This text offers a detailed and practical overview of the market of the European Communities (EC) and the main instruments of the EC's commercial policy and trade agreements. The main focus is on the practical aspects and application of those laws with regard to the EC's major trading partners. The book makes full reference to the rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and also to the legislation regulating market access conditions. As a result, it provides a basic picture of EC trade policy together with the necessary tools and knowledge for entering into or improving bilateral or multilateral trade relations with the EC. The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter One contains an overview of the determinants of EC trade policy and its constitutional framework. Chapter Two examines the EC's various preferential and non-preferential trade regimes for third countries. Chapter Three is devoted to customs laws, with special emphasis on preferential rules of origin. Chapter Four discusses specific trade laws such as the anti-subsidy law and the "commercial policy instrument". Chapter Five covers the EC's most important trade protection law, the anti-dumping law. Finally, Chapter Six contains an overview of judicial remedies available to private parties.

The book provides an analytical overview of the World Trade Organisation's Anti-Dumping Agreement, as interpreted by WTO Panels and the Appellate Body. The Anti-Dumping Agreement is often perceived as being the most technical and controversial WTO agreement. While the basic concepts of dumping and resulting injury may appear deceptively simple, complex methodology related to the calculation of dumping and injury margins, as well as the very detailed procedural requirements that authorities need to comply with before taking anti-dumping action, make the Anti-Dumping Agreement difficult to apply and understand in practice. While the book of necessity goes into great detail about the intricacies of anti-dumping law and practice, it attempts to explain the various concepts in a relatively non-technical manner by means of simplified examples that are easy to grasp for experts and non-experts alike. The book also pays extensive attention to interpretations of the various provisions of the Anti-Dumping Agreement by WTO panels and the Appellate Body. There have been more WTO cases under the Anti-Dumping Agreement than under any other WTO Agreement, reflecting both the increased recourse to anti-dumping measures by WTO members all over the world and the complexity of abiding by the WTO rules. WTO Panels and the Appellate Body, called upon to review administrative determinations and aspects of national legislation, have done a remarkable job in interpreting the WTO rules. For WTO members, wishing to impose anti-dumping measures in a WTO-consistent manner, knowledge not only of the Agreement itself, but also of such interpretations, is therefore a must.