Programme overview
Introduction:
Tariff preferences go unclaimed, anti-dumping questionnaires are answered late and new technical regulations block shipments because few staff understand how international trade law shapes market access. This Core Concept course equips business and government practitioners to read the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the WTO states them: non-discrimination principles, tariff schedules, customs valuation, rules of origin, trade remedies, technical and sanitary measures and dispute settlement. Participants apply each rule to real trade flows and leave with a Trade Law Compliance and Market Access Map for their organisation.
Course Objectives:
- Apply most-favoured-nation and national treatment tests to identify discriminatory treatment of goods, services or intellectual property
- Verify bound tariffs, Harmonized System classification, customs valuation and origin before goods are shipped or preferences are claimed
- Assess exposure to anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures and prepare a company or ministry response to an investigation
- Evaluate technical regulations and sanitary and phytosanitary measures against WTO disciplines and raise specific trade concerns
- Explain each stage of WTO dispute settlement and brief decision makers on when a trade barrier warrants government action
- Produce a Trade Law Compliance and Market Access Map covering the organisation's main products and markets
Target Audience:
- Managers responsible for trade compliance, tariff classification and preference claims
- In-house legal managers who advise on cross-border trade rules and market access
- Government trade policy managers who handle WTO notifications, negotiations or trade concerns
- Import and export managers accountable for shipments, origin documents and border procedures
- Business development managers who plan entry into new export markets
Course Outline:
Day 1: Foundations of the Multilateral Trading System
- WTO Agreement Architecture: GATT 1994, GATS and TRIPS Overview
- Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment Analysis Across Goods, Services and Intellectual Property
- National Treatment Test for Internal Taxes and Domestic Regulations
- Permitted Exceptions: Free Trade Areas, Developing-Country Preferences and Unfair Trade Measures
- Trade Exposure Map of Import and Export Flows
Day 2: Market Access Rules: Tariffs, Classification, Valuation and Origin
- Bound Tariffs, Applied Rates and Schedules of Concessions
- Harmonized System Tariff Classification Method
- Customs Valuation Agreement: Valuation Basis and Declaration Checks
- Agreement on Rules of Origin: Preferential and Non-Preferential Origin
- GATT Article XXIV Free Trade Areas and Customs Unions
Day 3: Trade Remedies in Practice
- Anti-Dumping Agreement: Normal Value and Export Price Comparison
- Injury and Causation Analysis in Anti-Dumping Investigations
- SCM Agreement: Subsidy Disciplines and Countervailing Duty Investigations
- Agreement on Safeguards: Import Surge Measures and Adjustment
- Investigation Questionnaire Response File for Exporters
Day 4: Regulatory Barriers, Trade Facilitation and Dispute Settlement
- TBT Agreement: Technical Regulations, Standards and Conformity Assessment Procedures
- SPS Agreement: Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health Measures
- Trade Facilitation Agreement Border Procedure Provisions
- DSU Stages: Consultations, Panels, Appeals and Compliance
- Trade Barrier Evidence Brief for Government Trade Officials
Day 5: Case Work and the Trade Law Compliance Map
- Export Controls and Sanctions Screening Awareness Checklist
- Manufacturing Case Study: Origin and Preference Eligibility Review
- Agrifood Case Study: Challenging an SPS Market Access Barrier
- Trade Law Compliance and Market Access Map Drafting
- Peer Panel Review and Map Defence
Skills You Will Gain:
- Non-Discrimination Analysis
- Tariff Schedule Interpretation
- Origin Determination
- Trade Remedy Exposure Assessment
- Technical Barrier Evaluation
- Dispute Settlement Briefing
- Trade Compliance Mapping
Why Attend This Course:
- Return with a Trade Law Compliance and Market Access Map for your organisation's main products and destination markets
- Recover duty savings by claiming free trade agreement preferences with origin evidence that withstands verification
- Respond to trade remedy investigations and new technical regulations with arguments grounded in WTO disciplines
- Compare trade practice with peers from manufacturing, agrifood, trading and public sector bodies
Conclusion:
Market access depends on rules agreed between governments long before a shipment leaves the port. This course moves from WTO principles and agreement architecture, through tariffs, classification, valuation and origin, to anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures, technical and sanitary barriers and dispute settlement. The final day applies these rules to manufacturing and agrifood cases and produces a Trade Law Compliance and Market Access Map that participants use to guide preference claims, investigation responses and market entry decisions. The course explains general rules and is not legal advice.