The establishment of the UK Trade Remedies Authority: legal challenges at the intersection of domestic and international law.

Leaving the European Union the UK will again become fully responsible for the development of its foreign trade law and policy – an area for which the EU currently holds exclusive competence. The UK’s tasks include the definition of its approach to trade liberalisation and its limits, creating institutions and developing domestic law on the use of trade remedies. As member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) the UK will need to comply with international trade law on trade defence mechanisms, most importantly anti-dumping measures and measures adopted by states to react to unlawful subsidies provided by other states. The draft Trade Bill foresees the establishment of a Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) as a new non-departmental public body, which will be advising the Secretary of State on, inter alia, the use of trade remedies.
The establishment of the TRA has raised criticism with regard to a variety of institutional and public law issues, including the allocation of power, the need for primary legislation regarding decision-making processes, the scope and assessment of ‘economic/public interest’, accountability and access to judicial review. This PhD project will analyse the above issues in the context of the development of international trade law and the UK’s position more generally, linking it to the debate related to the appropriate balancing of public and private interests.

The project is timely, in that it would possibly feed into the workings of the newly established Trade Remedies Authority and related law. The Trade Remedies Authority is going to be located in Reading, which might facilitate exchange between the PhD student and staff. Although the research undertaken for this project is likely to be doctrinal, there is scope for a potential empirical component, depending on the perspective and expertise of the candidate.