Showing papers on "International trade law published in 2006"

Negotiating trade : developing countries in the WTO and NAFTA

Abstract: List of figures List of tables List of contributors Acknowledgements 1. Introduction John S. Odell Part I. Multilateral Negotiations: 2. The evolution of national interests: new issues and North-South negotiations during the Uruguay Round J. P. Singh 3. Reframing the issue: the WTO coalition on intellectual property and public health, 2001 John S. Odell and Susan K. Sell 4. The strict distributive strategy for a bargaining coalition: the like minded group in the World Trade Organization, 1998-2001 Amrita Narlikar and John S. Odell 5. Learning in multilateral trade negotiations: some results from simulation for developing countries Cedric Dupont, Cosimo Beverelli and Stephanie Pezard Part II. Regional Negotiations: 6. Getting to 'no': defending against demands in NAFTA energy negotiations Antonio Ortiz Mena L. N. Part III. WTO Dispute Settlement Negotiations: 7. Do WTO rules create a level playing field? Lessons from the experience of Peru and Vietnam Christina L. Davis 8. Compliance bargaining in the WTO: Ecuador and the bananas dispute James McCall Smith Index.

The Future of Law and Development: Second-Generation Reforms and the Incorporation of the Social

Abstract: level but which become clear by focusing not only on efficiency, but on the full range of things rules and institutions actually do. An important part of the task is simply to illustrate the point made at the outset, which is that legal norms and institutions operate in multiple modes: normative, distributive, constitutive, and disciplinary. Another is to observe that the rules that govern economic transactions in industrialized states have always served multiple functions the enhancement of efficiency is but one. To reduce the focus of the reform of legal rules and institutions to concerns about efficiency and market failures, even assuming that the calculus that underpins these efforts is adequate,130 is to miss many of their other properties and effects and to radically reduce in scope the aspirations driving legal regulation. Using historical or genealogical, doctrinal, sociolegal, and other analyses, legal scholars can assist in demonstrating how and why the associations between some institutions and both economic growth and social justice may be unsafe, only loosely connected, largely contingent or alternatively more plausible and robust in any particular context. But above all, such analyses can disclose how they are variable and contested. This, in turn, might provoke a reconsideration of the status both of the rules and institutions that are in vogue and those that are currently discredited. In addition, a historical perspective of any substantial duration is likely to trouble the static image oflaw that often prevails in development debates, illustrates the dynamic, unstable, and transitory nature of legal forms, and suggests the reasons that legal rules and institutions might be viewed as a contingent settlement of interests, values, and concerns. However, legal scholars are also in a position to point out possible synergies between the two sides of the agenda that may exist via different institutional reforms. They may also observe internal conflicts in the commitment to economic agenda itself that remain invisible because of the ideological commitment to the current reform agenda. It is very unclear, for example, that better aggregate economic effects are necessarily generated by the \"deregulated\" labor markets the IFIs now favor; it is almost certainly true that categorical claims about their effects cannot be maintained across the board. But the argument also cuts in the other direction: such analyses might also remind those wedded to social justice through human rights or equality claims that social agendas can be furthered in a variety of ways, and that rights, even if institutionalized in particular ways, are no guarantee of progressive outcomes, particularly in the widely varying contexts in which they are now expected to operate. 130 There are powerful analyses that suggest how and why both the standard modes of assessing efficiency within the IFIs and the association of efficiency enhancement with particular institutional forms and practices might be inadequate. See, for example, Deakin and Wikinson, supra note 54; Elson, supra note 52. The Future of Law and Development 251 As described earlier, rules and institutions may be designed to provide basic levels of security or protection to particular classes or to society in general; labor and employment standards, such as minimum wage laws or health and safety standards are an example of the first, while consumer protection laws stand as an example of the second. Or, like collective bargaining laws, their explicit purpose may be to redress the balance of power among the contracting parties that would obtain in their absence and to alter the sources of rule-making authority in the context of work and production. Like environmental and consumer protection laws, they may be designed to shift the allocation of risk and/ or compel parties to internalize costs that they could otherwise impose on others. Like zoning laws, by allocating different activities to different places, they may literally help constitute the urban geography of societies, chart the direction of future growth and simultaneously influence the fortunes of different groupS.131 While all of these rules and institutions may be efficient as well, efficiency is not necessarily their primary function or effect. Rather, they may be designed to redistribute power and authority. Conversely, even rules that are designed to further efficiency typically generate myriad distributional consequences, consequences that may be both unexpected and far reaching. As these possibilities are often underestimated, one task is to relentlessly document, in both general and more specific ways, the distributive stakes of governance and legal reform projects advanced by the IFls, whether first or second generation or both and whether advanced in the name of the rule of law, efficiency, equality, human rights, labor market justice, or any other value or end.132 There is clearly similar work to be done on the legal reform agendas promoted by social justice constituencies toO.133 This form of analysis helps shift the focus from the projected, overall consequences of reforms in the long term to their more proximate effects on different sectors and populations. (Who or what constitutes the object of concern is a political question in and of themselves, the answer to which will vary from context to context.) It may also help explain why even the expected aggregate effects often fail to materialize. At minimum, this should help provoke reflection on the fact that tradeoffs among different objectives and different fates for different groups may be just as likely as seamlessly coterminous progress on both the macroeconomic and social fronts. By highlighting, rather than suppressing, the fact that winners and losers are to be expected, such analysis should also provoke debate over whether their 131 G ERALD E. FRUG, CITY-MAKING: BUILDING COMMUNITIES WITHOUT BUILDING WALLS (2001). 132 For one effort to engage in this type of analysis with respect to first generation reforms, see Rittich, supra note 9. 133 For an exemplary analysis of the ways that strategies to promote gender equality might work at cross purposes with the interests of other marginalized or disadvantaged groups, see the discussion by Janet Halley in Brenda Cossman, Dan Danielsen, Janet Halley and Tracy Higgins, Gender, Sexuality, and Power: Is Feminist Theory Enough?, 12 COLUM, J. GENDER & 1. 601 (2004) .

