Use this URL to cite or link to this record in EThOS: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.413662
Title: Implementation of the WTO agreements in China : legal and regulatory reforms
Author: Zhang, Xin.
ISNI:       0000 0000 4869 0734
Awarding Body: School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London)
Current Institution: SOAS, University of London
Date of Award: 2005
Availability of Full Text:
Access from EThOS:
Abstract:
The implementation of the WTO Agreements in China has raised great international interest as a result of China's increasing importance in the world economy and the unprecedented wide range of accession commitments that China has assumed. The thesis assesses the implementation process during three years of accession and proposes legal solutions to improve the implementation status at three levels: WTO supervision, the direct effect of WTO Agreements in China, and the national implementing measures. The thesis argues that WTO supervision is less effective than expected because the Accession Protocol lacks detailed operational rules to monitor China's implementation process. While the WTO Agreements automatically become a part of PRC law, China has rejected their direct invocability before courts for policy reasons, following the practices of major WTO Members. It is therefore argued that the key to the WTO implementation in China should be national implementing measures. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of three key domestic regimes: market access, domestic regulation and dispute resolution, this thesis concludes that from the textual perspective most concrete WTO commitments (but especially those on market access) have been complied with in the Chinese case, but that the domestic regulatory process has serious problems in terms of uniformity and reasonableness. In addition, the dispute resolution regime does not achieve the necessary degree of judicial independence mandated under the WTO Agreements. The study suggests alternative directions for improving the WTO implementation in China. At the international level, the WTO and other Members must help the PRC government formulate more detailed operational rules to comply with the accession commitments (especially in the regimes of domestic regulation and dispute resolution). At the domestic level, China must fundamentally reform its institutional infrastructure and mechanisms for implementation. Suggested solutions include the enactment of an Administrative Procedure Law for due regulatory process and the establishment of International Trade Courts with the requisite judicial independence and essential expertise for resolving trade disputes. As a result, the thesis significantly enhances the understanding of the interaction between China's legal and regulatory reforms and the WTO implementation. Moreover, by analysing key issues in the WTO implementation process in the Chinese case, the study throws new light on important areas of international economic law.
Supervisor: Not available Sponsor: Not available
Qualification Name: Thesis (Ph.D.) Qualification Level: Doctoral
EThOS ID: uk.bl.ethos.413662  DOI: Not available
Share: