Bashar Malkawi
@arizona.edu
Global Professor of Practice in Law
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Bashar Malkawi
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT The USMCA is a landmark trade agreement for the digital ecosystem that will create a strong foundation for the expansion of trade, investment, and innovation. The USMCA sets a new global high standard protecting the free flow of data beyond what is covered in the WTO. The USMCA along with WTO standards help in harnessing digital trade for prosperity by enabling free access, a secure market, and low barriers to growth. However, the USMCA is likely to become the model for future free trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries.
Bashar Malkawi
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Bashar H Malkawi
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Islamic finance prohibits speculation, gambling, and mandates that income must be derived as profits rather than interest. The article discusses the legal rules underlying Islamic finance with a view towards developing equivalents to derivatives according to shari’ah principles. The article analyses the differences between conventional financial derivatives and Islamic financial instruments, evaluating those religiously acceptable. The article argues that Islamic finance already includes a number of contracts and instruments with derivative-like features that can help reduce risks and form the basis for designing shari’a-compatible derivatives. However, the absence of uniform principles affects the development of new shari’a-compliant instruments that can be used to manage risks.
Bashar H. Malkawi
Emerald
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the different kinds of rules of origin included in the US‐Arab countries free trade agreements (FTAs), and suggest reform measures that should be adopted to ease the complexity and costs of rules of origin in these agreements.Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins with a brief discussion of the concept of free trade, GATT/WTO, and the recently concluded FTAs between the USA and Arab countries. Then, the article analyzes in details rules of origin in the US‐Arab countries FTAs. The analysis includes, among other things, substantial transformation and value‐added tests, product‐specific processes, and other relevant rules of origin. The paper also addresses the documentations and procedures required to prove origin and the costs involved. Finally, the paper offers a set of conclusions and recommendations.Findings – The paper argues that rules of origin in these FTAs are complex and protectionist and indeed could act barriers to trade. The paper sugge...
Osama D. Sweidan, Bashar and H. Malkawi
McMaster University Library
We seek to investigate the effect of oil price on UAE goods trade deficit with the U.S. The current increase in the price of oil and the absence of significant studies in the UAE economy are the main motives behind the current study. Our paper focuses on a small portion of UAE trade, which is 11% of the UAE foreign trade, however, it is a significant part since the U.S. is a major trade partner with the UAE. The current paper concludes that oil price has a significant positive influence on real imports. At the same time, oil price does not have a significant effect on real exports. As a result, any increase in the price of oil increases goods trade deficit of the UAE economy. The policy implication of the current paper is that the revenue of oil sales is not used to encourage UAE real exports.
Bashar H. Malkawi
Brill
AbstractThe legal relationship between landlords and tenants has always been a complex issue. This article analyzes landlord‐tenant legal relationships in Jordan and the extent to which the legal rules are pro-landlord, neutral, or pro-tenant. The analysis will help in providing proposals for reforming the law in a manner that take the interests of all parties involved into account. This article concludes by arguing that legislation on landlord and tenant relations in Jordan is weakened by the conflicting rules in the Civil Code and the Landlord‐Tenant Law.
Bashar Malkawi
Akademiai Kiado Zrt.
Rules of origin mechanism used to determine the origin of a product. Rules of origin serve many purposes such as collecting data on trade flows, implementing preferential tariff treatment, and applying anti-dumping duties. Rules of origin can be divided into preferential and non-preferential rules. Preferential rules of origin are used to determine whether a product originates in a preference-receiving country or trading area and hence qualifies to enter the importing country on better terms than products from the rest of the world. Non-preferential rules of origin are used for all other purposes, including enforcement of product- and country-specific trade restrictions that increase the cost of, or restrict or prevent, market entry. Preferential rules of origin differ from non-preferential ones because they are designed to minimize trade deflection. With rapid increase of bilateral and regional trade agreements, the role of rules of origin has become more evident. In the context of bilateral and regional...
