WTO Compatibility of Regional and Bilateral Emergency Actions: Implications for the CIS Countries

Abstract:
The paper analyses the rules on bilateral safeguards in modern RTAs in light of the WTO norms with a particular focus on the CIS region. The WTO does not prescribe a particular way of regulating regional safeguards in mutual trade between RTA partners. Nevertheless, the WTO prescribes limitations on the availability of emergency actions in bilateral or regional trade.
The thesis consists of four chapters, introduction and conclusion. The first chapter analyzes the WTO prerequisites of safeguards in regional trade and evaluates the most radical interpretation of Article XXIV as mandating WTO Members to refrain from the use of emergency safeguards in mutual trade completely. The second chapter analyses the texts of the modern preferential trade agreements and seeks to reveal the tendencies in the regulation of bilateral safeguards typical of certain countries and regions. The third chapter evaluates the relevance of WTO rules for RTAs between CIS countries, many of which are not WTO Members. Finally, the fourth chapter examines the special regimes on emergency actions in the WTO, their relation to the global safeguards mechanism in Article XIX of the GATT, and the perception of those rules in the RTAs. The paper reveals certain discrepancies between the emergency actions regimes in the current RTAs and the WTO legal system and contains recommendations for harmonization and coherence between both regulatory levels.