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The Transatlantic Gmo Dispute Against The European Communities: Some Preliminary Thoughts, David A. Wirth Nov 2011

The Transatlantic Gmo Dispute Against The European Communities: Some Preliminary Thoughts, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

Any day now, a World Trade Organization panel is expected to rule in a dispute between the U.S. and the EU concerning market access for genetically-engineered foods and crops. This piece, written before the release of the WTO panel's report, analyzes novel systemic issues concerning the impact of WTO law on regulatory design, at both the national and international levels, that are raised by this dispute. These include (1) the application of WTO disciplines to regulatory schemes that require prior governmental approval to protect the environment and public health from newly-introduced products and substances; (2) the role of precaution as …


The International Organization For Standardization: Private Voluntary Standards As Swords And Shields, David A. Wirth Nov 2011

The International Organization For Standardization: Private Voluntary Standards As Swords And Shields, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

Private voluntary standards such as the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO’s) 14000 series have played an increasingly important role in encouraging corporations to adopt more sustainable business models on their own initiative and not in direct response to governmentally mandated requirements. ISO standards have a number of benefits, including promoting international uniformity; elevating environmental issues within an enterprise; promoting international trade; and providing a minimal level of environmental performance in countries with less than adequate regulatory infrastructure. Concerns about ISO standards include the relationship to public regulation; and ISO 14001’s essentially procedural, as opposed to performance-based, character. International trade agreements …


Make Trade Rules Attuned To The Ecological Needs And Interests Of Future Generations: Cli Recommendation No. 15, David A. Wirth Nov 2011

Make Trade Rules Attuned To The Ecological Needs And Interests Of Future Generations: Cli Recommendation No. 15, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

This recommendation observes that international trade agreements as currently structured do not establish minimum standards so as to protect the climate for present and future generations. Accordingly, it advocates potential strategies that could be employed in future rounds of international trade negotiations to mobilize the international trade regime in the pursuit of climate-friendly policies. These strategies include, among others, the elimination of climate-degrading subsidies, the liberalization of trade in climate-friendly goods and services, and the promotion of climate-friendly investments (particularly in the energy sector). In addition, the recommendation proposes a modification in trade rules to account for the greenhouse-gas intensity …


International Trade Law: Cli Background Paper No. 10, David A. Wirth Nov 2011

International Trade Law: Cli Background Paper No. 10, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

No abstract provided.


The President, The Environment, And Foreign Policy: The Globalization Of Environmental Politics, David A. Wirth Nov 2011

The President, The Environment, And Foreign Policy: The Globalization Of Environmental Politics, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

By comparison with domestic environmental issues, international environmental diplomacy is distinguished by the far greater role of the Executive Branch, and in particular the President, in making law. This essay explores the legal consequences of the President's dual role in international environmental diplomacy: his duty faithfully to execute statutory mandates adopted by Congress while also serving as the Nation's chief diplomat and negotiator of international agreements with foreign powers. The piece discusses the legal and policy dynamics surrounding two concrete examples affecting domestic and international environmental policy, in which Presidential power assumes dramatically different forms: (1) climate change, and in …


The ‘Fair’ Trade Law Of Nations, Or A ‘Fair’ Global Law Of Economic Relations?, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

The ‘Fair’ Trade Law Of Nations, Or A ‘Fair’ Global Law Of Economic Relations?, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Trade-Based Strategies For Combatting Child Labor, Frank J. Garcia, Soohyun Jun Oct 2011

Trade-Based Strategies For Combatting Child Labor, Frank J. Garcia, Soohyun Jun

Frank J. Garcia

International commerce facilitates abusive child labor when it offers a market for the goods produced through such practices. International trade sanctions are thus a logical avenue for confronting abusive child labor, by eliminating the commercial opportunities for such goods. However, it is not clear that domestic child labor sanctions would survive legal challenge under WTO law as currently interpreted. For international trade law to serve as a viable strategy for change, there must first be a clear theoretical and doctrinal case for the WTO-consistency of domestic child labor-based sanctions. In this chapter, we present this case, using the U.S. section …


Globalization, Global Community And The Possibility Of Global Justice, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

Globalization, Global Community And The Possibility Of Global Justice, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

In this essay, I suggest five ways in which globalization is changing the cosmopolitan/communitarian debate over global justice, by creating, both inter-subjectively and at the regulatory level, the constitutive elements of a limited global community. Members of this global community are increasingly aware of each other’s needs and circumstances, increasingly capable of effectively addressing these needs, and increasingly contributing to these circumstances in the first place. They find themselves involved in the same global market society, and together these members look to the same organizations, especially those at the meta-state level, to provide regulatory approaches to addressing problems of global …


The Integration Of Smaller Economies Into The Ftaa, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

The Integration Of Smaller Economies Into The Ftaa, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


The Global Market And Human Rights: Trading Away The Human Rights Principle, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

The Global Market And Human Rights: Trading Away The Human Rights Principle, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Nafta And The Creation Of The Ftaa: A Critique Of Piecemeal Accession, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

Nafta And The Creation Of The Ftaa: A Critique Of Piecemeal Accession, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Building A Just Trade Order For A New Millennium, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

Building A Just Trade Order For A New Millennium, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Just Trade Under Law: Do We Need A Theory Of Justice For International Trade Relations?, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

Just Trade Under Law: Do We Need A Theory Of Justice For International Trade Relations?, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Trade And Justice: Linking The Trade Linkage Debates, Frank J. Garcia Oct 2011

Trade And Justice: Linking The Trade Linkage Debates, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Marine Mammals And International Trade: Balancing Social Conscience With Trade Obligations – A Summary And Update On The World Trade Organization Seal Products Dispute, Chad J. Mcguire Apr 2011

