Melaku Desta

Dear all, I am intrigued by the US Tuna Panel’s approach to the question of whether the US used the AIDCP standards (which incidentally are resolutions passed by contracting parties to the Agreement on International Dolphin Conservation Program) as a basis for its dolphin-safe labelling provisions. At one point,

The discussion is nicely leading to the next question: what other international rules are relevant to trade in natural resources and how do they relate to WTO rules? a.    do regional agreements have any specific rules that could be relevant at the multilateral level? b.    how about international commodity agreements?

Related to the issues we have been discussing on this Blog: what are the most important gaps in the rules with respect to trade in these sectors?   This question already assumes that there are gaps in the rules, which is probably a defensible assumption. Many issues come to mind here,

The WTO Secretariat is currently preparing the World Trade Report 2010. This year's topic is trade in natural resources, covering fuels, mining, fish, and forestry. Further information about the WTR is provided at: http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/wtr10_ruta_e.htm.    The WTO

Every time the question of challenging OPEC at the WTO comes up, and even assuming for the sake of argument that OPEC supply management practices fall under GATT Art. XI and therefore a violation of this provision, one possible ground of defence that is often raised but easily dismissed has