Bashar H Malkawi
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Abstract Arab countries have adopted market economy principles and pursued policies designed to strengthen their economies. The cornerstone of Arab countries' long-term economic objectives has been to increase trade and support economic growth via regional and global integration. To this end, Arab countries are attempting to broaden their engagement in the multilateral trading system by joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition, some Arab countries entered into trade arrangements with the United States (U.S.) to foster economic development, attract investment, and develop peaceful relationship. These trade agreements carry several implications for local economies.The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the trade agreements signed between the U.S. and Arab countries on the economic and legal regimes of the latter. The paper will proceed in two main parts. The first part analyzes the preferential trade arrangement known as "Qualifying Industrial Zones" created between the U.S on the one hand and Jordan, Israel, and Egypt on the other hand. It discusses the general rules of qualifying industrial zones program and the impact of these zones on local production and employment. The second part discusses trade agreements concluded between the U.S. and Arab countries. The emphasis will be on the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement as it is considered the template for future agreements signed between the U.S. and other Arab countries. The paper analyzes the most important provisions of the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement and their implications. Then, the paper will analyze trade agreements between the U.S. and other Arab countries. The paper argues that, while current trade programs between the U.S. and those Arab countries analyzed in the paper required difficult reforms in their domestic laws and led some negative consequence, on balance; these trade programs increased trade and created employment opportunities.
Bashar H. Malkawi and Haitham A. Haloush
Emerald
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine income tax evasion in Jordan and set forth various cures for this problem.Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates the phenomenon of income tax evasion. In doing so, the paper reviews reports from academics and statistics from the Income Tax Department. The paper begins with an overview of the Income Tax Law, distinguishes between tax evasion and tax avoidance and provides empirical data on the size of income tax evasion in Jordan. A study of article 42 of the Income Tax Law, the anti‐tax evasion provision, is made. In the final analysis, the paper suggests several means that can be used to address income tax evasion.Findings – The paper concludes that, in so far as the Jordanian Government is concerned with the issue of income tax evasion, several legal and non‐legal techniques can be experimented.Originality/value – In reacting to huge non‐compliance by Jordanians, the paper tells the story of how to create an income tax compliance culture. T...
H. A. Haloush and B. H. Malkawi
Oxford University Press (OUP)
B. H. Malkawi
Oxford University Press (OUP)
E-commerce offers economy-wide benefits. World Trade Organization (WTO) members recognized the benefits e-commerce offers and have developed a work program to facilitate the development of e-commerce. However, WTO efforts to facilitate e-commerce have stalled, leading to a
slower than anticipated progress. As fundamental differences continue to stall progress in the WTO’s program on e-commerce, the United States concluded a free trade agreement with Jordan. This agreement was the first ever to incorporate explicit provisions on e-commerce. This article
analyzes how existing trade agreements have dealt with e-commerce. The article gives an overview of the situation in WTO.
Bashar H. Malkawi and Hikmet O. Malkawi
Emerald
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the anti‐terrorist finance provisions in the Penal Law as well as the vulnerabilities in place that hamper more effective regime.Design/methodology/approach – The paper identifies the pre‐September 11 legal structure in Jordan regarding terrorist finance. Since, then the amended Penal Law, promulgated on October 8, 2001, has emerged as the principal tool in addressing terrorist finance activities. The paper is divided into five sections covering pre‐existing statutory provisions on terrorist finance, Jordan's counterterrorist financing regime including money laundering law and directives, the anti‐terrorist finance provisions in the Penal with its constituent elements, Jordan's accession to the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, and finally the paper provides a set of conclusions.Findings – There are still many loopholes to close in Jordan's anti‐terrorist finance initiatives. There is a need for greater enforcemen...
Bashar H. MALKAWI
Brill
Bashar Malkawi
Brill
Arab countries are attempting to broaden their engagement in the multilateral trading system in a manner that has many implications. Not only have some Arab countries either acceded or are in the pipeline of acceding to the World Trade Organization (WTO), but their new commitments coincide with reorientations in their economic strategies. The purpose of this article is to examine the involvement in and implications of the multilateral trading system on Arab countries. The proposition in this article is that the WTO is not a perfect institution. In WTO accession, politics matter more than commerce or trade. I argue that joining the WTO is a balancing act. As a result of economic liberalization, there would be losers in the industries of Arab countries. However, governments should compensate for any loss by ensuring better access to capital and establishing training programs to develop the skills of those dislocated. The article proceeds to discuss in section I representation of Arab countries in the multilateral trading system. Section II examines accession of Arab countries to the WTO and some of the obstacles they face in their accessions. Section III discusses the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference held in Qatar in 2001. Section IV studies participation of Arab countries in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Section V analyzes the impact of the multilateral trading system on Arab countries in selected sectors such as agriculture and oil. Section VI uncovers the opposing positions