The Cameron May and World Trade Institute present

Distance Learning Program
on International Trade Regulation

Cameron May, publishers in the field of international economic law and the World Trade Institute within the University of Bern, the home of the Masters in International Law and Economics (MILE) Program, have teamed up in order to provide a distance learning program on international trade regulation, which culminates in a Certificate of Advanced Studies in International Trade Regulation awarded by the WTI/University of Bern.

The Need

The WTI has trained several thousand people now on international trade law on various training and education programs it has offered both in Switzerland and abroad. It has become increasingly apparent that there is a huge deficit in knowledge and expertise, particularly in developing countries in this relatively new and certainly under-studied field. For this reason, the WTI is now offering the possibility for people from all over the world and from all walks of life to study on one of its training programs, and receive a Certificate of Advanced Studies in International Trade Regulation from the Institute.  It is hoped that this program will make a contribution to bridging the knowledge gap and redressing some of the asymmetries between developed and developing countries in the role they play in the world trading system.

The Program and Method

The learning experience on the Cameron May / WTI Distance Learning Course mixes traditional lectures and teaching methods (through a one-week residency session) with more modern and state of the art pedagogical aids, such as reading materials sent to you at your home, on-line exams which you can take in real time, and interaction with tutors and teachers over email and in on-line chat sessions. It seeks to break down the tyranny of distance and provide people from all over the world the same access to the world’s leading experts in the field, and the WTI’s renowned course materials. The program takes place through a series of seven substantive modules and one face-to-face, week-long residency session, all of which is to be completed over a period of 12 months. The program is designed so that participants can complete the course work in the evenings and on weekends, i.e. in their spare time, and is effectively designed for busy professionals who don’t have the luxury of attending the WTI’s Masters or Summer Programs.  The Program will offer three intakes per year.

The modules are divided into four topics, and students are expected to complete at least two topics per week, thereby finishing one module per month. At the end of a module, students sit a multiple-choice exam administered electronically (via internet or CD-Rom) and upon successfully passing this, they must then complete an essay question. When they have passed both the multiple choice exam and the essay question, they can progress to the next module.

Teaching is based on the celebrated course book, International Trade Regulation, written by Prof. Thomas Cottier and published by Cameron May and Staempfli. Students of the program receive a copy of the book shipped to them free of charge.

The Curriculum

Module One:  Foundations
This module focuses on the structure and operation of the WTO and is divided up into four topics: (1) From GATT 1947 to the WTO, (2) Subjects and Scope of WTO Law, (3) Structure and Instruments of the WTO, (4) Sources and Interpretation of WTO Law.

Module Two: Constitutional Principles of the WTO
In this module students are introduced to some of the main operational principles underlying WTO law: (1) The Most Favored Nation Principle (2) National Treatment, (3) Explicit Protection of other Legitimate Policy Goals, (4) Special and Differential Treatment for Developing Countries.

Module Three: Market Access and Trade in Goods
This module examines the rules applicable to trade in goods, particularly market access issues: (1) The Law and Policy of Tariffs and Tariff Quotas, (2) Customs Valuation and Rules of Origin, (3)  Quantitative Import and Export Restrictions, (4) Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.

Module Four: Contingency Protection, State Aids and Subsidies
The fourth module looks at the various trade defense instruments which governments use and how they affect the multilateral trading system: (1) Antidumping, (2) Countervailing Measures, (3)  Safeguards and Special Safeguard Clauses, (4) Subsidies and State Aids.

Module Five: Trade in Agriculture
This module analyses the rules governing trade in agriculture in the WTO context: (1) Rules on Market Access, (2) Agricultural Support Measures and Export Competition, (3)  Non-Trade Concerns, (4) The current Negotiations.

Module Six: Trade in Services
Module six moves away from trade in goods and into one of the “new areas” of WTO law, services: (1) Introduction to International Services Trade, (2) The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), (3) Financial Services, (4) Telecommunication Services.

Module Seven: Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Finally module seven looks at the other big ‘new area’ brought into the multilateral framework in the last Round of trade negotiations, intellectual property: (1)  Introduction to Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, (2) International Legal and Institutional Architecture, (3) The TRIPS Agreement, (4) Case Study: Access to Essential Medicines

Residency Session: Dispute Settlement, International Negotiations and Graduation.
Upon successful completion of the seven substantive units, students attend a one-week residency session where they attend lectures, tutorials and engage in interactive exercises and role-plays on dispute settlement and negotiations. The program concludes with a graduation ceremony. During the Residency Session, students are taught by some of the leading academics and practitioners in the field, as well as by the WTI’s own academic staff. 

The Experts

During their learning experience, students will be in regular contact with the academic staff of the WTI, who will guide them through the program and assist them in all matters of substance.

Students will also have regular access to one of the many experts who will be responsible for the substantive area in which he or she specializes, and the Residency Session will also be attended by experts from the World Trade Institute’s International Faculty.

For further information, contact us