The World Bank's Uses of the “Rule of Law” Promise in Economic Development

Abstract: INTRODUCTION Law is at the center of development discourse and practice today. The idea that the legal system is crucial for economic growth now forms part of the conventional wisdom in development theory. This idea's most common expression is the “rule of law” (ROL): a legal order consisting of predictable, enforceable and efficient rules required for a market economy to flourish. Enthusiasm for law reform as a development strategy boomed during the 1990s and resources for reforming legal systems soared everywhere. After more than a decade of reforms of the legal systems, and particularly of the judiciaries of developing countries around the world we are in a position to analyze the theoretical premises of the programs and the strategies of implementation. By many compelling accounts, these projects have been disappointing, failing to deliver the expected results. On the one hand these critiques challenge the theory that a preordained legal institutional framework is necessary for economic growth. On the other, they review particular reforms of laws and of judicial systems carried out in a variety of countries. However, despite these critiques, the appeal to establishing the “rule of law” by the “right” combination of legal rules and institutions continues to spur hope and inspire reforms. The critical energy comes from both veterans of the “Law and Development Movement” and from contemporary scholars in the field. In addition, a number of current participants in these reforms have voiced criticisms of the strategies and projects promoted by their institutions.

Sovereignty, the WTO, and Changing Fundamentals of International Law

Abstract: Part I. Challenges to International Law Fundamental Assumptions: 1. Introduction: International law and international economic law in the interdependent world of the twenty-first century 2. The real world impinges on international law: exploring the challenges to the fundamental assumptions of international law and institutions 3. Sovereignty modern: a new approach to an outdated concept Part II. The WTO: 4. The WTO as international organization: institutional evolution, structure and key problems 5. The WTO dispute settlement system Part III. The Search for Solutions: 6. Policy, analytical approaches and thought experiments 7. Illustrative applications 8. Perspectives, implications, and some conclusions.

Negotiating Globalization: Global Scripts and Intermediation in the Construction of Asian Insolvency Regimes

Abstract: This article draws from a larger research project on the globalization of bankruptcy law that includes (1) a time-series analysis of all bankruptcy reforms worldwide from 1973 to 1998; (2) participation observation, several hundred interviews and documentary analysis of international financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), international professional associations (International Bar Association, International Federation of Insolvency Practitioners), and world governance organizations (OECD, U.N. Commission on International Trade Law); and (3) case studies of Indonesia, Korea, and China. The globalization of law is a negotiated process. Our research on international organizations and case studies of China, Indonesia, and South Korea indicates that negotiation of the global/local relationship varies by the vulnerability of a country to global forces. Nation-states vary (1) in their balance of power vis-a-vis global actors; and (2) in their social and cultural distance from the global. Yet even where the global/local gap is wide and the asymmetry of power is pronounced, local responses to global pressures are negotiated as much as imposed. Negotiating globalization relies on direct and mediated interactions by several types of intermediaries who translate global scripts into four kinds of outcomes. The impact of intermediaries in this process varies by the phase of the reform in which they participate. Finally, globalizing law proceeds through recursive cycles of lawmaking and law implementation.

