Sergey Ripinsky of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law has written an interesting case.
I came across the rule in the US legislation (adopted in 1971), which requires to buy 80% of all narcotic raw materials from two countries – India and Turkey – and the remaining 20% from five other countries (the so-called ‘80-20′ rule, see Title 21 para. 1312.13(g) of the Code of Federal regulations, available )
On its face, this rule constitutes a violation of the GATT MFN principle. I checked whether the US has obtained a relevant waiver from WTO obligations – it has not. At the same time, I have not come across any concerns raised in this regard by any WTO members. US is by far the largest importer of opium raw materials in the world, so I would assume that other opium-producing countries should be willing to expand their access to the American opium market.
I wonder if somebody could express an opinion on whether (1) this is indeed an unjustifiable violation of GATT Article I:1 (MFN), and if yes, (2) why other opium-producing countries have not challenged this rule.
