Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements

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• Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements - Research report (PDF - 1991 Kb)
• Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements - Research report (Word/ZIP - 1285 Kb)

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• Preliminaries (PDF - 289 Kb)
  Cover, Copyright, Foreword, Terms of reference, Disclosure of interests, Contents and Abbreviations and explanations
• Overview - including key points (PDF - 210 Kb)
• Recommendations (PDF - 148 Kb)

Part A - Introduction

• Chapter 1 About the study (PDF - 180 Kb)
  1.1 The reference
  1.2 Conduct of the study
• Chapter 2 What are bilateral and regional trade agreements? (PDF - 140 Kb)
  2.1 Types of trade agreements
  2.2 Australia's bilateral and regional trade agreements
  2.3 Other countries' agreements

Part B - BRTAs within the broader policy landscape

• Chapter 3 International trade and investment flows (PDF - 278 Kb)
  3.1 Global trends
  3.2 Australian trends
  3.3 Summing up
• Chapter 4 The institutional environment for international trade and investment (PDF - 253 Kb)
  4.1 The World Trade Organization
  4.2 Other multilateral institutions
  4.3 Bilateral and regional agreements and institutions
  4.4 Domestic policies and programs
• Chapter 5 The changing nature and reach of BRTAs (PDF - 235 Kb)
  5.1 Growth in preferential trade agreements
  5.2 The evolving nature of PTAs
  5.3 The scope of specific PTAs in force
  5.4 The global reach of trade agreements

Part C - Evaluating the economic impacts of BRTAs

• Chapter 6 Effects on barriers to trade and investment (PDF - 256 Kb)
  6.1 To what extent do BRTAs reduce barriers for members?
  6.2 Broader effects of BRTAs on trade and investment barriers
  6.3 Summing up
• Chapter 7 Impacts on business and government (PDF - 283 Kb)
  7.1 Views of business
  7.2 Impacts on government
  7.3 Summing up
• Chapter 8 Trade and economic effects: merchandise (PDF - 307 Kb)
  8.1 Some theory on impacts
  8.2 What other studies have said
  8.3 Modelling the potential impact of reductions in barriers to merchandise trade
  8.4 Broader economic impacts of changes in trade flows
  8.5 Observed changes in trade flows
  8.6 Summing up
• Chapter 9 Trade and economic effects: services and investment (PDF - 216 Kb)
  9.1 Services trade
  9.2 Investment
  9.3 Summing up
• Chapter 10 Other possible economic effects of BRTAs (PDF - 271 Kb)
  10.1 BRTAs and domestically focused regulation
  10.2 Economic integration impacts from BRTAs
  10.3 Summing up

Part D - Future approach to BRTAs

• Chapter 11 Policy objectives for trade agreements (PDF - 313 Kb)
  11.1 What are appropriate policy objectives?
  11.2 Reducing barriers in our trading partners
  11.3 Reducing our own trade and investment barriers
  11.4 Economic cooperation and integration
  11.5 Non-trade objectives
  11.6 Summing up
• Chapter 12 Future approaches to trade liberalisation and the role of BRTAs (PDF - 287 Kb)
  12.1 Unilateral reform
  12.2 Multilateral reform
  12.3 Bilateral and regional agreements
• Chapter 13 Design of future BRTAs (PDF - 284 Kb)
  13.1 Existing best practice principles
  13.2 Sectoral coverage of agreements
  13.3 Rules of origin
  13.4 Multilateralising provisions
  13.5 Providing trade-related assistance to other countries
  13.6 Summing up
• Chapter 14 Some specific provisions in BRTAs (PDF - 320 Kb)
  14.1 Intellectual property
  14.2 Investor-state dispute settlement
  14.3 Labour standards
  14.4 Restrictions on trade in cultural goods and services
  14.5 The proposed approach
• Chapter 15 Processes for establishing BRTAs (PDF - 507 Kb)
  15.1 Current processes
  15.2 Concerns with the current process
  15.3 Improving the process
  15.4 Proposed approach
• Appendix A The Associate Commissioner's views (PDF - 185 Kb)
• Appendix B Public consultation (PDF - 147 Kb)
• References (PDF - 180 Kb)