Winterfell a WTO nation known for producing oil from sunflowers recently experienced a drought, causing the sale of oil in the domestic market to slightly drop. This however posed as a concern to the Minister of Agriculture, Sansa Stark who gave the following press statement with the hopes of protecting the domestic market,

'The drought of 2022 has put our domestic oil producers at a disadvantage as compared to their foreign competitors. The oil at which we sell for $15 is now no match to the imported oil, which is now currently flooding the market, so much so that our own domestic producers are failing to match up to their competitors sales. It is for this reason that the government has allocated $2,000,000 to all domestic oil producers who meet the export targets provided for in the newly released Statutory Instrument No 3 of 2022'

Kinglanding, another WTO nation who has been exporting oil to Winterfell wishes to challenge the measures put in place by Winterfell.

Kingslanding further states that, Winterfell has been exporting oil to Kingslanding at a price of $5 dollars however, has been exporting oil to HighGarden at a price of $15. Kingslanding is unsure if the difference in price is due to the fact that Winterfell and High Garden are part of the same Regional Trade Agreement or due to the fact that Kingslanding is a developing country, however what it is sure of is that the price of the imported oil is in fact causing injury to the domestic market of Kingslanding.

Advice on the following;

a) Winterfells measures with regards to the WTO

b) Kingslanding's recourse under the WTO.

c) Would anything be different if Winterfell was a developing country?

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QUESTION TWO

1. 'Amarula Cream' is the name of a fruit liqueur that is made in Narnia. It is made from the fruit of the Marula tree. Marula trees grow in many countries in the region, and elephants love eating their fruit. Amarula Cream Liqueur is manufactured by a Narnian Company called "Aslan", which launched the world's first Amarula Cream liqueur in 1989. Since then, it has become the second most popular cream liqueur in the world. Aslan has a registered trademark over the name in Narnia, but not in any other country. Aslan began exporting its liqueur in 1995. It now has a large export market in Ravka. A French Company has begun to produce a liqueur that it calls 'Elephant Cream' and the label further states that it is a 'Marula' cream liqueur. The French Company sells its liqueur in Springfield and other European countries and has begun to export its liqueur to South American countries, including Ravka.

Aslan is not happy with the French Company's use of the term 'Marula'.

Does Aslan have any legal rights to prevent the French Company from marketing its liqueur as a 'Marula Cream' liqueur in Europe and Ravka? Give a well-reasoned legal opinion. All the countries involved are members of The World Trade Organization.

1. List the 3 exceptions provided in the TRIPS agreement in relation to patent-able subject matter.

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QUESTION THREE

Complaints have been received by the Minister of Trade of the WTO member state of Smallville .

1. The automobile manufacturing industry in Smallville complains that the last shipment of cars from Aqua Motors, the largest car manufacturer in the WTO member state of Atlantis, included 100 vehicles, its Speedster model, which were invoiced at the factory gate at a price 60% below the price at which that model was invoiced for sale in Atlantis. In the same shipment Aqua had exported 900 other cars, which sold in Atlantis at the same price as the Speedster model, but which were invoiced at the factory gate at a price 10% above the price applied to those cars for the Atlantis market. The Smallville manufacturing industry asks the Minister to ensure that Gotham's future exports pay an additional duty of 60% on future shipments.

1. The light bulb manufacturing industry in Smallville complains that Atlantis manufacturers of light bulbs are enjoying an unfair advantage because they cut down the number of lightbulbs being imported from Smallville. The reason behind this was that the only copper mine in Atlantis collapsed due to an earthquake, causing the domestic production of light bulbs to greatly plummet.

• Advise the Minister of Trade and the Minister of Finance of Smallville of their options under WTO law in relation to the above complaints.
• The advice you would give if Smallville was a developing country.

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QUESTION FOUR

Cubana is a member of the WTO. The government of Cubana decided in April 2003 to provide support for its domestic ship-building industry. To this end, the Cubanan government decided on the following package of legislative measures, effective April 2022:

1. that a Cubanan ship-building firm pays zero percent domestic tax on any portion of its profits that can be attributed to its exports;

1. that an interest free loan of $25 million Cubanan dollars, to be repaid over 20 years, will be provided to the Cubanan Ship-Builders co-operative, a private body established both to promote research and development of ship-building techniques to assist Cubanan shipbuilders and to assist international and domestic marketing and sales of Cubanan built ships; and

1. that if Cubanan ship-builders use 50% of local products in the building of their ships then they qualify for a 75% reduction in customs duties payable on imported products that can also be used in their ship-building.

As a result of these measures, Cubanan ship-builders have been able to reduce the price of their ships by 10% resulting in a growth of demand for ship-building contracts both from within Cubana and internationally.

Surinama, also a WTO member, has an internationally competitive ship-building industry that builds three types of ships that are "like" products to those built by Cubanan ship-builders. These three types of ships have been sold successfully for over 20 years by Surinaman producers internationally, including within Cubana, and domestically, but the last year has seen a 15% drop in demand in all of its markets.

Advise on:

(a)the legality of Cubana's measures under the WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement;

AND

(b)the possible measures provided for by the WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement that can be taken by Surinama to support its own ship-builders.

[25 MARKS]

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

ANSWER Question One a Winterfells measures with regards to the WTO Winterfells allocation of funds to domestic oil producers who meet export targets could potentially raise concerns under the WTO rule... View the full answer