Endnotes

¹Regional Trade Integration under Transformation. Preliminary Draft prepared for the Seminar on Regionalism and WTO. WTO Secretariat, Geneva. 26 April 2002.

²This high number of bilateral agreements partly results from regional integration "hub-and-spoke strategies" requiring each "spoke" to conclude a bilateral RTA with the hub. Wonnacott (1996) introduced the terminology of hubs and spokes. A hub arises where one country (customs territory) is a member of two distinct RTAs. Since the development of the new regionalism, many countries are now hubs. The concept has been pushed a step forward by the EC, which (as a "hub") is often linked to "spokes" which also conclude bilateral RTAs among themselves (e.g., the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership process).

³Examples include EC-MERCOSUR, CARICOM-CACM, and SACU-SADC.

⁴Bulgaria and Romania Joined the EU in 2007 taking its membership from 25 to 27 countries.

⁵Gulf Cooperation Council members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates plus Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen.

⁶Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo

⁷Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Chad

⁸Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

⁹Members of SACU are Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia (it became a de jure member on July 1990), Swaziland, and South Africa.

¹⁰Brunei Darussalam (1987), Cambodia (1999), Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (1997), Malaysia, Myanmar (1997), Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam (1995)

¹¹The European Free Trade Agreement came into existence in 1960

¹²India is also currently negotiating RTAs with Brazil, PRC, Chile, MERCOSUR, and SACU including an EPA with Japan.

¹³India is the major country in SAFTA. India’s share in the world is 0.8 percent and the rest of the countries put together make up for another 0.7 percent.

¹⁴www.commerce.nic.in

¹⁵In a tariff schedule, a single tariff or a small group of tariffs that are particularly high, often defined as greater than three times the average nominal tariff.

¹⁶Hoekman & Olarreaga (2002)

¹⁷G/SPS/GEN/212

¹⁸G/L/423, G/SPS/GEN/128

¹⁹CTH mainly implies that the intermediate inputs must undergo a change in tariff classification heading within the territories of the exporting member of a RTA in order to be considered originating in the exporter member country. The basic notion underlying this approach is that, for most goods, a reasonable way to measure the degree to which an imported input is transformed within the FTA is to compare the tariff heading under which it was imported with the tariff heading under which the final product would be exported. If these two tariff headings are sufficiently "distant" in the sense that they apply to substantially different goods, regional origin can be attributed.

²⁰Rule 3 (ii) of the ASEAN Rule of Origin provides that "(ii) Subject to Sub-paragraph (i) above, for the purpose of implementing the provisions of Rule 1 (b), products worked on and processed as a result of which the total value of the materials, parts or produce originating from non-ASEAN countries or of undetermined origin used does not exceed 60% of the free on board (FOB) value of the product produced or obtained and the final process of the manufacture is performed within the territory of the exporting Member State".

²¹Article 1 of the Agreement on the CEPT scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area states that the CEPT is an agreed effective tariff, preferential to ASEAN, to be applied to goods originating from ASEAN Member States, and which have been identified for inclusion in the CEPT scheme in accordance with Arts. 2 (5) and 3.

²²For instance, if product A has a value of 100, of which 40% is local content in Singapore, it may be exported to Malaysia at a CEPT rate, where 5% local content is added for a total value-added in Malaysia of 100. Upon export to Thailand it is considered to have 45% ASEAN content even though "net" cumulative content is 22.5% of 200.

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1. Dr. Jayanta K. Nanda
   (posted 04 July 2007 / 08:44:57 AM)
   
   Not only for India, but for global trade in the near future.
   
   -www.jknanda.com