Papers by Fujio Kawashima
In the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around 40 countries/economies, including G7 mem... more In the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around 40 countries/economies, including G7 members, responded to impose a wide range of economic, including trade-related, sanctions on Russia. The question immediately arises as to whether such sanctions violate the WTO agreements or are justified under the relevant national security exceptions. After introducing the material facts of the economic sanctions against Russia as well as the development of WTO jurisprudence on national security exceptions -particularly Article XXI(b)(iii) of the GATT -, this article goes on to analyse the WTO consistency of these trade sanctions against Russia, on a country-by-country and a measure-by-measure basis. From the standpoint of the "war or other emergency in international relations" and "its essential security interests" requirements, countries are categorised according to their geographic proximity and relationship (e.g., military alliances, customs unions, etc) to the belligerents, while measures are categorised by their nature and aim from the standpoint of the "necessary to protect" requirement.
International community law review, Apr 1, 2024
In the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around 40 countries/economies, including G7 mem... more In the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around 40 countries/economies, including G7 members, responded to impose a wide range of economic, including trade-related, sanctions on Russia. The question immediately arises as to whether such sanctions violate the WTO agreements or are justified under the relevant national security exceptions. After introducing the material facts of the economic sanctions against Russia as well as the development of WTO jurisprudence on national security exceptions -particularly Article XXI(b)(iii) of the GATT -, this article goes on to analyse the WTO consistency of these trade sanctions against Russia, on a country-by-country and a measure-by-measure basis. From the standpoint of the "war or other emergency in international relations" and "its essential security interests" requirements, countries are categorised according to their geographic proximity and relationship (e.g., military alliances, customs unions, etc) to the belligerents, while measures are categorised by their nature and aim from the standpoint of the "necessary to protect" requirement.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2021
Since the beginning of 2015, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations have shown signific... more Since the beginning of 2015, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations have shown significant progress. Issues such as intellectual property and investment are usually pointed out as factors that have long been delaying the negotiations. In addition, "disciplines over state-owned enterprises (SOEs)" have been hotly debated. The proposal concerned, of which the exact contents have not yet been made public due to very strict TPP negotiations information control as a whole, was promoted by the United States in response to the strong concern of its domestic industries whereby preferential treatment granted by foreign countries to their SOEs or national flagship companies cause significant competitive distortion in the markets. This paper overviews the negotiation process on the disciplines over SOEs based on the already public information and introduces the experience of Australia, one of the most advanced countries in terms of "competitive neutrality principles&qu...
In August 2014, just after celebrating the sixth anniversary of the entry into force of the Chine... more In August 2014, just after celebrating the sixth anniversary of the entry into force of the Chinese Antimonopoly Law (hereinafter, Chinese AML), the National Development and Reform Commission of China, which is one of the enforcing agencies of the law, announced its decisions on the two price-fixing cases in which eight Japanese automobile parts manufacturers and four Japanese bearing manufacturers are involved. Since the time around this announcement, many media reports, Japanese and overseas, have casted doubt as to whether Chinese AML has been used as a tool to "bash foreign capitals" or selectively enforced toward foreign capitals. At the same time in September 2014, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a paper on Chinese AML, which severely criticized it as having been "used as a tool of industrial policies." Against this backdrop, this paper, by introducing the statistics of formal decisions based on Chinese AML and analyzing their concrete content in detail...
The U.S.-China disputes on subsidies granted by China have become a serious matter. For example, ... more The U.S.-China disputes on subsidies granted by China have become a serious matter. For example, the U.S. initiated a series of investigations on countervailing duties and also initiated a Trade Act 1979 Section 301 investigation on subsidies granted by China. Moreover, several WTO dispute settlement cases involving subsidies granted by China have been already initiated. First, this paper focuses on Chinese industrial policies in general and introduces their historical background, policy makers, and the characteristics of their policy tools. Through analyzing the disputes mentioned above, it also clarifies the characteristics of subsidies granted by China and points out what types of legal issues arise from the viewpoint of WTO law, especially the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. Finally, based on the findings above, it examines what types of challenges confront Japan at present and breaks them down into the following four practical aspects: How Japan should take ...
Rapid economic development in emerging economies including China has been transforming the struct... more Rapid economic development in emerging economies including China has been transforming the structure of the world economy. One such phenomenon is an international struggle for resources, in which resource-endowed countries tend to resort to export restraints of resources as one of their tools. Until very recently, disciplines on export restraints in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) were regarded as being excessively weak. However, the reports by the Panel and the Appellate Body in China—Measures Related to the Exportation of Various Raw Materials have significantly clarified, for the first time since the establishment of the WTO, the interpretation of major legal disciplines on export restraints, such as Articles XI:1, XI:2(a), XX(g) of the GATT. After introducing the factual background and the findings of the reports, this policy discussion paper examines the practical implication they have for China — Measures Related to the Exportatio...
This paper provides a horizontal comparison among various arrangements for regional economic inte... more This paper provides a horizontal comparison among various arrangements for regional economic integration, focusing on the types of disciplines on application of antidumping measures, and thereby attempts to identify prerequisites that must be satisfied for the introduction of such disciplines. Regional economic integration arrangements under survey can be classified into three groups, depending on how they deal with antidumping measures. First, there are those that prohibit the application of antidumping measures, such as the European Community (EC), the European Economic Area (EEA), the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (ANZCERTA), the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement, and the Agreement between the EFTA States and Singapore. Second, there are those that impose "WTO-plus" substantive disciplines on antidumping measures stricter than provided for under the WTO Antidumping Agreement. Included in this group are the Agreement between New Zealand ...
Table 1 Proliferation of Asian Economic Integrations AEIs Members Effect/Complete Scope Note AFTA... more Table 1 Proliferation of Asian Economic Integrations AEIs Members Effect/Complete Scope Note AFTA ASEAN1
Rapid economic development in emerging economies including China has been transforming the struct... more Rapid economic development in emerging economies including China has been transforming the structure of the world economy. One such phenomenon is an international struggle for resources, in which resource-endowed countries tend to resort to export restraints of resources as one of their tools. Following the Panel and the Appellate Body in China—Measures Related to the Exportation of Various Raw Materials which established, for the first time since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the interpretation of major legal disciplines on export restraints, the Panel and the Appellate Body of China—Measures Related to the Exportation of Rare Earths, Tungsten and Molybdenum have further clarified their interpretation. After introducing the factual background and the findings of the reports, this policy discussion paper examines the practical significance of this case where Japan for the first time made a WTO dispute settlement complaint against China and for the first time g...
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Papers by Fujio Kawashima