TRIPS & TRIMS, UNCTAD

KAVITA TEWARI TANISHA MITTAL NAVIN GEHANI ABHISHEK SHRIVASTAV

TRIMS
The Agreement on Trade Related

Investment Measures (TRIMs) are rules that apply to the domestic regulations a country applies to foreign investors, often as part of an industrial policy. The agreement was agreed upon by all members of the World Trade Organization. Trade Related Investment Measures is the name of one of the four principal legal agreements of the WTO trade treaty. TRIMs are rules that restrict preference of domestic firms and thereby enable

Overview of Rules
1. Trade Related Investment Measures

In the late 1980s, there was a significant

increase in foreign direct investment throughout the world. However, some of the countries receiving foreign investment imposed numerous restrictions on that investment designed to protect and foster domestic industries, and to prevent the outflow of foreign exchange reserves

Examples : local content requirements manufacturing requirements trade balancing requirements domestic sales requirements technology transfer requirements export performance requirements local equity restrictions etc

 These measures can also be used in

connection with fiscal incentives as opposed to requirement. Some of these investment measures distort trade in violation of GATT Article III and XI, and are therefore prohibited. Until the completion of the Uruguay Round negotiations, which produced a well-rounded Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (hereinafter the "TRIMs Agreement"), the few international agreements providing disciplines for measures restricting foreign investment provided only limited guidance in terms of

 The OECD Code on Liberalization of Capital

Movements, for example, requires members to liberalize restrictions on direct investment in a broad range of areas. The OECD Code's efficacy, however, is limited by the numerous reservations made by each of the members. Moreover, although the APEC Investment Principles adopted in November 1994 provide rules for investment as a whole, including non-discrimination and national treatment, they have no binding force.

 In addition, there are other international

treaties, bilateral and multilateral, under which signatories extend most-favoured-nation treatment to direct investment. Only a few such treaties, however, provide national treatment for direct investment.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK
GATT 1947 prohibited investment measures that

violated the principles of national treatment and the general elimination of quantitative restrictions, but the extent of the prohibitions was never clear. The TRIMs Agreement, however, contains statements prohibiting any TRIMs that are inconsistent with the provisions of Articles III or XI of GATT 1994. In addition, it provides an illustrative list that explicitly prohibits local content requirements, trade balancing requirements, foreign exchange restrictions and export restrictions (domestic sales requirements) that would violate Article III:4 or XI:1 of GATT 1994.

 TRIMs prohibited by the Agreement include those

that are mandatory or enforceable under domestic law or administrative rulings, or those with which compliance is necessary to obtain an advantage (such as subsidies or tax breaks).

Local content requirement

Measures requiring the purchase or use by an enterprise of domestic products, whether specified in terms of particular products, in terms of volume or value of products, or in terms of a proportion of volume or value of its local production. (Violation of GATT Article III:4)

Trade balancing requirement

1.Measures requiring that an enterprise's purchases or use of imported products be limited to an amount related to the volume or value of local products that it exports. (Violation of GATT Article III:4)2.Measures restricting the importation by an enterprise of products used in or related to its local production, generally or to an amount related to the volume or value of local production that it exports. (Violation of GATT Article XI:1)

Foreign exchange restrictions

Measures restricting the importation by an enterprise of products (parts and other goods) used in or related to its local Production by restricting its access to foreign exchange to an amount related to the foreign exchange inflows attributable to the enterprise. (Violation of GATT Article XI:1)

Export restrictions (Domestic sales requirements)

Measures restricting the exportation or sale for export by an enterprise of products, whether specified in terms of particular products, in terms of volume or value of products, or in terms of a proportion of volume or value of its local production. (Violation of GATT Article XI:1)

TRANSITIONAL PERIOD

Exceptions for developing countries

Equitable provisions

measures specifically prohibited by the TRIMs Agreement need not be eliminated immediately, although such measures must be notified to the WTO within 90 days after the entry into force of the TRIMs Agreement. Developed countries will have a period of two years in which to abolish such measures; in principle, developing countries will have five years and leastdeveloped countries will have seven years.

Developing countries are permitted to retain TRIMs that constitute a violation of GATT Article III or XI, provided the measures meet the conditions of GATT Article XVIII which allows specified derogation from the GATT provisions, by virtue of the economic development needs of developing countries.

To avoid damaging the competitiveness of companies already subject to TRIMs, governments are allowed to apply the same TRIMs to new foreign direct investment during the transitional period described .

