The Constitutionalisation of Free Trade in the Gulf Cooperation Council

The past two decades have witnessed a proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). This article considers the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (or Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)) as it investigates the claim that RTAs constitutionalise the norm of free trade in supranational jurisdictions. The article suggests that the GCC Member States should take several major initiatives in order to enhance and strengthen their economic integration. They must now fasten their historically slow pace of economic integration and adhere to the time frame for economic and monetary union. The GCC Member States should learn from the experience of the European Union (EU) and transfer greater levels of national sovereignty to the GCC.