Developmental responses to the international trade legal game. Examples of intellectual property and export credit law reforms in Brazil
| Autor | Michelle Ratton Sanchez Badin |
| Páginas | 111-164 |
A B S T R A C T
The paper departs from two cases dealing with the impacts of the global
trade regime rules, implemented with the creation of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and its assembled agreements, in domestic
regulation in Brazil, and the succeeding alternative development
strategies undertaken by the country either at the national or the
international levels.
The selected examples are about intellectual property regulation and
the HIV policy, and public institutional arrangements on trade finance to
the civil aircraft sector. The WTO rules applied in these fields -trade
related intellectual property rights and subsidies rules- have been
condemned as the most restrictive ones to developing countries’ policy
spaces. The concerned agreements impose high standards of regulation
focusing on leveling the playing field for world exporters, which limits
the governments’ intervention in those areas. Flexibilities, however, were
also admitted by the WTO system, although most of them were not self-
evident. The two stories reported in this paper account for the public
and private struggle in Brazil that led to modifications in the Brazilian
legal system as a reaction to WTO restrictions.
The purpose of the paper is to go beyond the argument that the WTO
trade regime limits developmental policies by demonstrating how the
changes in the international regulation has provoked new creative
arrangements inside a country like Brazil, and how it has changed the
strategies of Brazil before other international fora. Brazilian legal
reforms and development policies should not be understood solely as
“models” to be replicated, but examples that may provide legal ideas and
tools to international legal constraints to developing countries in the
trade game.
Keywords:
International trade; law and development; intellectual
property rights; right to health; subsidies; export credit; civil aircraft
sector.
SUMMARY. A. Introduction. I (. From a passive to an active role in two
decades. 2. The two examples: what is at stake? 3. The law and
development perspective on Brazilian trade policy. B. Key reforms on
the trade field in Brazil. C. “Fair” tales? About HIV/aids policy on
intellectual property rights and public trade finance to the civil aircraft
sector. 4. Intellectual property: top-down alignment
versus
bottom-up
resistance. 5. Trade finance facing national and inter national challenges.
D. Final remarks to two distinct cases.
A . I N T RO D U C T I O N
I. F R O M A PA S S I V E T O A N A C T I V E R O L E I N T W O D E C A D E S
The paper examines two cases dealing with the impacts of the global
trade regime rules, implemented with the creation of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and its related agreements, on domestic regulation
in Brazil, during the 1990s, and the succeeding alternative development
strategies undertaken by the country. The examples are about
intellectual property regulation and HIV policy and public arrangements
for trade finance for the civil aircraft sector.
The two decade period from 1990 to 2010 saw a significant shift for
the Brazilian economy and its policy space. If Brazil, in 1990, was among
the largest external debtors in the international community, and still
considered an immature democracy -the prototype of an untrustworthy
economy for the world community-, today Brazil is one of the leading
stars of the emerging economies and is playing an active role in
international governance. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind this
contrast -which may be not evident for the international community as it
is not even for Brazilians, especially for its young generation while
reading the paper. Difficulties in the past, a result of the huge economic
and political crisis that assaulted the country in the 1980s, basically
explain the limits for legal and economic alternatives to Brazil in the
1990s. These could only be overcome later along with the political and
economic stabilization of the country.
The development policies analyzed in this paper are about intellectual
property regulation and HIV policy, and public institutional
arrangements for trade finance in the civil aircraft sector. The WTO rules
applied in these fields -trade related intellectual property rights and
subsidies rules - have been condemned as the most restrictive ones for
developing countries’ policy spaces{1}. The agreements impose high
standards of regulation focusing on leveling the playing field for world
exporters and thus limiting possibilities for, government intervention in
those areas. However, the purpose of the paper is to go beyond the
argument that the WTO trade regime limits developmental policies by
demonstrating how the changes in the international regulation has
provoked new creative arrangements inside a country like Brazil, and
how it has changed the strategies of Brazil before other international
fora. The two stories reported in this paper recounty the public and
private struggle in Brazil that led to modifications in the Brazilian legal
system as a reaction to WTO restrictions.
2. T H E T W O E X A M P L E S : W H A T I S A T S TA K E ?
(i) In 1990, Brazil had one of the highest reported numbers of infected
individuals with HIV/ AIDS in the world, and the World Bank projected
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu prueba