TRIPS
The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of

Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization(WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO Members.[1] It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.

WHAT IS TRIPS?
TRIPS contains requirements that nations' laws must

meet for copyright rights, including the rights of performers producers of sound recordings broadcasting organizations industrial designs integrated circuit layout-designs monopolies for the developers of new plant varieties trademarks trade dress undisclosed or confidential information.

 TRIPS also specifies enforcement procedures,

remedies, and dispute resolution procedures. Protection and enforcement of all intellectual property rights shall meet the objectives to contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations.

WHAT DID TRIPS DO?

The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual

property law into the international trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property to date. In 2001, developing countries, concerned that developed countries were insisting on an overly narrow reading of TRIPS, initiated a round of talks that resulted in the Doha Declaration.

The requirements of TRIPS

Copyright terms must extend to 50 years after the

death of the author, although films and photographs are only required to have fixed 50 and to be at least 25 year terms, respectively. Copyright must be granted automatically, and not based upon any "formality", such as registrations or systems of renewal. Computer programs must be regarded as "literary works" under copyright law and receive the same terms of protection.

 National exceptions to copyright (such as fair

use in the United States) are constrained by the Berne three-step test and patent provisions were imported from the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Patents must be granted in all "fields of technology," although exceptions for certain public interests are allowed (Art. 27.2 and 27.3)[2] and must be enforceable for at least 20 years (Art 33). Exceptions to the exclusive rights must be limited, provided that a normal exploitation of the work (Art. 13) and normal exploitation of the patent (Art 30) is not in conflict.

 No unreasonable prejudice to the legitimate

interests of the right holders of computer programs and patents is allowed. Legitimate interests of third parties have to be taken into account by patent rights (Art 30). In each state, intellectual property laws may not offer any benefits to local citizens which are not available to citizens of other TRIPs signatories by the principles of national treatment (with certain limited exceptions, Art. 3 and 5). Many of the TRIPS provisions on copyright were imported from the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and many of its trademark

UNCTAD
The United Nations Conference on Trade

and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body.

The creation of the conference was based on

concerns of developing countries over the international market, multi-national corporations, and great disparity between developed nations and developing nations.

WHY WAS IT FORMED?

The United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development was established in 1964 UNCTAD grew from the view that existing institutions like GATT (now replaced by the WTO, the IMF , and World Bank were not properly organized to handle the particular problems of developing countries. UNCTAD has 193 members.

 One of the principal achievements of

UNCTAD has been to conceive and implement the Generalised System of Preferences(GSP). It was argued in UNCTAD, that in order to promote exports of manufactured goods from developing countries, it would be necessary to offer special tariff concessions to such exports. Accepting this argument, the developed countries formulated the GSP Scheme under which manufacturers' exports and some agricultural goods from the developing

 Since imports of such items from other

developed countries are subject to the normal rates of duties, imports of the same items from developing countries would enjoy a competitive advantage.

MEETINGS
The inter-governmental work is done at 5 levels of

meetings: [1] The UNCTAD Conference held every 4 years;

UNCTAD XIII will be held in Doha, Qatar in 2012 UNCTAD XII was held in Accra, Ghana in 2125 April

2008 [1] UNCTAD XI was held in So Paulo, Brazil in 1318 June 2004 [2] UNCTAD X was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1219 February 2000 [3] UNCTAD IX was held in Midrand, South Africa in 27 April 11 May 1996 UNCTAD VIII was held in Cartagena, Colombia in 825 February 1992

 The UNCTAD Trade and Development Board

Four UNCTAD Commissions and one Working

Party these meet more often than the Board in order to take up policy, programme and budgetary issues; Expert Meetings the Commissions will convene expert meetings on selected topics in order to provide substantive and expert input for Commission policy discussions

REPORTS
The Trade and Development Report

The Trade and Environment Review

The World Investment Report The Economic Development in Africa Report

The Least Developed Countries Report

UNCTAD Statistics The Information Economy Report

The Review of Maritime Transport

The International Accounting and Reporting Issues

Annual Review

 It conducts various technical cooperation

programmes such as ASYCUDA, DMFAS, EMPRETEC and WAIPA. In addition, UNCTAD conducts certain technical cooperation in collaboration with the World Trade Organization through the joint International Trade Centre (ITC), a technical cooperation agency targeting operational and enterprise-oriented aspects of trade development.

THANK YOU