Constitutional Conceits: The WTO's 'Constitution' and the Discipline of International Law

Abstract: International legal scholarship, particularly trade scholarship, is preoccupied with questions of constitutionalism. However, neither WTO texts nor practice suggest that the WTO is a constitutional entity. The disjunction between scholarship and practice is puzzling: Why would scholars debate the WTO's (non-existent) constitutional features? Although the term is used in different ways, leading accounts of constitutionalism at the WTO share an impulse to channel or minimize world trade politics. Paradoxically, however, the call for constitutionalism triggers precisely the contestation and politics that it seeks to pre-empt. This creates an even larger puzzle: If constitutional discourse sparks the very politics it seeks to avoid, why do scholars continue to use this discourse? This paper explores the conditions that give rise to debates over constitutionalism, and explores whether the timing and prominence of constitutional debates reflect disciplinary anxieties that have been heightened by recent geopolitical developments. Might international lawyers use constitutional discourse as a rhetorical strategy designed to invest international law with the power and authority that domestic constitutional structures and norms possess? If so, this strategy may be self-defeating. Critical evaluation of constitutional claims may highlight the lack of constitutional structure or legitimating foundations of the WTO, and international law more generally. The paper closes by suggesting that other forms of constitutionalism may be

A Clash of Cultures? The UNESCO Diversity Convention and International Trade Law

Abstract: The adoption, on 20 October 2005, of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Diversity Convention) has returned the limelight to the suitability of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules for cultural products. This article shows that the Diversity Convention, while an important step towards the recognition of cultural diversity as an internationally recognized public choice of states, does not affect the rights and obligations of WTO Members as such. The original purpose of the Convention was to create a safe haven for cultural policies and protect them from WTO disciplines. However, the central operative provision for bringing about the desired shielding effect for domestic policies safeguarding national cultural industries against foreign competition, its now-article 20, while making a general claim to non-subordination in paragraph 1, modifies this broad statement in paragraph 2 so as to only apply to treaties concluded at the same time or later. The article explores how to avoid or minimize an undesirable incongruence between liberal trade rules and the right of states to protect shelf-space for domestically produced cultural products. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.

The Strict Distributive Strategy for a Bargaining Coalition: the Like Minded Group and the World Trade Organization, 1998-2001

Abstract: Developing country delegates in multilateral trade negotiations have become quite active in forming bargaining coalitions. But there has been little research concerning how this has been done, what the results have been, or what influences these results.1 In tackling these questions, this paper identifies strategy choices made by weak-state coalitions as possible influences on their outcomes, the outcome being the primary dependent variable. Our method is to investigate a single case and attempt to generate a potential generalization for further investigation in other cases. From 1998 through the Doha ministerial conference of November 2001, the Like Minded Group of countries (LMG) illustrated what we call the strict distributive strategy in negotiations in the World Trade Organization. This coalition put forward a number of detailed proposals that would have shifted value from North to South and denied any negotiating gain to the North until the North had first granted the group’s demands. Despite a great deal of organized professional effort in Geneva, however, the group sustained a major loss and collected relatively small gains especially on their leading issue compared with the status quo, by the time of the Doha conference as we read the record. The LMG did play a leading role in delaying what they regarded as another serious loss. But this coalition gained less at Doha than others such as the coalition concerned with TRIPS and public health, which used the mixed-distributive strategy, as shown in a companion paper.

International Competition Law: A New Dimension for the WTO?

Abstract: Should an international competition agreement be incorporated into the World Trade Organization? Taylor examines this question, arguing that such an agreement would be beneficial. Existing initiatives towards the regulation of cross-border, anti-competitive conduct have clear limitations that could be overcome by an agreement, and the WTO would provide the optimal institutional vehicle for it. At a practical level, Taylor points out, an international competition agreement could address under-regulation and over-regulation in the trade-competition regulatory matrix, realizing substantive benefits to international trade and competition. This book identifies the appropriate content and structure for a plurilateral competition agreement and proposes a draft negotiating text with accompanying commentary, and as such will be an invaluable tool for policy-makers, WTO negotiators, competition and trade lawyers, and international jurists.

