NationStates Jolt Archive

ICEL Takes Major Step Towards Free Trade

NENYA, THURSDAY - Following a late evening session Wednesday into Thursday, the Iluvauromeni Economic Court panel assigned to the Government vs. Imperial Trade Conglomerate case ruled 8-0 against the Government, effectively abolishing all trade tarrifs applied by the government.

"The ITC [Imperial Trade Conglomerate] proposal to abolish all tariffs on incoming and outgoing trade items is passed by unanimous vote," announced Chief Lord Justice Aaron Dethri shortly after midnight Thursday. "Following due considering the Economic Court rules that the tarrifs imposed by the Unified Government are unfair and counterproductive to economic stability and growth. As per the terms of the proposal, the Imperial Trade Conglomerate will offset Treasury losses for the next five years."

This massive overturning of Iluvauromeni tradition is expected to be warmly greeted in the states with relatively close economic ties to the Commonality, such as Sentient Peoples, Knootoss, Vrak and Tarasovka.

Regulations affecting which goods may be imported from or exported to various states are expected to remain in effect, but this remains a large step towards true free trade for the once entirely-socialist Commonality.

~ breaking story, various sources

[OOC: More to come.]

Environmental Court Reacts Angrily to Free Trade Move

NENYA, THURSDAY - The Environmental Court reacted angrily Thursday to increasing suggestions that the Commonality switch to an entirely free market with regards trade, removing ancient barriers in the form of, in modern terms, relatively punitive tariffs to high-volume trading with it's key trading partners - and not so key partners.

It is a little known fact, for example, that some one percent of all of the Commonality's trade goods are sold to and purchased from it's 'deadly enemy', Arda. However, high tariffs due to heavily regulated status cause that trade to be sharply limited.

And therein lies the Environmental Court. While the Court is specifically tasked with the Iluvauromeni ecology and not that of the entire globe, it has always and continues to encourage trading agreements with states with "sound environmental practice" - often by forcing higher tarrifs on particular agreements through it's veto power with the Economic Court, and other, more subtle means.

However, if those tariffs are eliminated, the Court fears that economic assets states previously considered 'unsavoury' for a trade partnership will suddenly become alot more attractive to the Iluvauromeni market - meaning that Iluvauromeni citizens, contrary to their general feeling, will be forced to buy products produced at the great expense of the environment.

Iluvauromen continues to be amongst the cleanest industrialized states in the world, with such a negligible carbon emission value that it could be argued to be taking up the slack for far more polluting states, such as those in Arda.

But it is feared that this clean image could deteriorate - and, according to Environmental Court Lady Chief Justice Emmyra ux-Rihad, could well "lower the moral tone of the entire socio-economic system."

Meanwhile, leading industrialist Anur Dethri disagrees. She says that "eliminating tariffs represents the ultimate appendage of economic freedom to an already liberal, even though macro-managed, economy."

The debate continues.

~ reproduced courtesy of Nenya Today electronic broadsheet

[OOC: Well, yay! But... brain melted by law lectures, so IC posts later. Eventually. :( Consider this a place holder of sorts.]

[OOC: Well, yay! But... brain melted by law lectures, so IC posts later. Eventually. :( Consider this a place holder of sorts.]

[OOC: Holderplaced. *g* If you edit your last, I'll put my answering post here, which then means my next post after that will be the next press announcement. Then we can keep OOC stuff to a neat minimum even though it wasn't really. >.>]