The EC in GATT/ WTO negotiations: From Rome to Nice – have EC trade policy reforms been good enough for a coherent EC trade policy in the WTO?

Abstract:

This article is an attempt to a thorough chronological analysis of the EC's existing law in the field of international trade since the World Trade Organisation agreement. It deals with the evolution of the EC's common commercial policy competence through the years, starting with the WTO agreement signed in Marrakesh in 1994 until the days of the European Convention establishing a Constitution for Europe, with a view to enabling the EC with a coherent policy in the WTO framework. Thus, a legal analysis of EC trade policy in the pre-Amsterdam Treaty period, at the Treaty of Amsterdam, at the Treaty of Nice and during the European Convention period is provided.