex maritima — respectively, " the law for merchants on land" and " the law for merchants on sea."

International trade is exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories.https://www.answers.com/topic/net-exports - cite_note-0 In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). While international trade has been present throughout much of history, its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries.

Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing are all having a major impact on the international trade system. Increasing international trade is crucial to the continuance of globalization. Without international trade, nations would be limited to the goods and services produced within their own borders.

International trade is in principle not different from domestic trade as the motivation and the behavior of parties involved in a trade do not change fundamentally regardless of whether trade is across a border or not. The main difference is that international trade is typically more costly than domestic trade. The reason is that a border typically imposes additional costs such as tariffs, time costs due to border delays and costs associated with country differences such as language, the legal system or culture.

Another difference between domestic and international trade is that factors of production such as capital and labor are typically more mobile within a country than across countries. Thus international trade is mostly restricted to trade in goods and services, and only to a lesser extent to trade in capital, labor or other factors of production. Then trade in goods and services can serve as a substitute for trade in factors of production.

International trade is also a branch of economics, which, together with international finance, forms the larger branch of international economics.

Traditionally trade was regulated through bilateral treaties between two nations.

However, with the growth of global trade, countries have increasingly used multilateral treaties, such as when nations within a particular region sign an international trade agreements. Current examples include the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).

The multilateral trade agreement with the most members (signatories) is the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The GATT comprises several rules on international trade, and is now part of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is not just an agreement, but is also an international organization.

WTO is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements. These documents provide the legal ground-rules for international commerce. They are essentially contracts, binding governments to keep their trade policies within agreed limits. Although negotiated and signed by governments, the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.

The system’s overriding purpose is to help trade flow as freely as possible. The second purpose is to serve as a forum for trade negotiations. A third important side to the WTO’s work is dispute settlement. More information about WTO you can find in Skimming reading section.

Notes:

lex mercatoria, lex maritime – " the law for merchants on land" and " the law for merchants on sea" – це заснована на практиці міжнародної торгівлі позанаціональна система договірного зобов'язального права, що самовідтворюється міжнародним діловим співтовариством та складає позанаціональний сегмент права міжнародної торгівлі, призначена забезпечити задовільне регулювання міжнародного комерційного обороту через автономне або субсидіарне застосування та пристосувати право міжнародної торгівлі до умов сучасності за відсутності державного та міждержавного регулювання.

4. Word study: Key Terms