INTRODUCTION 

This module introduces students International Trade Law. International Trade is a fascinating subject, in essence it deals with the international sale of goods for commercial purposes. International sales involve a complicated network of contracts, namely contracts of sale, carriage, insurance, and finance. In this course you will see how trade transactions relate to each other and how they operate in a commercial context in order to prepare you for the realities of international trade disputes. During the course you will discuss and see the legal problems arising in cases where the rights and obligations of the buyer and seller under a sale contract are not consistent with the terms of other interlinked contracts along with other aspects of this exciting area of the law.

OBJECTIVES 

The objectives of the module are:

• To give a broad understanding of the scope and importance of international trade law;
• To highlight the main organizations (in particular the World Trade Organization) and international agreements and relationships which govern and enforce the terms of international commercial transactions;
• To examine the nature of the legal relationship between international buyers and sellers of goods;
• Examine the current issues in international trade law;
• Highlight some complex legal problems involving international trade law;
• Critically analyze the current law, on international trade and propose likely reforms. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module you should be able to:

• Know and explain the origins of the introduction to the World Trade Organization
• Know and Explain the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)
• Know and explain the powers of the WTO and how it relates with National Laws
• Know and explain the United Nations Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)
• Know and explain some challenges in international commercial transactions
• Know and explain the buyer’s obligations and the seller’s remedies and vice-versa.

Unit 1 – BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW  

Unit 2 – THE NEED FOR CURVING OUT INTERNATIONAL TRADE REGIME

Unit 3 – BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GATT

Unit 4 – WTO’s DISPUTE SETTLEMENT MECHANISMS

Unit 5 – SPECIFIC AREAS OF CONCERN

 

RECOMMENDED READING

Bossche P Van Den. (2017)(4^th edn). The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press

C.F. Forsyth (2012) (5^th edn) Private International Law. Juta Publication

Fentiman R. (2010). International Commercial Litigation. Oxford: Oxford University Press

GC Shaffer and R Melendez-Ortiz. (2011) Dispute Settlement at the WTO. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Leal-Arcas. (2010). International Trade and Investment Law. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited

Matsushita M. (2015)(3^rd edn) The World Trade Organization: Law, Policy, and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Raj Bhala. (2015) International Trade Law: An Interdisciplinary, Non-Western Textbook. New York: LexisNexis.