EC trade law following China’s accession to the WTO

Abstract:

China is now widely recognised as an economy in transition, and whilst many other considerations might inhibit acceptance in many international forums the WTO members allowed the People’s Republic of China to accede to the WTO in November 2001. However the EC has maintained China’s status as a ‘non-market economy’, it being a former planned economy, and this places limitations upon China’s trade with the EC. This book argues that the non-market approach for China, as it stands today, should be adjusted and that its continuance has implications not only for the people of China and their government but also for European citizens and policy makers.

The work is organised in five chapters. Chapter one addresses the challenge facing the WTO by the integration of transition economies such as China. Chapter two considers some of the important geopolitical stages of Chinese accession and explores the two decades of history of Chinese domestic economic and legal related reforms. European perspectives on the special nature of the Chinese economy are examined in chapters three and four: chapter three considers quantitative restrictions and emergency safeguards and chapter four examines the antidumping policy of the EC vis-à-vis China. The fifth chapter draws together the findings of the earlier chapters and offers conclusions.

The work will interest policy makers in international economic law at all national and supranational levels.