What's New in EU Trade Dispute Settlement? Judicialisation, Public-Private Networks and the WTO Legal Order

Abstract: There is a recursive relationship between the judicialization of international trade relations and the development of public-private partnerships in the EU to address international trade claims The more legalized international trading system creates stronger incentives for well-placed private actors to engage public legal processes At the same time, to litigate effectively in the WTO system, government officials need the specific information that businesses and their legal representatives can provide Officials therefore strive to establish better working relations with industry on trade matters As a result, the EU's decision-making process for the investigation, litigation and settlement of trade claims has become a dynamic, ad hoc, hybrid, multi-tiered process in which private interests are deeply implicated The process is neither purely intergovernmental nor purely private, but rather involves public-private networks operating in the shadow of international trade law The process changes and adapts through trial and error

What's new in EU trade dispute settlement? Judicialization, public-private networks and the WTO legal order

Abstract: There is a recursive relationship between the judicialization of international trade relations and the development of public–private partnerships in the EU to address international trade claims. The more legalized international trading system creates stronger incentives for well-placed private actors to engage public legal processes. At the same time, to litigate effectively in the WTO system, government officials need the specific information that businesses and their legal representatives can provide. Officials therefore strive to establish better working relations with industry on trade matters. As a result, the EU's decision-making process for the investigation, litigation and settlement of trade claims has become a dynamic, ad hoc, hybrid, multi-tiered process in which private interests are deeply implicated. The process is neither purely intergovernmental nor purely private, but rather involves public–private networks operating in the shadow of international trade law. The process changes a...

Trade and Human Health and Safety: The WTO Impact on Internal Regulations: A Case Study of the Canada–EC Asbestos Dispute

Abstract: Introduction The WTO is facing increasing criticism This was highlighted during the third ministerial meeting in Seattle, where massive street protests disrupted the conduct of the conference Apart from demonstrations, a series of groups used the Seattle ministerial meeting to articulate a range of views on the future of the trading system, in most cases far more subtle than a blanket or dogmatic rejection of globalisation or even the WTO Non-governmental organisations and public policy-makers from all over the world met to analyse WTO policies and their potential impacts Amongst the most common criticisms was the WTO's alleged role in impeding national governments from granting adequate protection to the environment, or addressing consumer interests and national health and safety concerns Different understandings concerning the extent to which WTO rules constrain domestic regulatory autonomy have manifested themselves in recent high-profile trade controversies In the famous Beef Hormones case, the USA successfully challenged the EC's ban on beef injected with natural and synthetic growth hormones The regulatory measure in question had been adopted in a response to European consumers' concerns about potential health effects of such hormones being present in foodstuffs Similarly, in the case of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), European consumers' reluctance towards genetically modified foods triggered the European institutions to adopt detailed regulations regarding risk assessment, release authorisation, subsequent monitoring and labelling of GMOs The WTO consistency of this regulatory framework was repeatedly the subject of controversy in the TBT Committee

Negotiating Trade: Do WTO rules create a level playing field? Lessons from the experience of Peru and Vietnam

Abstract: Introduction Scholars of international relations and the NGO groups protesting on the streets of Seattle in 1999 share a common assumption. Both believe that less developed countries are at a disadvantage when negotiating with more powerful counterparts. Smaller market size makes it ineffective for developing countries to use threats of retaliation in order to combat discrimination against their goods. In contrast, retaliation measures taken by larger economies can easily cause severe damage to a smaller economy. This leaves developing countries vulnerable to discriminatory trade policies adopted by their major trade partners. In spite of their apparent lack of bargaining leverage, however, in some negotiations developing countries have been able to achieve positive outcomes – even the overturn of protectionist measures against their exports by the United States and EU. Simply evaluating the relative market power of the two sides in an economic negotiation is inadequate. As Odell argues, the strategies used in the negotiation process matter as much as the material resources of each participant. In addition, the institutional context of the negotiation can generate pressure for liberalization. For trade negotiations, the institutional context is shaped by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor the World Trade Organization (WTO). The GATT/WTO system upholds trade rules that apply equally to rich and poor countries alike and are enforced by a third party adjudication process to settle disputes. The WTO dispute settlement procedures provide developing country.

