International Trade Law Research

Researching international trade law involves looking at international organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO), various United Nations (UN) bodies, and regional trade regulation schemes.

Domestic law of foreign countries and the United States, trade statistics, treaties, news and other sources can also be an important component of international trade research.

As with any research project, start with secondary sources, including treatises, looseleaf services and law review articles.


International Secondary Sources

How do you identify useful articles? You can look in a law related index:

  • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) (BULaw only) IFLP indexes articles about international and comparative law of countries other than United States, British Isles, and British Commonwealth.
  • Legal Journals Index (Westlaw - LJI)(1986 to date) indexes articles from legal periodicals published in the United Kingdom which as a member state of the EU is likely to have articles on EU related topics.
  • Legal Resource Index (1980 to present) on LexisNexis (LGLIND), Westlaw (LRI) or Legaltrac (BULaw only) indexes mostly US legal periodicals.

A trade specific catalog:

Or a public affairs/business index:

You can do a full-text search. Sometimes footnotes can lead you to important primary and secondary source materials:

Books, treatises and loose-leaf services

  • Search the BU online catalog by Keyword to find materials related to international trade or by subject under "foreign trade regulation."

If you do not find the materials you require in the BU collection, you can search the catalogs of libraries from around the world through the online catalog Worldcat, then request to borrow the materials through interlibrary loan. Please consult a reference librarian with any questions.


World Trade Organization

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") was originally signed as part of the Bretton Woods system of agreements.  The GATT was followed by a series of Multilateral Trade Negotiations ("MTNs") or rounds - for a pictoral history see the WTO website. 

The Uruguay round resulted in the World Trade Organization which is comprised of a number of  legal texts including the Agreement establishing the WTO, GATT 1947, GATT 1994, GATS, TRIPS, TRIMS and the Dispute Settlement Agreement.  The membership of the WTO is constantly changing. Rounds have been replaced by Ministerial Conferences.


Legal Texts

There are many sources for the legal texts of the GATT and WTO, including:

  • Uruguay Round: Final Texts of the GATT Uruguay Round Agreements
    • Law Annex K4603 1987 A4 1994
  • Uruguay Round from the WTO web site, including the Final Acts
  • Basic Instruments and Selected Documents ("BISD") (Law Annex HF 1721 C76 ).
  • Pre-WTO legal texts (WTO web site, available as pdf and html files)
  • Basic Documents of International Economic Law
    • Law Reserve K 3820 A35 B37 1990
  • The GATT Uruguay Round: A Negotiating History (1986-1992) (Law Annex K4603 1987 G38 1993 )
  • WTO Legal Texts
  • Status of Legal Instruments (Law Annex K 4603 1995 A46 W67 1996)
  • Analytical Index: Guide to GATT Law and Practice (Law Reserve K4603 1947 .A53 1995)(current through 1995) helps locate documents which interpret the agreements.
  • WTO Analytical Index: Guide to WTO Law and Practice

The WTO structure includes the General Council, a permanent group, and the Ministerial Conference, which convenes every two years to hear the report of the General Council and conduct other business.  The General Council is responsible for establishing the Dispute Settlement Panels and the Trade Policy Review Panels, and for oversight of other councils like the Services Council as well as committees and working groups.


WTO Documents

The documents produced by the GATT through 1995 are available in several formats:

  • Microfiche (Law Micro KJE 5062 C65 A413) see the List & Index of Documents (Law Micro Index KJE 5062 C65 A413) and Supplements to BISD (Law Annex HF 1721 C76)
  • GATT documents ( WTO website)
  • GATT Digital Library.

For post-1995 documents they are available on Documents Online.

Each WTO/GATT document, like a United Nations document, has a unique identifier called a document symbol. For example, the symbol WT/GC/M/1 :

  • the first portion of the document number indicates the collection, WT = World Trade Overseeing Body;
  • the second portion indicates the series, GC = the General Council;
  • the type of document is indicated by M = Minutes,
  • followed by a sequential number = 1.

Refer to the Guide to Documentation (Law Micro Indexes KJE 5062 C65 A413) accompanying the List & Index of Documents which explains the GATT/WTO system of document symbols. There is also a discussion of document symbols on the WTO website. 

It is important to realize that many documents remain restricted for some period and therefore, may not be available. The WTO has specific procedures for derestricting documents.

Finally, the WTO has developed a vocabulary all its own, so it is useful to have a glossary and a page with translations of terms of art.


Dispute Settlement

Dispute settlement is an important feature of the GATT and WTO.  The adopted panel reports under GATT 1947 as well as under the new process established under the Dispute Settlement Understanding of the Uruguay Round and Panel and Appellate Body Reports, are published in:

Finally, it is important to remember that all the agreements are, at their base, agreements to fix tariffs.  The particular schedules of tariff levels and specific commitments a country has agreed to are usually contained separately from individual agreements in the schedules of commitments.


United Nations Trade Related Bodies

Additionally, there have been several United Nations entities involved in the development of international trade, most importantly

To search United Nations documents see the research guide for the United Nations.


Regional Trade Organizations

More recently, a trend toward regional trade organizations has developed, including North American Free Trade Agreement, El Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR) and European Economic Area (EEA). For a complete list see Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements Notificed to the WTO.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to which the United States, Canada and Mexico are parties, is the successor to the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA). 

The legal texts which constitute NAFTA are available from a number of sources:

Many of the features of and resources related to NAFTA are based upon those of the FTA.  The decisions of binational panels established to hear disputes under the FTA may often be found together with newer decisions under NAFTA, in sources such as:

The three parties to NAFTA also signed supplemental agreements (also available in NAFTA Supplemental Agreements ( Law Annex KDZ944.A41992 A5325 1993)):

Additional helpful NAFTA research guides to consult:


News

When starting research, it is important to familiarize yourself with current developments. Additionally, resources which cover trade news may also publish important recent documents.

WTO sources:

Trade-specific sources:

Government sources:

And traditional newpaper sources:


Trade Statistics

There are many sources for trade statistics, including: 

US sources:

Non-US sources:


Other resources

Also, refer to the following helpful guides and web pages:

Be sure to consult a reference librarian if you have any questions.

 

Page maintained by Stefanie Weigmann
Last updated: December 2007