International Trade Law

International Instruments (Conventions, Treaties, Protocols, etc.)

Individual Agreements

• North American Free Trade Agreement (from the NAFTA Secretariat): Also available on Westlaw and on Lexis
• Tratado de Asunción (from the Mercosur Secretariat): Includes subsidiary agreements in both Spanish and Portuguese.
• Stockholm Convention (from the European Free Trade Association)
• Treaty of Montevido (from the ALADI Secretariat)
• Treaty of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (from COMESA)
• Uruguay Round Final Acts (from the WTO Secretariat)
• Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade on Westlaw and Lexis

Multiple Agreements

• Lexmercantoria: Treaties Related to Free Trade or Economic Union (from the University of Oslo)
• Trade Agreements in the Western Hemisphere (from the OAS Trade Unit): Includes multilateral agreements, regional agreements, customs unions, free trade agreements and bilateral agreements.
• International Legal Instruments (from Juris International)

 IGOs

• Latin American Integration Association – Asociacion Latinamericana de Integratcion (ALADI) (Secretariat): Documents are also available from the OAS Trade Unit.
• Andean Community – Comunidad Andina (Secretariat): Documents are also available from the OAS Trade Unit.
• Caribbean Community (Caricom) (Secretariat)
• Central American Common Market (from the OAS Trade Division): Legal instruments only.
• Central European Free Trade Act (Secretariat): Treaty in languages of all member states, related laws of member states and other information.
• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Secretariat)
• Economic Community of West African States (Secretariat): Also information from IMF.
• European Free Trade Association (Secretariat)
• Free Trade Area of the Americas (Official website): Also information from the OAS Trade Division.
• Mercado Comun del Sur – Southern Cone Common Market  (Mercosur Secretariat)
  • Buletin Oficial (from Secretariat): Includes decisions of the Council, directives of the Commercial Commission and resolutions of the Group.
  • Acts of Decision-making Organs (from Secretariat)
  • Documents (from the OAS Trade Division)
  • Links (from the Red Academica Uruguay)
  • Merco (from the Argentine Ministry of Economy ): A database of bibliographic references to journal articles and books about Mercosur.
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA Secretariat)
  • Panel Decisions and Reports: These are also available on Lexis (INTLAW;NAFDEC) [password required] and Westlaw (NAFTA-BIP) [password required].  The OAS Trade Division also provides the reports.  The Reports under the US-Canada FTA are available from the OAS Trade Division.
  • Legislative History (from the U.S. Department of Treasury)
  • North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (official website): There is also a Canadian Office.
  • North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation  (official website): Includes information on NAO submissions.
    • Canadian National Administrative Office  (from Human Resources Development Canada)
    • U.S. National Administrative Office with reports (from the U.S. Department of Labor).
  • Office of NAFTA and Inter-American Affairs (from the U.S. Department of Commerce)
  • NAFTA Office (from the USTR)
• Organization of American States Trade Division (from the OAS)
• Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development: Trade  (from the OECD)
• Southern African Development Community (Secretariat)
• United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (from UNCITRAL)
  • CLOUT (Case Law on Uncitral Texts)
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (from UNCTAD)
• World Bank International Trade Division (from the World Bank)
• World Trade Organization (Secretariat)
  • Document Online (from the WTO): Contains WTO documents beginning in 1996.  Coverage is almost complete with the exception of a few document series and restricted documents.  The database can be searched by document number or title, and recent documents can be browsed.
  • Basic Instruments and Selected Documents (ITRADE;BISD) (from Lexis): The library also has this in CD-ROM in French, English and Spanish.
  • Dispute Panel and Appellate Body Reports (from the WTO): Contains reports from 1994-present.  Reports can be downloaded from this page.
    • The OAS Trade Unit includes panel reports under GATT 1947 from 1948-1994 and dispute settlement reports under the WTO from 1996-present.
    • Reports are also available from Lexis for 1948 to the present at (ITRADE;GTTWTO)[password required] and Westlaw (WTO-DEC) [password required].
  • News (from the WTO): The Focus newsletter also provides updates on WTO activities.

