This report maps out the evolvingarchitecture of regional trade agreements concluded by themajor trading countries and the countries of East Asia. Thereport first looks at a group of systemic issues -preferential rules of origin, dispute settlement and traderemedies - and subsequently turns to substantial provisionson market access, intellectual property rights, andcompetition policy. It also briefly examines the nascentstage of environment and labor clauses. As most favorednations (MFN) tariffs continue to fall, tariff reductionsare starting to play a less important role in negotiationswith the focus increasingly shifting to regulatory issues.Another notable feature of regional trade agreements (RTAs)negotiated today is that their geographical reach has begunto extend far beyond the traditional close proximity ofAFTA, EU, or NAFTA - often making the term "RTA" amisnomer. The goal of this report is to establish patternsand directions across a range of issues covered in RTAstoday which are relevant for East Asian policy makers. Thereport hence looks at pertinent systemic and substantialprovisions currently included in RTAs: the first halfincludes chapters on rules of origin, dispute settlement,and trade remedies (all of these are systemic and pin downthe credibility of the concessions made: the extent ofenforcement, requirements for qualification, and the ease bywhich a party may opt out); the second half of this reportinvestigates market access provisions and different sets ofrules concerning regulatory issues related to intellectualproperty rights, competition policy, the environment, andlabor. Individual provisions from prominent RTAs concludedbetween East Asian countries and across the rest of theworld will be used throughout for illustrative purposes.
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