Case Study (Basic Cases of International Trade Law)

The 1st session will be an introduction where the lecturer presents a brief overview of (i) WTO law overall and (ii) specific cases to be examined in the course. We will also fix the assignment of presentation of specific cases among students (individual or group, depending on the overall number of participants). The cases (and the relevant issues) which may be covered in the 2nd through 13th sessions are as follows: DS8 Japan - Alcoholic Beverages II (non-discrimination) DS135 EC – Asbestos (non-discrimination) DS58 US – Shrimp (structure and analytical process of general exceptions) DS152 US - Section 301 Trade Act (unilateral measure) DS592 Indonesia - Raw Materials (export restrictions of natural resources) DS544 etc. US - Steel and Aluminium Products (China) (national security exception) DS597 US - Origin Marking (Hong Kong, China) (national security exception) DS435 Australia - Tobacco Plain Packaging (Honduras) (public health) DS600 EU - Palm Oil Measures (climate protection) DS495 Korea – Radionuclides (sanitary and phytosanitary measures) DS456 India – Solar Cells (supply chain resilience) DS476 EU – Energy Package (supply chain resilience) DS473 EU – Biodiesel (Argentina) (anti-dumping measures: normal value) DS414 China – GOES (anti-dumping measures: injury analysis) DS379 US - Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties (China) (subsidy and countervailing duties: public body) DS490/496 Indonesia - Iron or Steel Products (scope of safeguard measures) DS558 China - rebalancing measures against US 232 steel and aluminum measures (scope of safeguard measures) DS591 Colombia - Frozen Fries (Article 25 arbitration) (rule of treaty interpretation) DS457 Peru - Agricultural Products (relationship between FTA and WTO) The format and the cases are tentative, and will be adjusted depending on the participants' interests.

In each session, the first 30-45 minutes will be devoted to a presentation of the reading by the participant(s) in charge, followed by Q&A and discussion for about 45 minutes to one hour of Q&A. In the last 10 minutes, the lecturer will provide a brief explanation of the reading points and background of the case to be presented in the next week. The presenter(s) will submit a brief follow-up report (more than 500 words, no other restrictions on format) within a week of his/her presentation, stating further analysis taking into account the discussion conducted in the session.

Presentation: 40% Course attendance and contribution to the discussion: 40% Follow-up report: 20%

WTO Analytical Index: Published online at https://www.wto.org/*****

(1) Van den The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization (Peter Van den Bossche, Werner Zdouc)　 (5th edition, 2021, Cambridge University Press) (2) "2019 Report on Compliance by Major Trading Partners with Trade Agreements -WTO, EPA/FTA and IIA-" (in particular Part II), available from the following website. https://www.meti.go.jp/***** (Note that Part II of English version has not been updated since 2019)

As the lecturer will explain the minimum knowledge required to read and understand the cases, no prior knowledge of international trade law is required. Having said that, considering that there are many technical terms and narrative specific to international economic law, students are strongly encouraged to be prepared before each session by learning the basic knowledge and arguments on the issue to be discussed through the textbook and/or the referenced materials.

As basic administrative points regarding the class (issues/cases to be covered and the assignment among students) will be fixed at the 1st session to be held on April 8th, students who want to take the course is highly expected to partcipate in the 1st session.