Law Commons^™

International Investment Agreements: Impacts On Climate Change Policies In India, China And Beyond, Lise Johnson, Brooke Güven

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Mitigating and adapting to climate change will require a fundamental reorientation of our global economy as we move away from fossil fuels and transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient world. This reorientation depends on government actions to help catalyze and channel financial flows in new directions and away from business-as-usual practices.

International investment agreements (IIAs) – treaties that now number over 3,000 and have the objective of promoting and protecting cross-border investment flows_could potentially play a key role in these efforts to scale up and (re)direct investments to meet climate change mitigation and adaptation needs. As presently drafted and …

The Intellectual Property Hostage In Trade Retaliation, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Maryland Law Review

Intellectual property law has become bound up in a debate about appropriate remedies for violations of the World Trade Organization Agreement. As an alternative to traditional countermeasures that consist of retaliation under the violated agreement, the World Trade Organization “(WTO”) contemplates that violations of one of its covered agreements may be remedied through “cross-retaliation,” or retaliation under another agreement. One form of cross-retaliation has garnered interest in recent years: the threat to suspend intellectual property rights in response to unrelated trade violations.

Cross-retaliation through intellectual property rights suspension is theoretically appealing for its potential to avoid problems inherent in traditional …

The Tbt Agreement’S Failure To Solve U.S. - Cool, Elinore R. Carroll

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Refining Statutory Interpretation: How Natural Gas Export Regulations Violate U.S. International Trade Obligations, Amanda L. Tharpe

Catholic University Law Review

As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States is required to abide by nondiscriminatory trade policies when exporting products to other WTO members. Current U.S. policy regulating natural gas exports impose burdensome and lengthy licensing procedures on those requesting approval of a permit to export natural gas to countries with which the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement. A similar commodity, crude oil, is regulated by different regulations that allow for U.S. oil producers to freely export crude oil overseas. This Comment analyzes the differences in federal laws and regulations governing the export of …

Reaching For Environmental And Economic Harmony: Can Ttip Negotiations Bridge The U.S.-Eu Chemical Regulatory Gap?, Ashley Henson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Space For Local Content Policies And Strategies, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

This paper explores both the role that local content measures can play in advancing sustainable development, and the impact that trade and investment treaties concluded over the past 20 years have had and will continue to have on the ability of governments to employ those tools. Certain local content measures had been restricted under the WTO due to wide agreement by negotiating parties that their costs outweigh their benefits. But the WTO also left a number of local content measures in governments’ policy toolboxes. As is discussed in this paper, however, that is changing, with the range of permissible actions …

The International Law Relation Between Trips And Subsequent Trips-Plus Free Trade Agreements: Towards Safeguarding Trips Flexibilities?, Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Experiences Of Trips-Compliant Patent Law Reforms In Brazil, India, And South Africa And Lessons For Bangladesh, M. Monirul Azam

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

This study analyzes the policy options used by Brazil, India, and South Africa in their transitions to a TRIPS-compliant patent law and their introduction of pharmaceutical patents. This comparative review can be used to explore possible policy options that can also be utilized by LDCs, including Bangladesh.

Russia And Allofmp3.Com: Why The Wto And Wipo Must Create A New System For Resolving Copyright Disputes In The Digital Age, Brian A. Benko

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

This article uses Russian law and Russian-based AllofMP3.com to analyze the private dispute resolution system of the World Intellectual Property Organization 14 ("WIPO"), and the nation-based dispute resolution system of the World Trade Organization 15 ("WTO"). Section I provides an overview of AllofMP3.com and the current system of resolving international copyright dispute. Section 11 applies and analyzes the WIPO Center's private party based dispute resolution system, and the WTO's nation based dispute resolution system. Section III proposes a new system for resolving international copyright disputes in the Digital Age. Section IV concludes this article with a few thoughts on the …

The Technical Barriers To Trade Agreement: A Reconciliation Of Divergent Values In The Global Trading System, Samantha Gaul

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In the context of multilateral trading, there is a historical tension between economically oriented, laissez-faire, pro-trade concerns as they are juxtaposed with social, environmental, and health concerns. These conflicting values are inextricable from one another in a world that encourages, and quite frankly mandates, a high level of economic interdependency. But what if institutional actors could reconcile these conflicting values—at least toward the more efficient and practical goals of alleviating (rather than eliminating) the underlying tension? This Note argues that Article 2.2 of the World Trade Organization’s Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement operates to reconcile these fundamental tensions to some …

Student Comment: Ttip: A Free Trade Agreement That Strengthens The International Trade Environment And Enhances The Regulatory Powers Of The Wto, Suzanne De Deyne

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

This comment discusses the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP or the Partnership), a bi-lateral trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, in relation to the World Trade Organization (WTO). TTIP pushes the world towards greater trade liberalization, and if implemented, such a trade agreement would affect trillions of dollars in existing trade. When trade barriers are reduced, a significant amount of new possibilities open up, especially in regards to potential markets for exports, growth and improvement of competitive products, and reduction in the losses associated the border. Since its establishment, the WTO has sought to establish an …

The Role Of Brazil And The United States In The International Promotion Of The Right To A Healthy Environment, José Adércio Leite Sampaio, Beatriz Souza Costa

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

This article has the objective of analyzing the role played by Brazil and the United States in protecting the right to a healthy environment at an international level, especially at the World Trade Organization level. First, we must try to identify the fundamental right to a healthy environment, in its internal dimension and as a human right, at the international level. We used the bibliographic technique and deductive methodology to develop the research. The results at the conclusion evidence that the behavior of political and economic agents has a direct impact on the level of environmental protection. In the United …