Negotiating Trade: Compliance bargaining in the WTO: Ecuador and the bananas dispute

Abstract: Introduction Studies of bargaining in the international economy routinely focus on negotiations regarding the original terms of agreements ex ante rather than on discussions regarding compliance with those commitments ex post. A few scholars have called attention to this often neglected aspect of international negotiations: compliance bargaining. The dynamics of compliance bargaining have particular importance for developing countries, whose post-agreement negotiating power is arguably constrained in many settings. This chapter examines compliance bargaining in the World Trade Organization (WTO) through a case study of Ecuador's tactics in its challenge against the banana import regime of the European Union (EU). After prevailing in its legal case against the EU banana scheme (as a co-complainant with others), Ecuador pursued an aggressive strategy to encourage compliance with the ruling. In the framework of Odell, Ecuador's stance in this high-profile dispute was a purely distributive strategy. In the universe of international economic negotiations, all compliance bargaining tilts toward the distributive end of the spectrum, as one party claims another has failed to deliver benefits that were previously promised. In the bananas dispute, Ecuador's negotiators creatively sought to maximize their leverage within the specific institutional framework of WTO rules. What is striking about this case is the extent to which those rules – some interpreted and applied for the first time – enabled Ecuador, in effect, to punch above its weight in the multilateral trade system. As a test of developing country leverage in WTO compliance bargaining, the bananas dispute is a least likely case.

Interpreting WTO Agreements: Problems and Perspectives

Abstract: Preface List of abbreviations Introduction 1 Interpreting principles of Treaty interpretation in the WTO 2 Interpreting institutional aspects of the WTO agreements 3 National dimension to interpretation in the framework of the WTO 4 Interpreting exceptions in WTO Agreements 5 Interpreting WTO agreements for the development objective 6 Interpreting 'in' external concerns 7 Interpreting the agreements on trade remedies Conclusion Annexes: 1 Relevant WTO provisions: Articles IX (2), XVI (3) and General Interpretative Note to Annex 1A of the Marrakesh Agreement Article 176 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 Article 3 (2) of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes 2 Articles 31-33 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969

Can there be science-based precaution?

Abstract: 'Science-based precaution' is possible in logic if not in politics, and should be a normal part of risk management. It should balance the risks and benefits of innovation, or equivalently, specify the price one is willing to pay to avoid risk. The Precaution Principle states that the absence of scientific proof does not preclude precautionary action—or, in its stronger version, that it requires such action. This principle is a useful counterweight to the insistence on rigorous scientific proof, but focuses on costs and risks to the exclusion of benefits. It expresses 'look before you leap', but not 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'. To facilitate adaptive management, we propose a complementary principle: 'precautionary action should not unreasonably interfere with innovation that promises major benefits, until its dangers and benefits are well understood'. In international trade law, we propose that scientific evidence presented in support of discriminatory measures that would otherwise violate the world trade regime—such as the de facto European Union moratorium on importing genetically modified crops—be required to suffice to support a 'reasonable belief' of danger to human health or the environment.

The World Trade Organization. Free Trade and Its Environmental Impacts

Abstract: I will start out with an overview of common assumptions on the impact of free trade on the environment – assumptions which, very much like the first part of Lamy’s statement, are all-encompassing and deterministic. From there, I will narrow down the scope of examination to specific and immediate hardware-to-hardware impacts: akin to the second part of the above statement, the emphasis shall be put on the WTO’s efforts to actively ensure coherence between international trade law and environment regulations. By the same token, I will also take into account the role of countries in these coordinative efforts, which is a third factor named by Lamy. As will be shown, the ongoing deadlock among WTO members on ecological questions has so far prevented a more comprehensive approach, thereby leaving the momentum to the organization’s dispute settlement system. There are currently several ambiguous tendencies in the relationship between WTO law and both domestic and international environmental regulations. With the outcome of these developments still uncertain and a considerable number of proposals at hand, we’re well kept in suspense about the direction which the presumed race to the bottom might finally take. Having affirmed this enduring uncertainty, it is time to bring back to mind that this chapter’s focus on legal overlaps presents but one portion of the highly complex mutual impact between free trade and the global environment. With the future findings of new comprehensive research approaches, especially environmental impact assessments, some of this uncertainty should be transformed into a deeper understanding of the trade-environment nexus.

