突破技术性贸易壁垒之法律思考

技术性贸易壁垒是我国加入WTO后在发展对外贸易中遇到的最大难题之一。各种形式的技术性贸易壁垒使我国出口贸易遭受了严重打击。这些不良后果不仅是由我国自身原因造成的,还有许多法律上以及其他的原因。因而,采取相应的法律对策突破技术性贸易壁垒,是当前亟需解决的问题之一。     

非关税壁垒对外贸的双重影响

非关税壁垒对中国企业的外贸既有不良影响,又有积极影响。非关税壁垒使得中国企业的产品在国际市场上受到各种壁垒的限制,使得企业遭受巨大损失,且随着时间的推移而愈演愈烈。同时,非关税壁垒又促使中国企业加大技术创新力度,实施知识产权战略,提高管理水平,提升产业和产品结构,进行企业之间的联合和协作,改善生态环境,走内涵式的发展道路,加强对国际市场的调查和研究,有利于提高中国企业的市场竞争力,为改善其未来的外贸出口局面,扩大更大赢利空间创造了条件。     

中国补贴现状与面临反补贴措施的法律应对

本文是一份有关中国人世后面临的欧美对华反补贴措施的法律预警与对策分析研究报告,旨在通过对WTO补贴国际规则的研究与中国各种补贴政策现状的总结,分析SCM协定反补贴豁免对我国的适用性,以及中国"非市经济地位"与补贴调查程序的关系,预测中国取得市场经济地位后面临来自欧美各国反补贴措施的可能性和应采取的救济程序措施,并提出对我国补贴政策的调整方案,为我国补贴政策法律化和决策机制程序提供理论依据.     

论东亚投资合作的现实途径

相对于东亚的贸易合作来说,东亚的投资合作发展比较滞后。为了促进东亚投资合作的发展,我们可以采用渐进式的方法,即在现有的合作条件和基础中寻找投资合作的切入点和立足点,然后再由点及面,逐步建立起一套投资合作的体系和机制。从现实性来考虑,可以借助APEC贸易投资自由化框架、次区域合作协定、区域内贸易的发展途径以及长期的经济合作基础和渠道来发展东亚区域内的投资合作。     

Understanding parrot trafficking between illicit markets in Bolivia: an application of the CRAVED model

The CRAVED model has been used to understand theft variation in a whole host of hot products, including wildlife. Past research, however, has only applied the model at either the theft or illicit market stage to understand why particular products are stolen in high numbers. The CRAVED model has yet to be applied to the trafficking stage of hot products smuggled between illicit markets and, therefore, its applicability at this particular stage remains unknown. Using secondary data from the Los Pozos wildlife market in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, this study applies the CRAVED model to explain why parrot species are trafficked between illicit markets in Bolivia. This research finds that species that are more “available” and less “valuable” are more likely to be trafficked between illicit markets, suggesting that variation at the trafficking stage of the parrot trade can be explained by nearly the same CRAVED concepts as they do at the poaching stage. This study also finds that one-quarter of parrots in the Los Pozos market are trafficked to other cities, of which 99% are to the city of Cochabamba. These findings suggest that shutting down illicit markets and patrolling major roadways between cities can substantially reduce the illegal parrot trade.     

An overview of seized illegal wildlife entering the United States

The current study analyses seizures made at US ports of entry between 2003 and 2013, with the aim to identify concentrations of illegal wildlife imports into the United States. Findings show that 94% of species seized belong to six groups – mammals, molluscs, birds, reptiles, fish and coral – with mammals and reptiles making up more than half of all seizure incidents. Additionally, most seized wildlife is imported as leather products, medicinal products and as meat. The majority of seizures emanate from six countries, and illegal wildlife is primarily brought to the US via airline baggage. Temporal trends of wildlife seizures point to increases in the seizures of all groups of species, with the exception of birds. Based on these findings, we recommend using situational crime prevention techniques at US ports of entry to reduce opportunities that enable this trade.     

Brexit and Trade Ties between Europe and Commonwealth States in Sub-Saharan Africa: Opportunities for Pro-poor Growth or a Further Entrenchment of North–South Inequalities?

Abstract

Brexit will of course have major implications for trade between Commonwealth African nations and the European continent. In the short term, the European Commission’s Economic Partnership Agreements with regional groups such as the East African Community will be complicated by the UK’s decision to leave the European project. Moreover, there are longer-term consequences to be considered, not least the role which the UK—as an independent trade actor—will adopt in its trade relations with Commonwealth African countries. This article examines the impact of Brexit for Commonwealth African nations’ trade with Europe (including the UK). It particularly points to several potential pitfalls arising from the Brexit referendum vis-à-vis African development.     

Crossing Eurasia: trans-regional Afghan trading networks in China and beyond

An expanding body of literature in the field of Central Asian studies has brought attention to the problems of considering the region's complex dynamics through the lens of its nation-states. Comparatively less attention has been paid to the role played by trans-regional circulations in connecting parts of Central Asia to the wider world. This paper situates ethnographic work on trans-regional networks of Afghan traders in China, Central Asia, Russia, Ukraine and the UK in relation to the literature on trans-regional connections and circulation societies. Ethnographically it demonstrates the multi-polar nature of these trans-regional networks, and the importance of trading nodes, especially the Chinese city of Yiwu, to their formation and ongoing vitality.     

The manufacturing of Islamic lifestyles in Tajikistan through the prism of Dushanbe's bazaars

ABSTRACT

This article traces the multiple ways of ‘manufacturing’ Islamic lifestyles in the urban environment of Tajikistan's capital city, Dushanbe. The city's bazaars serve as a lens through which to observe the conjunction of its booming trade business with Dubai alongside its growing Islamic commodity culture and a religious reformism that is inspired by the materiality and non-materiality of a progressive and hybrid Dubai Islam. Bringing together long-distance trade, urban consumption practices and new forms of public piety in the mobile livelihood of three bazaar traders and sellers, the article provides insights into how the commodification of Islam informs notions of urbanity and modernity in Tajikistan. These notions correspond to the launching of urban renewal and the meta-narrative of Dushanbe's future as a modern city on the rise. Furthermore, the article illustrates the ways in which Dushanbe's Muslims turn bazaars into an urban laboratory for religious agency and cultural identities.     

Protectionist Executives

The trade policy literature long presumed that legislatures favor relatively more protectionist policies than executives do, but more recent studies have found little evidence to support the idea. This article clarifies these mixed results with a simple formal model. It finds that legislative protectionism requires very specific circumstances involving the combination of universalistic legislative norms and a particular economic geography, with trade policy interests large relative to legislative districts but small compared to countries. Empirical evidence on this latter point suggests that the necessary spatial patterning is likely to have diminished in many countries since the 1930s, when the Smoot-Hawley Tariff and the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act focused attention on institutional differences. The assumption of legislative protectionism based on theories and measures of that era thus may not hold today, and widespread presumptions about institutional preferences may accordingly be uncomfortably fragile.