A Study Of Legal Issues Concerning Rules Of Origin

With the development of an integration of global economy and international trade, rules of origin (hereinafter referred to as "RO") are playing a more essential and important role in international trade, and the scope of the application of RO will become broader and broader. RO is used in non-preferential commercial policy, anti-dumping and countervailing, most-favored-nation treatment, measures and safeguard measures, any discriminatory quantitative restrictions or tariff quotas. RO is also employed for government procurement and trade statistics. For one country, self-contained RO and their exertion will affect results of implementation of the foreign trade policy. Thus, many countries have stipulated the complex and strict RO, for it has changed from purely technical customs into a forceful instrument to implement trade policies. The research into RO becomes urgent and valuable. This dissertation is divided into six chapters.Chapter I analyzes concepts of RO with the review of the development of RO. Then, it classifies the current RO and studies the role of RO in international trade in terms of good and bad effects.Chapter II establishes the theoretical basis for criterion of RO. Then, it comparatively studies the criteria of RO: the criterion of change of tariff classification, ad valorem percentage criterion and the criterion of processing operation by pointing out their respective pros and cons.Chapter III introduces in detail contemporary law system about non-preference RO and preference RO in the world. Especially, this chapter attaches great importance on non-preference RO about WTO "Agreement on Rules of Origin".Chapter IV is based on the status quo of China's RO with an overview of the current conditions of China's RO of export goods and import goods by analyzing problems of China's RO, which constitutes the ground for the later discussion. And Chapter V examines the importance of RO in China's foreign trade. Then, it puts forward some suggestions for the improvement of China's RO according to the requirements of WTO rules.The purpose of the dissertation is to study both theory and practice by setting up the total framework of RO, though we still lack the comprehensive knowledge about RO and the research of RO requires the practical knowledge about customs. What should be mentioned is that RO itself and its potential need further study. Therefore, this subject is worth long-term research and in-depth exploration. Any comments or critiques are expected and welcome.