ABSTRACT
The proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) is a well-known fact of international trade and this trend is not likely to subside, as many agreements are under negotiation or in the process of ratification. As of July 2007, 380 agreements had been notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO).1 There is however more to this ‘proliferation’ than just an increase in the number of agreements signed (Fiorentino et al. 2007). One distinguishing feature of recent RTAs is their wide-ranging coverage and complexity. Tariff reductions are accompanied by provisions on non-tariff barriers (NTBs), customs procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and intellectual property protection. Most of the new agreements cover trade in services and a number of regulatory issues that go beyond multilaterally agreed disciplines – such as government procurement, competition policy and the environment.
