Description: WA General Assembly Resolution #117: Delineation of Borders Act (Category: Political Stability; Strength: Mild) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument: The World Assembly,

AGREEING that border dispute arbitration is an issue of the utmost relevance and importance,

APPROVING of the ideas and intent behind the Delineation of Borders Act,

NOTING that the Delineation of Borders Act does little other than create a committee, GABDO, with no legal authority,

DEEPLY AWARE that this lack of authority means hostile nations will likely continue to cause death and destruction due to disputed borders, regardless of GABDO's recommendations,

DEEPLY CONCERNED that the existence of the Delineation of Borders Act in its current state essentially blocks the creation of a body with some form of power which could help prevent unnecessary hardship and bloodshed as a result of disputes over borders,

Hereby

REPEALS GA #117, Delineation of Borders Act.

Votes For: 7,975 (88%)
Votes Against: 1,125 (12%)

Implemented: Fri Jun 29 2012

Description: Recognizing the numerous benefits of international trade to the economies of all World Assembly member nations,

Regretting that trade disputes between member nations serve as a barrier to international trade, resulting in severe political and economic consequences,

Believing that it is therefore in the World Assembly's interest to establish an impartial mediation and arbitration body tasked with resolving international trade disputes,

Realizing that failing to do so would constitute a extreme hazard to national populations,

The General Assembly,

1. Mandates that all member nations involved in a trade dispute enter into independent bilateral or multilateral negotiations, as appropriate, for a reasonable length of time in order to make a good faith attempt to peacefully and amicably resolve the issue;

2. Extends the mandate of the World Assembly Trade Commission to include non-binding mediation and binding arbitration services for international trade disputes rooted in a member nation's violation of international trade law or its own national laws;

3. Clarifies that such mediation and arbitration may only occur:

   1. with the initial explicit, uncoerced consent of all the member nations involved in the dispute, and

   2. after any independent bilateral and multilateral negotiations have failed;

4. Stipulates that such mediation and arbitration must proceed as follows:

   1. the World Assembly Trade Commission must assemble a mediation or arbitration panel, consisting of unbiased adjudicators with the required qualifications and experience to fulfill their duties,

   2. the member nation which requested mediation or arbitration must present the panel with a legitimate allegation that a member nation involved in the dispute has violated international trade law or its own national laws, and that this violation is a chief cause of the dispute,

   3. each member nation involved in the dispute may present arguments and evidence pertaining to this allegation to the panel, and must comply with any reasonable request made by the panel for evidence necessary to make an informed ruling on the allegation,

   4. the panel will consider all evidence presented and present a ruling detailing whether the allegation is true, as well as any actions on the part of member nations required to remedy the issue,

   5. any member nation involved in the dispute may appeal a recommendation or ruling by the panel, on the grounds that the evidence presented was improperly considered, to a separate appellate panel, which will release a final ruling or recommendation based exclusively on the evidence presented to the original panel;

5. Authorizes the World Assembly Trade Commission to impose any applicable financial penalties on member nations which consented to the arbitration process but refused to comply with a final ruling by an arbitration panel or its corresponding appellate panel, as appropriate.

Votes For: 7,321 (78%)
Votes Against: 2,054 (22%)

Implemented: Sat Jul 7 2012

Description: Regretting that World Assembly member nations often face harmful and unnecessary barriers in their trade with other member nations,

Emphasizing that these barriers ultimately serve as obstacles to the economic prosperity of all member nations,

Recognizing that these barriers therefore constitute a serious hazard to national populations,

The General Assembly,

1. Grants the following rights to each member nation:

   1. the right, for a good or service originating from said nation, to receive the most favourable trade preference from any other member nation that said other nation grants to any other member nation for the same type of good or service,

   2. the right, for a good or service originating from said nation, to have applied the same taxes or regulations by any other member nation that said other nation applies to the same type of good or service of domestic origin, at least once the good or service has legally entered that nation,

   3. the right to create or maintain existing free trade areas or customs unions, so long as such areas or unions ultimately lower trade barriers between their members, not raise trade barriers for non-members;

2. Clarifies that member nations may suspend their individual responsibilities under the above provision in the following cases:

   1. in the event of a significant disparity in labour, environmental or human rights standards, or to ensure reasonable quality control on goods and services, but only if such a suspension does not constitute discrimination between goods and services from different member nations with similar issues,

   2. to apply domestic subsidies, or to protect domestic industries against a discriminatory subsidy applied by another member nation, so long as any retaliation in the latter case is directly proportional to the original subsidy,

   3. to protect vital national security interests during serious international disputes or times of war, or

   4. to develop any other additional reasonable and appropriate trade regulations that are consistent with the goals of this resolution, as well as the interests of sustainable development and poverty reduction, either unilaterally through domestic legislation or collectively through World Assembly resolution.

Votes For: 7,066 (74%)
Votes Against: 2,420 (26%)

Implemented: Sat Jul 28 2012

Description: WA General Assembly Resolution #56: Numismatics Appreciation Act (Category: Education and Creativity; Area of Effect: Cultural Heritage) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument: The General Assembly,

COMMENDING the intentions of General Assembly Resolution #56, insofar as it aims to preserve the monetary culture of member nations;

DISPUTING, however, that the currency of a nation is a "monumental part of [its] history," as well as the notion that "cultural heritage and tradition can be preserved through the safeguarding of each nation’s currency;"

ASSERTING that the amount of resources alloted to preserving one miniscule aspect of a nation's history, as provided in GAR#56, is superfluous;

ACKNOWLEDGING that GAR#56 states, in relevant part:

4. Obligates each World Assembly member nation to regulate the buying and selling of coins and banknotes;

REGRETTING that clause four contravenes the intended purpose of the resolution by creating an opt-out for unwilling nations due to a lack of mandatory regulations, aside from the requirement that "World Assembly member nations [regulate] the buying and selling of coins and banknotes," to any degree in which they find acceptable;

CONSIDERING it to be unnecessary for the World Assembly to regulate the trade of currency, as standard market price determination is more effective than an international grading system established by WANA;

CLARIFIES that nations may still create establishments dedicated to the preservation of their currencies, notwithstanding the passage of the repeal;

FURTHER CLARIFIES that General Assembly Resolution #56 does not prevent one-world currencies, nor does it involve itself in economic mediums of exchange, aside from items that are collected privately for cultural or personal reasons;

Hereby,

REPEALS General Assembly Resolution #56, "Numismatics Appreciation Act."

Votes For: 8,086 (85%)
Votes Against: 1,466 (15%)

Implemented: Sun Aug 5 2012