Facing China: Taiwan's Status as a Seperate Customs Territory in the World Trade Organization

Abstract: November 11, 2001 was a defining moment in Taiwan's diplomatic and economic history. In Doha, Qatar, on the other side of the world, the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) unanimously approved Taiwan's application for WTO membership, just twenty-four hours after approving China's admission. After Taiwan's Congress ratified the country's entry protocol and the government deposited relevant agreements in the Secretariat in Geneva, Taiwan became the 144th WTO member as the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, abbreviated as Chinese Taipei, on January 1, 2002. Taiwan's choice of this tedious title in the WTO, instead of its official name, Republic of China (ROC), shows its reluctant compromise with political reality. Taiwan's trade volume places it among the top 10% of that of all WTO members. Nonetheless, it took Taiwan twelve years of strenuous efforts to enter this United Nations of Economics and Trade since submitting its accession application in 1990. In fact, most of Taiwan's agreements were completed by late 1999, but because of China's insistence that Taiwan can only accede to the WTO after its entry and because most countries were concerned about trade relations with China, Taiwan's accession progress was postponed. Taiwan's accession to the WTO is considered to be the most important diplomatic breakthrough. The government believes that WTO will enable Taiwan to open a new window of the century and a window of the world. Part I of this Article will describe Taiwan's application to the WTO and its status as a separate customs territory. Part II will introduce how WTO membership benefits Taiwan. Part III will analyze cross-strait trade laws and policies of China and Taiwan. Part IV will examine interactions between China and Taiwan in the WTO and potential violations of international trade law they may trigger.

Trade and human health and safety

Abstract: 1. A map of the WTO Law of Domestic Regulation of Goods Gabrielle Marceau and Joel Trachtman 2. The WTO impact on internal regulations - a case study of the Canada-EC Asbestos Dispute Robert Howse and Elizabeth Turk 3. Reflections on the Appellate Body decision in the Hormones Case and the meaning of the SPS Agreement William J. Davey 4. The Salmon Case: evolution of balancing mechanisms for non-trade values in WTO Frank Garcia 5. Lotus Eaters: reflections on the varietals dispute, the SPS Agreement and WTO Dispute Resolution Jeffrey L. Dunoff 6. Regulatory purpose and 'like products' in Article III:4 of the GATT (with additional remarks on Article III:2) Don Regan 7. The WTO standard of review in Health and Safety Disputes David Palmeter 8. Expert advice in WTO dispute in Dispute Settlement Joost Puawelyn 9. Domestic regulation, sovereignty and scientific evidence requirements: a pessimistic view Alan Sykes 10. Time for a United Nations 'global compact' for integrating human rights into the law of worldwide organizations: lessons from European integration law for global integration law Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann.

Free Trade Agreement between People's Republic of China and India: Likely Impact and Its Implications to Asian Economic Community

Abstract: Open regionalism and trade cooperation between the world’s two largest developing countries, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and India, can foster outward-oriented development and intra-regional trade based on comparative advantage and available factor endowments In view of the recent wave of worldwide subregional and bilateral trade cooperation, and the recent suspension of Doha negotiations by the World Trade Organization, the opportunity costs of not moving toward greater trade integration between the PRC and India could be increasing This paper presents the recent trends in the PRC-India trade and examines empirically the likely impact of their preferential and free trade agreements using Gravity Model under different comparative-static scenarios It also discusses the implications of PRC-India trade cooperation on the formation of the Asian Economic Community [ADB Institute Discussion Paper No 59]

