International Trade Law Commons^™

Improving Human Rights Compliance In Supply Chains, Kishanthi Parella

Notre Dame Law Review

Corporations try to convince us that they are good global citizens: “brands take stands” by engaging in cause philanthropy; CEOs of prominent corporations tackle a variety of issues; and social values drive marketing strategies for goods and services. But despite this rhetoric, corporations regularly fall short in their conduct. This is especially true in supply chains where a number of human rights abuses frequently occur. One solution is for corporations to engage in meaningful human rights due diligence that involves monitoring human rights, reporting on social and environmental performance, undertaking impact assessments, and consulting with groups whose human rights they …

Defining 'Diversity' In Corporate Governance: A Global Survey, Askhaya Kamalnath

Journal of Legislation

This Article explores the connotation of the term “diversity” in the corporate governance sphere and the utility of such a connotation. To explore what the term has come to mean, this Article conducts a comparative analysis of how the term is used in the corporate governance context in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, India, and Malaysia. Based on this analysis, this Article argues that the push for “diversity” (in the way it has come to be understood) on company boards needs to be re-examined and recommends that the SEC needs to define the term in accordance with its policy goals.

The Breakdown Of International Treaties, Jide Nzelibe

Notre Dame Law Review

“[A] cause seldom triumphs unless somebody’s personal interest is bound up with it.” In the past few years, we have witnessed a rise in antiglobalization sentiment in which certain treaties have succumbed to domestic political backlash. But why are particular treaties susceptible to breakdown while others tend to be more resilient? Paradoxically, this Article argues that the fragility of treaties follows a peculiar logic: treaties are most vulnerable to breakdown or withdrawal if they were originally negotiated in the absence of social conflict among domestic groups. The reason is that, having been negotiated and ratified with hardly any political struggle, …

Globalization Without A Safety Net: The Challenge Of Protecting Cross-Border Funding Of Ngos, Lloyd H. Mayer

Journal Articles

More than 50 countries around the world have sharply increased legal restrictions on both domestic non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) that receive funding from outside their home country and the foreign NGOs that provide such funding and other support. These restrictions include requiring advance government approval before a domestic NGO can accept cross-border funding, requiring such funding to be routed through government agencies, and prohibiting such funding for NGOs engaged in certain activities. Publicly justified by national security, accountability, and other concerns, these measures often go well beyond what is reasonably supported by such legitimate interests. These restrictions therefore violate international law, …

Nigeria And Mali: The Case For Repatriation And Protection Of Cultural Heritage In Post-Colonial Africa, Elizabeth A. Klesmith

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Writing in early 2013, Elizabeth A. Klesmith explores the challenges of African nations in protecting their cultural heritage in the post-colonization era. She identifies two major challenges to the preservation of African cultural heritage: the multi-billion dollar global trade in illicit heritage and, in certain parts of Africa, the threat of destruction of cultural treasures during bouts of sectarian violence. Klesmith discusses these challenges utilizing case studies concerning the cultural treasures of Nigeria and Mali. In the case of Nigeria, the country is striving to reacquire artifacts looted from the Benin Kingdom in the late nineteenth century and recently purchased …

Letter From The Editor, Adrienne M. De La Rosa

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

A letter from the editor

Ungoverned Spaces, Transnational Crime, And The Prohibition On Extraterritorial Enforcement Jurisdiction In International Law, Dan E. Stigall

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This Article explicates the international legal framework governing State action against transnational crime; it also explores the disparity in what international law permits military actors to do in situations of armed conflict versus what actions civilians may undertake in the course of extraterritorial law enforcement operations. This Article argues that the trend of militarization in the U.S. approach to transnational crime law is, in part, a function of this legal disparity and that this trend could be reversed a degree if international law recognized a greater degree of flexibility for certain limited categories of extraterritorial law enforcement actions by civilian …

The Convergence Of International Trade And Investment Arbitration, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

The World Trade Organization (“WTO”) and bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) are among the most significant legal developments in the history of international economic law. Never before in the history of international relations has trade and investment been supported by such powerful legal guarantees and adjudicative processes. In less than two decades the WTO and BITs have permanently altered the legal landscape with reciprocal and mutually advantageous arrangements designed to reduce barriers to trade and investment and eliminate discriminatory treatment in international economic relations. In most respects the worlds of trade and investment are on parallel tracks headed in the same …

Regulating The Invisible: The Case Of Over-The-Counter Derivatives, Colleen M. Baker

Journal Articles

In this Article, I focus on the regulation of the over-the-counter (OTC) derivative markets. I argue that current reform proposals and draft legislation fall short of constructing the linked domestic and international frameworks needed to successfully regulate the OTC derivative markets. The purpose of my Article is to propose and defend such a framework. Because of the inseparability of the domestic and international aspects of this issue, I argue that in addition to increased prudential supervision and regulation, the regulation of OTC derivative markets requires interwoven domestic and international systems for regulatory cooperation. This recommendation has two parts. First, Congress …

The Legal Aspects Of Foreign Investment In Vietnam, Tang Thi Thanh Trai Le

Journal Articles

Recent years have brought burgeoning interest in foreign investment in Vietnam. Although a few observers have sounded discordant notes about Vietnam's economic potential, they have been drowned out in the chorus of the prevailing opinion that Vietnam appears set to become the next 'tiger' of Southeast Asia. Recognising this potential, the US lifted its trade embargo of Vietnam in early 1994. By this time, foreign investors from other nations had already established a presence in Vietnam.

Foreign investors have well-founded reasons underlying their interest in Vietnam. Vietnam's plentiful natural resources, including timber, oil, agricultural resources, a long coastline, tourism, and …

Using Trade To Enforce International Environmental Law: Implications For United States Law, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

The United States has enviable domestic environmental protection laws. However, good domestic environmental protection raises two concerns: effectiveness and competitiveness. In response to these two problems of environmental protection—effectiveness and competitiveness—members of Congress introduced over thirty bills in 1990 to amend U.S. trade laws. The bills were designed to either press other states to adopt environmental protection standards similar to the United States own or to at least minimize the competitive disadvantage for U.S. business inherent in U.S. regulations. The bills took one of two approaches: either they aimed at restricting access to U.S. markets for those states failing to …

The Extraterritorial Application Of Antitrust Laws: A Postscript On Hartford Fire Insurance Co. V. California, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

Last year in the pages of this journal I published an article comparing the United States and the European Union (E.U.) approaches to the extraterritorial application of antitrust laws. In discussing the U.S. approach, I predicted that "while the jurisdictional rule of reason has its weaknesses, it will remain a lasting fixture on the legal landscape precisely because it represents the only genuine, though inexact, attempt by courts to fashion a jurisdictional test which incorporates the legitimate sovereignty interests of foreign nations." Thus, it was with disappointment that I, along with other proponents of a jurisdictional rule of reason, received …

The Extraterritorial Application Of Antitrust Laws: The United States And European Community Approaches, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

This Arti­cle compares the differing approaches of the United States and the European Community as they wrestle with the question of how to regulate foreign anticompetitive activity. More specifically, this Arti­cle highlights the distinctive features of the U.S. "effects doctrine" and the European Community's "implementation approach" and ana­lyzes the differences that exist between the two systems. Only the U.S. doctrine openly provides for the consideration of international comity concerns, but both approaches have been used liberally to assert jurisdiction over foreign defendants. Part II of this Article pro­vides a background to the subject by briefly outlining the traditional bases of …