National Ministries

• Albania
  • Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Trade
• Argentina
  • Ministry of the Economy: Includes recent investment laws.
  • OAS Trade Division: Links to various trade-related ministries.
• Australia
  • Department of Foreign and Trade Affairs: Includes publications, but no legislation.
• Austria
  • Ministry of Economy and Labor: Includes news, some legislation and other information about trade.
• Belgium
  • Foreign Trade Board
• Bolivia
  • OAS Trade Division: Links to trade related entities.
• Brazil
  • OAS Trade Division
• Canada
  • Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
  • International Trade Tribunal
  • OAS Trade Division
• Chile
  • Ministry of External Relations
  • OAS Trade Division
• Columbia
  • Superintendent of Industry and Commerce. See also the Bank for External Commerce
• Costa Rica
  • Ministry of Foreign Trade
• Czech Republic
  • Ministry of Industry and Trade
• Denmark
  • Ministry of Trade and Industry
• Ecuador
  • Ministry of External Trade, Industrialization and Fisheries
• Finland
  • Ministry of Trade and Industry
• France
  • Secretary of State for External Commerce
  • Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry 
• Greenland
  • Directorate for Tourism, Traffic, Trade and Communication
• Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
  • Trade and Industry Department
• Hungary
  • Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism
• Iceland
  • Ministry of Industry and Commerce
• India
  • Directorate General of Foreign Trade
  • Council for Research on International Economic Relations
• Indonesia
  • National Agency for Export Development
• Israel
  • Ministry of Industry and Trade
• Jamaica
  • Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology
• Japan
  • Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
  • External Trade Organization
• Korea
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Malaysia
  • Ministry of International Trade and Industry
• Mexico
  • OAS Trade Unit
  • BancoMext
• Morocco
  • Ministry of Industry and Commerce
• New Zealand
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Norway
  • Department of Trade and Industry
• Philippines
  • Department of Trade and Industry
• Portugal
  • Ministry of Investment, Trade and Tourism
• Romania
  • Trade and Economic Section of Romanian Embassy
• Russia
  • Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
• Singapore
  • Ministry of Trade and Industry
• South Africa
  • Department of Trade and Industry
• Spain
  • Secretary of Commerce, Tourism and Small Business
• Sweden
  • National Board of Trade
• Switzerland
  • State Secretariat For World Affairs
• Syria
  • Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade
• Thailand
  • Department of Export Promotion
• Turkey
  • Ministry of Trade and Industry
  • Under Secretariat of Foreign Trade
• United Arab Emirates
  • Ministry of Finance and Industry
• United Kingdom
  • Department of Trade and Industry
• United States
  • United States Trade Representative (USTR): Includes the Trade Policy Agenda. United States Trade Representative Notices from 1980 are available on Lexis (ITRADE;USTR) [password required].
  • International Trade Commission (ITC): Also available on Lexis (ITRADE;ALLITC) [password required] and Westlaw (FINT-ITC) [password required].
  • International Trade Administration (ITA): Includes Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties Cases against the US. ITA Notices from 1980 are available on Lexis (ITRADE;ITAFR) [password required].
  • Customs Service: Customs rulings are available on Lexis (ITRADE;ALLCUS) [password required] and Westlaw (FINT-CUSTB) [password required].
  • Office of Foreign Assets Control
  • Market Access and Compliance
  • Bureau of Export Administration
  • Bureau of Economic Analysis
  • Trade and Development Agency
  • Export Import Bank
• Venezuela
  • Ministry of Production and Commerce

Statistics

• Foreign Trade Statistics (from the U.S. Census Bureau)
• National Trade Databank (from Stat-USA): Only part of the database is publicly available.
• Trade Statistics (from the WTO)
• Foreign Trade Information (from the Office of Trade and Economic
  Analysis): Lists of statistical sources organized by country and by subject.
• Statistical Division (from the UN Economic Commission for Europe)
• OAS: Trade Data (from the Foreign Trade Information System)
• Economic Statistics (from United Nations Statistics Division)
• Statistical Universe (Harvard only): Index of domestic and international statistical sources
• Stat-USA (from the Department of Commerce): Available at the Kennedy School Library and at the Baker Business Library as a networked resource.

Subscription Databases

• Title: World Trade Online
  Web Address: http://www.insidetrade.com
  Who Can Access: Harvard ID holders
  Where to Access: ILS public terminals
  How to Access: Access via password from ILS Reference Desk
  Provider: Inside Washington Publishers
  Description: World Trade Online is an online news service for subscribers to Inside U.S. Trade. The service includes a multi-year archive of back issues since 1993, daily news updates on trade issues, as well as a document retrieval service of over 35,000 trade-related documents including policy papers, WTO decisions, draft and final regulations, court decisions, legislation, and more.

• Title: World Trade Law
  Web Address: http://www.worldtradelaw.net
  Who Can Access: Harvard ID holders
  Where to Access: ILS public terminals
  How to Access: Access via IP recognition at any ILS terminal.
  Provider: WorldTradeLaw.net
  Description: The free portion of the site consists of several elements, including: well-organized and easy-to-access primary source documents related to international trade law; a full-text search engine for GATT/WTO decisions; a large collection of links to other sources of information on the web; and a discussion forum. The subscription portion, “Dispute Settlement Commentary, ” provides summary and critical analysis of all new WTO Panel and Appellate Body reports within 1-3 weeks after they are circulated to the WTO Members. In addition, it provides summaries and analysis for all past WTO reports, and an index of legal provisions and terms for these reports.

Guides

• World Trade Organization (from the ILS Library)
• Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet (from LLRX)
• How to Research NAFTA Issues (from the University of Houston)

Other Links

• LexMercatoria (from the University of Oslo): A wonderful directory of trade instruments, sites and writings about trade.
• BNA’s International Trade Reporter: This publication is available on Lexis (ITRADE;BNAITD) [password required] and Westlaw (BNA-ITR) [password required].  It provides news on trade and some documents.
• USITC Bibliography of Trade related articles (from the United States International Trade Commission)
• Merco (from the Argentine Ministry of Economy ): A database of bibliographic references to journal articles and books about Mercosur.
• International Trade Center (from UNCTAD & WTO)