Regulating Export Taxes in Multilateral Negotiations: Nature and Options = Regulating Export Taxes in Multilateral Negotiations: Nature and Options

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The proliferation of export taxes and other export restrictions in the middle of the so-called agflation is casting a cloud over food security especially in developing countries. Nevertheless, common arguments or rationale for the trade measure prevailed include safeguarding economic development, terms of trade, the balance of payment, the environment, security and others. This paper surveyed trade dispute cases under the GATT and examined the GATT rules and bilateral trade agreements concerning export taxes. It also pointed out the irony that the WTO is reining in export taxes of newly acceding countries while it shows strong resistance to make commitments at the DDA negotiations. Finally, the paper suggests three regulatory options to moderate export taxes. First, it is to make member countries reaffirm and thus comply with the existing GATT provisions of transparency. The second option is to forge a separated agreement on export taxes. The third alternative is to establish a new system that specifies commitments regarding introduction, notification, reduction, reviews and dispute settlements.1)