The present book evaluates the present regulatory situation of various cultural goods and services, known as the cultural industries, under international trade law. Particularly, it looks at the experiences of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Union (EU) in order to critically evaluate the efficiency and legitimacy of the current multilateral trading regime established under the aegis of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In the past, the traditional regulatory approach to cultural goods (and services), especially in the then dominant category known as „cultural property?, was characterised by the assumption of the mutual exclusion of their economic and cultural aspects. This approach is reflected in the concept of res extra commercium, which describes a category of goods which cannot form the subject of commercial transactions. Only in the early 20th century, the emergence of a new category of cultural goods and services was inaugurated by revolutionary technological inventions in the field of cinematograph films and the transmission of signals via radio. Since then this new category, which was later denominated by the concept of culture industry, not only proves to pose a complex legal challenge to the regulation of international trade but also appears to provide a new paradigm for most of the challenges for the international community and their societies lying ahead in the future.