Marine Mammals And International Trade: Balancing Social Conscience With Trade Obligations – A Summary And Update On The World Trade Organization Seal Products Dispute, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

The purpose of this article is to provide a summary of the current debate surrounding the proposed European Union expansion of barriers to trade in seal products. This article will also identify some of the potential legal issues at the heart of the ban. Finally, some policy considerations that may arise depending on how this case ultimately resolves itself will be highlighted. What is reinforced in this case study is the notion that the interaction between domestic policy and international law can often create unique frustrations where seemingly independent goals can lead to legal conflicts. This case study is an …


The Global Politics Of Food: Introduction To The Theoretical Perspectives Cluster, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2010

The Global Politics Of Food: Introduction To The Theoretical Perspectives Cluster, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez

The corporate-dominated, fossil-fuel dependent model of agricultural production has produced chronic undernourishment, an epidemic of obesity and diet-related diseases, and unprecedented ecological devastation. In May 2010, the Universidad Interamericana in Mexico City hosted an international conference on The Global Politics of Food: Sustainability and Subordination. Sponsored by Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory, Inc. and by Seattle University School of Law, the conference took place under the auspices of the South-North Exchange on Theory, Culture and Law (SNX), a yearly gathering of scholars in the Americas that seeks to foster transnational, cross-disciplinary and inter-cultural dialogue on current issues in law, …


How Deep Should We Go? Searching For An Appropriate Standard Of Review In Sps Cases, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski Dec 2010

How Deep Should We Go? Searching For An Appropriate Standard Of Review In Sps Cases, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski

Although the applicable standard of review under Articles 2.2/5.1 of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) is not de novo, investigation by WTO panels is nevertheless quite intrusive in terms of objectivity and coherence of risk assessment. Moreover, the panel’s review does not end with the final conclusion reached by the WTO Member in its risk assessment; it also extends to the quality of the reasoning employed and the intermediate interferences that led to the conclusion. If a WTO Member relies on expert judgment in its risk assessment, this needs to be sufficiently transparent …


The Law Merchant-Redux, Art Gemmell Dr. Dec 2010

The Law Merchant-Redux, Art Gemmell Dr.

art gemmell

The Lex Mercatoria- Redux Arthur J. Gemmell and Autumn Talbott* ABSTRACT

The lex mercatoria developed as merchant-made, private law. Unlike other bodies of law, the lex mercatoria was not born of statutory or “natural” law but from practical, day-to-day commercial usage. In fact, medieval commercial activities propagated the “most favorable trading practices and customs of the various foreign markets within which [merchants] did business.”

What evolved in the Middle Ages out of necessity stands today as a sometimes controversial testimony to the power of self-regulation through a specialized and practical body of law: the lex mercatoria that has for centuries …


The Sps Agreement Within The Framework Of Wto Law. The Rough Guide To The Agreement’S Applicability, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski Sep 2008

The Sps Agreement Within The Framework Of Wto Law. The Rough Guide To The Agreement’S Applicability, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski

This article analyzes the problem of applicability of the SPS Agreement and its relationship with the TBT Agreement and GATT 1994. In this context, special attention is given to the panel report in EC – Biotech Products. The reason for such an approach is twofold. First, it was the first panel which comprehensively analyzed the conditions of applicability of the SPS Agreement, and second, some parts of its analysis are disappointing and not well reasoned. This article recognizes that the conditions of applicability of the SPS Agreement were conceptualized by the case law very broadly. The author, while accepting parts …


Sps Measures Adopted In Case Of Insufficiency Of Scientific Evidence – Where Do We Stand After Ec-Biotech Products Case?, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski May 2008

Sps Measures Adopted In Case Of Insufficiency Of Scientific Evidence – Where Do We Stand After Ec-Biotech Products Case?, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski

This article analyzes the disciplines established by Article 5.7 of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. The analysis is based both on the text of the SPS Agreement as well as on the existing case law with the special consideration given to the panel’s ruling in EC – Biotech Products. The article criticizes the approach of the case law to the issue of applicability of Article 5.7 as it confuses the applicability with the consistency. The article argues that it is more appropriate to view the SPS Agreement as providing for three mutually exclusive paths of …


Global Justice And The Bretton Woods Institutions, Frank J. Garcia Aug 2007

Global Justice And The Bretton Woods Institutions, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

Together with the WTO, the Bretton Woods Institutions are the preeminent international institutions devoted to managing international economic relations. This mandate puts them squarely in the center of the debate concerning development, inequality and global justice. This essay explores how justice criteria might apply to the ideology and operations of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Using the Rawlsian model of egalitarian justice adapted to international institutions by the author in connection with the WTO, this essay asks what difference it would make for the Bank and Fund if an explicit justice framework informed their international lending activities.


Review Of The World Trade Organization: Law, Practice And Policy, Frank J. Garcia Dec 2005

Review Of The World Trade Organization: Law, Practice And Policy, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Why Trade Law Needs A Theory Of Justice, Frank J. Garcia Dec 2005

Why Trade Law Needs A Theory Of Justice, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Trade, Constitutionalism And Human Rights: An Overview, Frank J. Garcia Dec 2001

Trade, Constitutionalism And Human Rights: An Overview, Frank J. Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.


Trade Implications Of The Basel Convention Amendment Banning North-South Trade In Hazardous Wastes, David A. Wirth Dec 1997

Trade Implications Of The Basel Convention Amendment Banning North-South Trade In Hazardous Wastes, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

No abstract provided.


International Trade Agreements: Vehicles For Regulatory Reform?, David A. Wirth Dec 1996

International Trade Agreements: Vehicles For Regulatory Reform?, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

No abstract provided.