Book Reviews

The European Union and World Trade Law – After the GATT Uruguay Round, by Nicolas Emiliou & David O'Keeffe (eds), Chichester, John Wiley & Sons‚ 1996, ISBN 0 471 955523,
390 pages

The EU trade with states outside its own borders in the light of the completion of the Uruguay Round of the GATT raises complex issues. This book enables one to gain understanding about key aspects of EU law‚ including customs law‚ human rights issues, trade in services‚ agricultural policy, sustainable development, anti-dumping and public procurement. Divided into six parts‚ it contains an authoritative legal treatment of the following issues: the international personality of the EU‚ the general legal framework of EU external trade policy‚ an evaluation of the Uruguay Round of the GATT‚ GATT's effect on the EU legal order and finally the external trade policy before the Court of Justice.

Of particular interest are the contributions by Mary Footer (analysing the new Government Procurement Agreement) and Nanette Neuwahl (examining the caselaw of the Court on the effect of the GATT for individuals), as well as the chapters by Nicolas Emiliou (discussing the scope of the external powers of the EC in relation to trade policy) and Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann (reviewing the GATT Dispute Settlement System as an instrument for the foreign trade policy of the EC).

Well structured, the book follows a logical pattern, starting with an analysis of the external trade policy of the EC, of the Uruguay Round and only then continuing with the effect of the Uruguay Round on different areas of EC law and policy. Legal practitioners dealing with EC law will find the book most useful to gain insights on how EC law is influenced by the GATT/WTO.

Isabel Dendauw, CEPMLP/Dundee