Question
Case2.It comes to lightin aglobalstory that spreads rapidly around the worldthatluxuryluggageisfrequentlymade byworkersinthe world's poorest countriestoilingunderextremelyexploitative working conditions. This has been shown to cause astatisticallysignificantincreasedrisk of
Case2.It comes to lightin aglobalstory that spreads rapidly around the worldthatluxuryluggageisfrequentlymade byworkersinthe world's poorest countriestoilingunderextremelyexploitative working conditions. This has been shown to cause astatisticallysignificantincreasedrisk of health problems among such workers.CountryA,a member of the WTO, is disgusted by this information.It implements anewRulethat bans all such goods for sale inCountry A unless they meet strict new criteria, to, inordertotry to forceothercountries to dramaticallyimprove working conditionsin thissector.To achieve thisgoal, theRule sets outthe followingnew requirements.Country Arequired thatallfactorieswhere luxury luggage is produced must beinspected andcertified byCountry A inspectors,in person,asmeetingthe CountryA Luxury GoodsTrade Association's(LGTA)Fair Labour Practices).Onlyluxuryluggagemanufacturedatfactoriessoinspected and certifiedcould be sold in Country A's market. It did notprovide for an alternate means ofinspection or certification, or an alternative set ofacceptable Fair Labour Practicessuch as those proposed by the International LabourOrganization (ILO),to establish compliance.TheRule applied to allCountry A'sfactories as well.Most domesticCountry Arefineriesalready produceluxury luggage in complianceLGTA Fair Labour Practices..The newRule, howeverrequiresforeignfactoriestosubstantiallychange their productionmethods, and undertakeburdensome administrative proceduresto demonstratecompliance withthe newRule.Since itisdifficult for foreignfactoriestoarrange timelyCountry A inspections and certifications,and todemonstrate thatluxury luggageproduced atforeignfactoriescomplieswith thenewRule,the resultisthat the costs ofimportingluxury luggagehaveincreased significantly.Implementation of the new ruleis less than ideal.Among other things,Country Adidn'tmake enough inspectors available for the number of factories seeking certification;itdidn't providereasons or any way to appeal if certification was denied;and ithaphazardly chose which factories to inspect instead of following a first come firstserved or other rational, transparent way of deciding the orderof inspection.Question 1.Please discuss (1) whether theproposedRule violates any particularprovision of GATT and (2) whether it could be justified under any provision of GATT.Make sure to support your answers with a careful analysis of the facts in light of therelevant GATT rules and related legal principles.(4marks)
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