The Regulation of International Trade: The GATT and the WTO Agreements on Trade in Goods, Volumes 1 and 2 by Petros C. Mavroidis Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2016

Abstract

view, it would be interesting to hear the author's opinion on possible consequences of this practice of derogation from GATS requirements for eventual disputes brought within the WTO framework, even though, for pragmatic and political reasons, such RTAs are currently not being challenged. This opinion would be especially interesting in the context of the author's initial WTO-friendly position concerning the interpretation of RTAs (which, in his opinion, shall be interpreted in consistency with WTO case law). Chapters 5-7 contain a detailed analysis of provisions on market access, domestic regulation, and transparency. The author shows that there are certain differences between GATS and RTAs as well as between RTAs, but they are not crucial. Finally, Chapter 8 deals with exceptions in GATS and RTAs. The author concludes that, in general, GATS exceptions allow considerable regulatory autonomy, provided that there is no discrimination in application of these measures (p. 294) and submits that this remains relevant for the RTAs (p. 311). The overall impression from the book is that it is a valuable study of the EU's current approach towards regulatory autonomy as reflected in its GATS and RTA obligations on trade in services. It contains a systematic and detailed analysis of the GATS and the selected EU RTAs, has a clear structure, and is easy to read. As already mentioned, the author's approach is rather pragmatic. Although he recognizes certain weak points in the documents under consideration, he does not develop an extensive critique, but rather builds his analysis on the existing documents, explaining how these texts, imperfect but nevertheless real, might work in practice. The book can be useful for a wide circle of potential readers. Indeed, on the one hand, the book contains a clear and concise explanation of the basic provisions of the GATS and can been used even in the initial stage of learning the principles of trade in services. On the other hand, it is a thought-provoking academic publication, based on the enormous amount of work of the author, who analyzed and compared numerous provisions of the selected EU RTAs. That by itself is already a valuable contribution to academic research on the topic. The book can be recommended to specialists in international trade law and economics, both academics and practitioners, governmental officials dealing with international economic law issues, especially trade in services, as well as anybody interested in the regulation of international trade in services.