Biotechnology and international law

Abstract: Foreword Part I "THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL REGIME OF BIOTECHNOLOGY: GENERAL ASPECTS" 1.F. FRANCIONI (European University Institute Universit di Siena) "International Law for Biotechnology" 2.R. PAVONI (Universit di Siena) "Biodiversity and Biotechnology: Consolidation and Strains in the Emerging International Legal Regimes" Part II "BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT" 3.C. REDGWELL (University College of London) "Biotechnology, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development: Conflict or Congruence?" 4.T. SCOVAZZI (Universit di Milano-Bicocca) "Bioprospecting on the Deep Seabed: A Legal Gap Requiring to Be Filled" 5.G. CATALDI (Universit di Napoli "L'Orientale") "Biotechnology and Marine Biogenetic Resources: The Interplay Between the UNCLOS and the CBD" 6.P. VIGNI (Universit di Siena) "Antarctic Bioprospecting: Is It Compatible with the Value of Antarctica as a Natural Reserve?" 7.A. GUYOMARD (Universit de Nantes) "Bioprospecting in Antarctica: A New Challenge for the Antarctic Treaty System" Part III "BIOTECHNOLOGY AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE ISSUES" 8.E.-U. PETERSMANN (European University Institute) "The WTO Dispute over Genetically Modified Organisms: Interface Problems of International Trade Law, Environmental Law and Biotechnology Law" 9.H. ULLRICH (European University Institute) "Biotechnology Related Traditional Knowledge and International Patent Law: Romantics v. Economics?" 10.S. ZARRILLI (UNCTAD) "International Trade in GMOs: Legal Frameworks and Developing Country Concerns" 11.M. MONTINI (Universit di Siena) "International Trade in GM Foodstuffs: Issues of Food Safety and Consumer Protection" Part IV "BIOTECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS" 12.M.E. FOOTER (University of Amsterdam) "Agricultural Biotechnology, Food Security and Human Rights" 13.F. LENZERINI (Universit di Siena) "Biotechnology, Human Dignity and the Human Genome" 14. M. FRABONI and F. LENZERINI "Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Biogenetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge: The Case of Sater-Maw People" Part V "BIOTECHNOLOGY AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION SYSTEMS" 15.P. STURMA (Charles University in Prague) "The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Governance of Biotechnology in the European Union" 16.S. POLI (Universit di Trieste) "The EU Risk Management of Genetically Modified Organisms and the Commission's Defence Strategy in the Biotech Dispute: Are They Inconsistent?" 17.T. ZAMUDIO (Universidad de Buenos Aires) "Traditional Biodiversity-Related Knowledge and Practices in Latin America" 18.F. NOVAK (Pontifica Universidad Catlica de Lima) "Biotechnology and Regional Integration Systems: Legislation and Practices in the Andean

Rule-Based Dispute Resolution in International Trade Law

Abstract: HY does the United States ever prefer to settle disputes under a system of rules rather than a system of negotiations? Power has its privileges, and one is the ability to control international negotiations. Powerful states are advantaged by negotiationbased approaches to settling disagreements because they have the resources to resolve individual disputes on favorable terms. By contrast, rule-based dispute resolution advantages weak states as a means to hold powerful states to the terms of their agreements. W

The Shari'A Law Factor in International Commercial Arbitration

Abstract: The world has witnessed a phenomenal growth in commercial disputes transcending national borders due to our increasingly interrelated and globalized world economy. In addition to issues in interpretation of commercial agreements and practices, differences in custom, language, culture and religion continue to fuel conflicts and disagreements between commercial players. Over the last few decades there have been growing commercial interaction between Western companies and their Middle Eastern counterparts. Given this interaction and the great geo-political and economic importance of this region, it is imperative that Western lawyers and dispute resolution professionals have a reasonable grasp of the general principles of Shari'a or Islamic law, a source (to varying degrees) of law in most nations in the Middle East. It is clear that the increase in international commercial transactions has contributed to the globalization of the legal community, but it is disturbing that there has been very little examination of the influence and impact on the Middle East's legal system's religious underpinnings upon the continued acceptance of international commercial arbitration. Given the growing calls for a return to the Shari'a and increasing global interdependence, the western legal community can no longer be satisfied to leave the Shari'a as a preserve of Middle East specialists, Arabists and comparative law experts. It is a trite observation that cultural or more aptly in the Middle East, religious considerations, can play a vital role in the acceptance and successful functioning of international commercial arbitration. The religious variable may impact on the following: the scope of arbitration; the nature of arbitration; the choice of law; the appointment of arbitrators; liability of arbitrators; limitations periods; interest awards; public policy considerations; evidentiary considerations; enforceability of decisions, etc. This paper will explore the development and acceptance of international commercial arbitration in the Middle East and analyze the issues and areas which create tension between international commercial arbitration and the Shari'a. There is certainly a need to reform Islamic law from within to deal with contemporary norms, transactions and institutions, but there is an equal need to better accommodate and address the issues of concern from an Islamic perspective. The assumption and belief that the Shari'a is being sidelined, and that the current international commercial arbitration framework is exclusively derived from the Western legal heritage may create obstacles in the acceptance and continued legitimacy of international commercial arbitration in the Middle East, and even in the other Islamic nations. This is clearly unacceptable if we recall that the twin objectives of the legal framework underpinning international commercial arbitration are to ensure enforceability of arbitration agreements/clauses and arbitral awards and to insulate the arbitration process as much as possible from interference by domestic courts and other national or international institutions. This can only be achieved when there is mutual respect and understanding of the various laws, practices, cultures and religious worldviews prevalent in the world today. There is a clear need for dialogue. The aim of such a dialogue will be to help develop an international commercial arbitration regime in which the business community can have confidence, while staying true to the core principles of tahkim (arbitration) under the Shari'a. This will help remove a potential crutch that may be used by those who oppose the international commercial arbitration movement as being one of purely Western import.

