Abstract :
[en] One of the basic rules in trade law is the freedom of trade. However, such rule encounters some limitations, derogations and exceptions when the object of trade is constituted by strategic and sensitive items.
The concept of “strategic trade” is one of the most ambiguous ones, and there is not a common definition of it. Even if the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) does not offer such an explanation, its Article XXI can be construed as referring to strategic trade, as much as it states that the provisions of GATT (grounded on free trade) need not apply in cases where “essential security interests” are involved. The concept of “essential security interests” is also vague, as it is left upon the individual parties to the GATT to decide what it means. Despite such ‘slippery slope’ in the definition of terms, it results, however, that strategic trade is linked to norms and measures that aim at controlling trade, in order to ensure the protection of non economic needs, such as national security, public morals, public order, etc. This area finds at the intersection of commercial and foreign policy.
For ensuring the protection of non economic interests, it is necessary to introduce measures that provide for controls on all activities conducted by individuals, organizations, and groups regarding goods, equipment, materials, services related to strategic items: these activities shall cover the whole supply chain, including design, development, production, possession, delivery, transport, transit, trans-shipment, financing, brokering, exports, re-exports, transfers and imports.
The actors intervening in the draft of rules and controls are mainly the States, and the international and regional organiza- tions; then, important subjects are national licencing authorities and enforcement agencies such as customs, border security, police and armed forces, if needed.
The targets of such measures of control could be the States, if the rules at the international or regional level are addressing them, and/or the operators involved in strategic trade.
Considering the ways in which States organize such controls, the reality shows that they have introduced control lists, licences and authorisations granted on the basis of conditions and criteria, information-sharing and cooperation between authorities and operators, duties of transparency through reports, records, dec- larations and screenings. Moreover, measures exist that consist of restrictions, bans and penalties providing that consequences in case of violation of strategic trade rules. Therefore, the issue of sanctions is a relevant part of the strategic trade law, and it inserts within that context.
The purpose of this contribution is to define what sanctions in strategic trade mean and to systematize them accordingly. In particular, the sanctions are categorized into three groups: A. “supranational sanctions”; B. “implementing sanctions”; C. tertium genus: “unilateral sanctions” and “countermeasures”.
