Bulletin n. 2-3/2012
October 2012-February 2013
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Shintaro Hamanaka
    Unexpected Usage of Enabling Clause? Proliferation of Bilateral Trade Agreements in Asia
    in Journal of World Trade , volume 46 n.6 ,  2012 ,  1239-1260
    In forming Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), developing countries mainly have two legal options: GATT Article XXIV and the Enabling Clause.The latter provision can be used when the RTA involves only developing countries.The way the Enabling Clause is used by developing countries in Asia is very different from other regions. Outside Asia, the Enabling Clause is usually used to form a plurilateral RTA that have an accession clause, which envisages gradual evolution into a (sub)region-wide cooperative agreement. In contrast, in Asia, developing counties started to use the Enabling Clause to sign bilateral RTAs after 2000. Such an innovative way of using the Enabling Clause is one of the contributory factors to the recent proliferation of RTAs in Asia. This paper also considers the implications of the proliferation of Enabling Clause-based RTAs to the ongoing policy discussions on the ‘systemic issues’ of RTAs at the WorldTrade Organization (WTO).
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