Browsing by Author "Zimo, Themba"

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    South African localisation policies’ consistency with the basic principles of WTO law
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-02-24) Zimo, Themba; Sucker, Franziska
    South Africa has over the years introduced various measures to industrialise its economy and lift its people out of abject poverty and increase the unemployment rate which has reached record highest since it was first recorded. The measures are formally encouraged by the sectorial Master Plans adopted in the past few years and are either legislated or contained are not legislation but can still be sanctioned under World Trade Organization’s (WTO) law, they include local content measure, which term ‘local content’ is a commonly used industrial policy lever, having no formally agreed definition of what it refers to. The purpose of this research report is to identify the various local content measures adopted by South Africa in recent years and whether these measures conform to the basic principles of WTO particularly, Article III:4 of the GATT 1994. The research report will examine the identified local content measures against the elements of the applicable basic principle of WTO law, consider the WTO position on government action and whether South Africa is exempted from the application of Article III:4. The report notes that there may be under one or more of the WTO agreements which South Africa can rely upon to justify its measures, but those exceptions, including other localisation measures South Africa has adopted, are beyond the scope of this research.