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International Trade Law Research

  • Introduction
  • Secondary
  • WTO
  • UN
  • Regional
  • International Agreements
  • National
  • Organizations
  • Statistics
  • Current Awareness
  • Guides
  • Contact Us

Introduction

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, and news 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 and Europe, and topics related to the laws of the European Union and member states
  • Legal Resource Index (1980 to present) on 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 

  • A BU Libraries search can help to find books and articles from many databases, including those related to international trade or under such subject headings as"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.

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.


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


WTO Documents

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

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.

WTO Secretariat

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:

Books

  • World Trade and Arbitration Materials (Law Annex HF 1371 W68)
  • International Trade Law Reports (Law Annex K 3943 A495 I57)
  • Handbook of WTO Dispute Settlement (Law Annex K 4602.2 1991)

WTO Website

Other Databases

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.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

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). 

Nafta Secretariat

Legal Texts

Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

Many of the features of and resources related to NAFTA are based upon those of the FTA (Free Trade Agreement).  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:

Supplemental Agreements

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

Chapter 11 Disputes

Other Databases

Research Guides

 

International Agreements

Basic Documents

UN Agreements

WTO and GATT

NAFTA

Other Agreements

 

Domestic Court Opinions and Legislation

U.S. Court of International Trade

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Anti-Dumping

UNCITRAL

Other Databases

 

Trade Organizations and Bodies

United Nations

World Trade Organization

North and South America

Asia and Pacific

Europe

Russia and the Newly Independent States

Middle East

Africa

 

Trade Statistics

There are many sources for trade statistics, including: 

US Sources

Non-US Sources

 

 

News and Current Awareness 

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

Traditional newpaper sources

 

Research Guides

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

 

Ask a Reference Librarian

In the course of your research on International Trade Law, if you have any questions or would like to discuss researching a particular topic, please contact David Bachman:

In Person: See a professional reference librarian during reference hours at the desk located inside the Pappas reading room.

By Phone: The Reference Librarians may be reached by phone at 617-353-3151 during reference hours.

Via Chat: The LiveChat service is available during reference hours.

The following services are limited to BU School of Law Students:

By Email: students may submit an email reference request.

By Appointment: students may make an appointment for an individual research consultation.

Page maintained by David Bachman
Last updated: January 2013