a r t i c l e i n f o The literature measuring the effects of WTO membership on trade flows has produced remarkably diverse results. Rose (2004) reports a wide range of empirical specifications that produce no WTO effects. Tomz et al. (2007) use Rose's data but include de facto WTO membership, to find positive WTO trade effects. Rose (2005) also produced positive WTO trade effects after account...

Using bilateral trade data for 210 countries over the period 1948-2003, this paper attempts to shed some light on the relationship between the WTO and members' trade volatilities. We find that the trade among WTO members tends to be more stable than the trade outside the WTO, and there is strong evidence of interdependence of trade volatilities. The results show comovement of trade volatilities...

WTO standard-setting and NGO labelling are promoted as alternative approaches to international environmental protection. This has been particularly true in the context of transboundary problems such as biodiversity protection. We develop a model with realistic features and to compare the two approaches, and observe the potential inter-play between them. In a world in which the WTO is subject to...

This paper seeks to address special interpretive issues raised by the China Accession Protocol, focusing on provisions that prescribe more stringent rules for China than generally applicable WTO disciplines. These 'WTO-plus' provisions have already been involved in several WTO disputes. In the light of these disputes, the paper analyzes the interpretive challenge presented by the Protocol and s...

This article provides a brief critical examination of a 2002 report jointly issued by the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization on WTO law and public health. The author argues that the report is in many respects misleading as to the content of WTO law, as interpreted by the Appellate Body of the WTO, its final court. In particular, the WHO/WTO report systematically understa...

Agriculture contributes substantially to output and employment in South Asian countries. Therefore, any change, like trade liberalization, that impacts on the agriculture sector has widespread ramifications in terms of employment, nutrition, livelihood and food security. Implementation of various provisions of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture causes serious concern with regard to the performanc...

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the effects of WTO accession on policy-making and institutional reforms in transition countries. This is done by looking at the experience of those transition countries which are already Members of the WTO. We start by examining the effect of accession on trade policy and distinguish between the effects of accession negotiations and those of autonomous pol...

As an internationally standardized product nomenclature, the Harmonized System (HS) is used by WTO Members in their schedules of concessions and in the definitions of product coverage for a number of WTO agreements. The Harmonized System is normally amended by the World Customs Organization every four to six years. These amendments pose considerable challenges for the WTO and its Members. On th...

1 "WTO Accession and Economic Development: Experience of Newly Acceded Countries and Implications for Belarus" is available under the Creative Commons License 3.0. Some rights reserved to the Solidarity Fund. The paper was written under the " Democracy Support Programme " funded by the Polish Development Cooperation Programme of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013). It is permitted to ...

The World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA) has been ratified by the requisite two-thirds majority of WTO member states. Consequently all member states are now bound to implement the reforms covered by the agreement. The WTO TFA requires among its provisions the implementation of a post-clearance audit function in customs organizations which is risk-based. International ...