Globefield Press publishes
a comprehensive, accessible and regularly updated analysis, in print and digital
formats, of the rules of the WTO and other international arrangements governing international trade
- Comprehensive: a detailed account (the print version has over 1600 pages) of the WTO
rules - GATT, GATS and TRIPS, covering in particular how those rules have been interpreted and applied by
the WTO's dispute settlement bodies. Also included are the rules of the other multilateral arrangements that
have a bearing on international trade, such as the Harmonized System Convention and CITES.
- Accessible: to cope with the complex nature of the WTO, where one set of facts can have a
number of legal implications, the work aims at a high degree of integration, in particular through the use
of frequent cross-references and a uniform style. The Globefield website provides web links for documents
cited in the text, including all WTO dispute settlement reports.
- Up to date: from the earliest days of the WTO its Appellate Body and individual panels
have been resolving disputes between Members and in doing so have made numerous interpretations of the WTO
agreements. Although the recent blockage on appeals system has reduced the number of such cases, panels are
still active, and their rulings continue to be cited. Furthermore, new agreements have been concluded and
others are being negotiated. To keep track of these changes the text is updated every six months.
Subscriptions are available either in traditional loose-leaf print form or digitally as comprehensive updated
editions.
The digital option provides greatly increased usability along with reduced cost and immediate availability.
We use PDF files, accessible through free Reader programs, and readable on tablets and smart phones. This
provides unrivalled search options, as well as enabling us to use linked cross references within and outside
the text, and bookmarked section headings.
The index is now maintained online in pdf format here
These pages provide direct links to dispute settlement reports in the WTO
database.
Links to other documents cited in International Trade Regulation can be found by clicking the
appropriate chapter number and finding the relevant section:
The file containing these links may prove useful as a general source of links in the area of
international trade regulation.
In addition to the direct links described above, WTO documents that are cited in International Trade
Regulation may be obtained via the WTO Documents Online database.
This contains derestricted WTO documents published since 1995, as well as Uruguay Round documents from 1985 to
1997.
It allows searching for particular documents, or browsing. There are Help and FAQ pages that explain, for
example, the system for numbering documents.
The WTO policy on the circulation and restriction of documents is explained in document WT/L/160/Rev.1.
In addition to minutes, working documents, and other reports, almost all WTO bodies produce an annual report
in October or November.
These reports are available individually, and are eventually produced as a single annual document.
The Trade Topics pages on the WTO Website give direct access to these documents.
GATT documents are available from the WTO Website and in the Stanford
University GATT Digital Library.
For a research guide to WTO materials see Peace Palace Library
Research Guide.
"Edmond McGovern's January 2015 update to International Trade Regulation makes this
outstanding book even more useful for anyone with an interest in international trade regulation. In 1995,
Mr. McGovern first captured the enormous changes to the international trade regulation system rendered by
the Uruguay Round agreements in his first edition of International Trade Regulation. Since that
time, he has been an avid student of the application and implementation of those agreements through the
dispute settlement process of the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). We benefit from that
scholarship in his 2015 update, which not only explains the organizational and doctrinal underpinnings of
the international trade regulation system, but also analyzes how the system works in the context of the
dispute settlement process for each of the main areas addressed: trade in goods, trade in services, and
intellectual property. With a detailed table of contents and index, the book is an exceptionally handy
research tool for any student or practitioner of international trade regulation."
Global Trade and Customs Journal
"... this is the single most comprehensive compilation of multilateral trade agreements, the GATT/WTO
jurisprudence coupled with the author's understanding and interpretation of how the WTO edifice works in
practice.
... this is a book for practitioners of any sort: University professors and students, lawyers and their
clients, national delegations and international secretariats. In short, everybody with an interest in
international trade regulation (in world integration, more generally) must possess this unique volume."
Journal of World Trade
"McGovern's ‘International Trade Regulation’ is a most useful, most convincing
and most impressive work on WTO/GATT law. Anyone working in the field of international trade law and
practice is well advised to consult McGovern's work on any legal question concerning this complex and
important field of international law."
German Yearbook of International Law
"[C]e commentaire rendra les plus grands services à ceux qui souhaiteront prendre connaissance
du nouveau droit des échanges internationaux."
Annuaire Français de Droit International
International Trade Regulation was
previously published as a hardback volume (which also included sections on US and EC law). This is what
reviewers had to say about it:
"This is the first major book to systematically deal with GATT and related trade issues since the
completion of the Tokyo Round Negotiations in 1979. Indeed, the wealth of detail and the accuracy of
information is astonishing for a book of this scope, published so soon after the completion of that
negotiation. The diligence, mastery of detail, and prodigious effort of the author is manifest."
Prof. John Jackson, Common Market Law Review
"All concerned with the puzzle of GATT will be eager to obtain this excellent work... This is the
ideal bedside book of the international trade expert."
Journal of World Trade Law
"This excellent, clearly written and presented account of the legal bases of trade..."
Development Policy Review
"Par la masse de documents qu'il rassemble et l'éffort de systématisation qui l'anime,
cet ouvrage est le plus considérable qui ait paru sur le sujet depuis l'achèvement de la
négociation de Tokyo en 1979. C'ést à coup sûr le meilleur guide pour
éviter au lecteur de se perdre dans le dédale de la reglementation du commerce
international."
Rev. générale de droit international public
"Completed just before the Uruguay Round began, the book remains a timely text because of its
encyclopedic examination of the structure and policies and differing philosophies of international trade
regulation."
American Journal of International Law
We welcome suggestions for amendments or improvements to International Trade
Regulation.
You can send your comments to the Globefield Press.