At the Customs Brokers Center and before a large audience of lawyers, judges, academics and foreign trade experts, the book "Integration Law" by Argentine jurist Ricardo Xavier Basaldúa, edited by Abeledo Perrot.
With words of gratitude, the presentation was opened by the President of the CDA, Gerardo Pardal, who highlighted the large attendance at the learning space.
Why read the new book
The first to give testimony of the book (via zoom) was the Dr. Andres Rohde Ponce, President of the International Academy of Customs Law, who -as the prologuist of this work- reviewed the author's background, highlighting the writing and the order, as well as the vast bibliography of the book. "It is a complete work, leaves nothing pending; therefore it is a necessary instrument of knowledge for all those who are judges, authorities and scholars of the subject, especially today, when a large part of the activity of customs agents and merchants is governed by international treaties.”
In turn, the Dr. Enrique Barreira, co-author of the Customs Code and partner of the BRSV Abogados firm, commented on some chapters from the book. Four of them deal with the theory of integration and the remaining six develop the practical part of the integration attempts, that is to say: the European Union, the Central American Common Market, the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), the Andean Community, MERCOSUR and the Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and Mexico (T-MEC).
Barreira highlighted that Basaldúa begins the subject of study with the historyAs a regular reader of José Ortega y Gasset, he draws on a series of past experiences that condition his being and possibilities. Thus, he explains bilateralism, a model of bilateral agreement with the most-favored-nation clause that produced a reaction by countries against protectionism. At the end of the Second World War, multilateralism was created. The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, represented by President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, signed the Atlantic Charter, which laid the foundations for the new world order. First, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, future World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were created. The countries then signed the so-called General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1947), which, by enshrining the principle of non-discrimination among foreign goods - accompanied by the unconditional Most Favored Nation Clause - replaced the international trade system of bilateralism with multilateralism, through which it is intended that all countries that establish trade relations have a single code of conduct. However, the GATT contemplated in its Article XXIV, as an exception to this principle, the possibility of creating customs unions and free trade zones, in which the countries that comprise them are not obliged to extend the advantages granted among themselves to the other Contracting Parties of the GATT.
Given this, Barreira concluded his comment with the concept of “associative nature” of the Right of Integration developed in the book. “This associative nature implies closeness to achieve common objectives and to combine interests.” On this basis, the Latin American Free Trade Association (ALALC) was established in Latin America, later replaced by the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) and integration processes were developed. For all these reasons, there are plenty of reasons to read Ricardo Xavier Basaldúa's new book.
Provided with “integrity,” in the words of Dr. Hector Vidal Albarracin, co-editor of the Customs Code and advisor to the CDA, the written work has a prominent title “Integration Law”, since integration is a “regulated” process and treated as “general discipline or theory«. Vidal Albarracín agreed with Enrique Barreira regarding the specialization of Integration Law. Thus, he argued that “regional integration is not only a topic of current interest but is also a crucial issue to understand how nations collaborate on common challenges.”
Ricardo Xavier Basaldúa -co-editor of the Argentine Customs Code of 1981, still in force, and author of seven books and several collaborative works, as well as numerous articles- worked in MERCOSUR at a time when the bloc was generating much enthusiasm (1991). He collaborated with the Argentine Council on International Relations (CARI) in the hope that the project could move forward. Later, the various governments were unable to accompany the improvement of the process and now there is a “situation of disillusionment” despite the fact that MERCOSUR is the “only thing we have in the current uncertain international scenario in which we live.”
In this regard, Basaldúa assured that “The book is a bet on trying to demonstrate the paths that we can follow. Integration processes that want to progress must do so through governments; if governments do not promote the processes, it is impossible for private individuals to do so.”
"This is the reason for the presentation of the book, a useful tool for us to reach something that interests us: the union with sister countries, who can help us to have a presence in the world," added the Argentine jurist.
For the above reasons, it is a book that still has a lot to teach us when it comes to inserting ourselves in a globalized world.
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