Good Faith in the Jurisprudence of the WTO: The Protection of Legitimate Expectations, Good Faith Interpretation and Fair Dispute Settlement

Abstract: What does the concept of good faith express? This book is the first to discuss what good faith means in international trade law. As a reference guide for scholars and practitioners it analyses the case law of WTO dispute settlement practice. The book describes how, why and when the concept of good faith links the WTO Agreements with other public international norms. The concept of good faith appears frequently in treaties and customary rules, but is most often considered a general principle of law. WTO law uses the corrolaries of pacta sunt servanda, the prohibition of abus de droit and the protection of legitimate expectation alongside the principle of good faith. An analysis of GATT 1947 and WTO case law reveals that the function of good faith varies. The Panel reports and the Appellate Body decisions make different use of it. The Appellate Body is prepared to apply the principle to WTO provisions only, while Panels use it more freely and substantively; that is, they apply good faith to fill lacunae in any of the WTO covered agreements. Also, adjudicators use the principle differently, depending on whether it relates to the agreements covered by the WTO or the procedural law of WTO dispute settlement. As it applies to the former, good faith is used to strike a balance between, on the one hand, the obligation to liberalise trade, and on the other hand, the right to invoke an exception to trade liberalisation for the protection of the environment, culture, public morals, human life or health. In this way, good faith safeguards the gains of multilateral trade liberalisation against unlawful interests such as disguised protectionism. The book also introduces the novel field of WTO procedural law governing trade dispute litigation. In the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), good faith appears in the standard of review, rules of evidence and fact-finding, standing, duty of prior consultation, right of establishment of a panel, ex officio investigations, withdrawal of notices of appeal, and the raising of objections. In all these areas it ensures that the rules of dispute resolution are not abused. The Appellate Body has even gone so far as to derive a new standard from the principle of good faith that demands that disputes are settled fairly, promptly and effectively. Insights into good faith in WTO law are not only important for trade law professionals. Current applications and future operations of the principle are likely to be of strategic value for answering the increasingly pressing question of how WTO law and other international agreements ought to be reconciled.

A Lawyer's Handbook for Enforcing Foreign Judgments in the United States and Abroad

Abstract: Acknowledgments Part I. Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in the US: 1. Overview 2. Phase one: before recognition 3. Phase two: converting the judgment 4. Phase three: executing a converted judgment in the US courts 5. Conclusion 6. Bibliography 7. Forms Part II. Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Abroad: 8. Overview 9. How to identify and select foreign counsel 10. Documentation for enforcement 11. Understanding foreign enforcement frameworks 12. Conclusion 13. Bibliography Part III. The Future of Enforcing Foreign Judgments: 14. Introduction 15. Hague Convention Part IV. International Jurisdiction and Judgments Project of the American Law Institute: 16. International trade flexibility and the enforcement of foreign judgments.

International regulation of liability for multimodal transport : — In search of uniformity

Abstract: The establishment of a widely acceptable uniform international legal framework for multimodal transport has proven to be extremely difficult. In spite of attempts by various international organizations, following the advent of container revolution, there is still no uniform international legal regime in force to govern liability for loss, damage or delay arising from multimodal transportation. In 2002 the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) embarked on the elaboration of a draft instrument to cover contracts for the international carriage of goods. The Draft Instrument, which had been prepared to govern sea transport, is proposed also to cover multimodal transport involving a sea leg.