IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/oec/traaab/168-en.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Deep Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: How Multilateral-friendly?: An Overview of OECD Findings

Author

Listed:
  • Iza Lejárraga

    (OECD)

Abstract

Over the past decade, an increasing number of economies have resorted to regional trade agreements (RTAs) as a means to further the market-opening and rule-making agenda. In this context, this paper addresses the question as to whether and how selected elements of RTAs could be used as ‘stepping stones’ for multilateralisation in the future. The report synthesizes the OECD work on RTAs by examining regional provisions that deepen (WTO-plus) and expand (WTO-beyond) multilateral commitments across a broad range of policy areas. It finds that WTO-plus measures are becoming more widespread and similar over time, suggesting that there may be growing receptivity and preparedness to endorse higher levels of commitments. The report distils a set of attributes that may be able to render WTO-plus provisions more amenable to multilateralisation, either through a bottom-up (RTA-driven) or top-down (WTO-driven) approach. It considers the degree of convergence, homogeneity, discrimination, enforceability and economic impact of selected measures in RTAs, with a view to moving towards a shared understanding of multilateral-friendly practices that can be promoted in regional negotiations.

Suggested Citation

  • Iza Lejárraga, 2014. "Deep Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: How Multilateral-friendly?: An Overview of OECD Findings," OECD Trade Policy Papers 168, OECD Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:oec:traaab:168-en
    DOI: 10.1787/5jxvgfn4bjf0-en
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1787/5jxvgfn4bjf0-en
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1787/5jxvgfn4bjf0-en?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    multilateral trading system; multilateralising regionalism; preferential trade agreements; PTAs; regional trade agreements; RTAs; World Trade Organization; WTO;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oec:traaab:168-en. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tdoecfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.