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 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 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 …

(De)Legitimation At The Wto Dispute Settlement Mechanism, Cosette D. Creamer, Zuzanna Godzimirska

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International courts employ a variety of legitimation strategies in order to establish and maintain a sound basis of support among their constituents. Existing studies on the legitimating efforts and legitimacy of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) judicial bodies have relied largely on theoretical or normative priors about what makes them legitimate. In contrast, this Article directly connects the study of courts' legitimating efforts with their effects by empirically mapping the reception of the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism's (DSM) exercise of authority by the system's primary constituents--WTO Members. Using an original data set of WTO Member statements within meetings of the …

Confounding Ockham's Razor: Minilateralism And International Economic Regulation, Eric C. Chaffee

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In Minilateralism: How Trade Alliances, Soft Law, and Financial Engineering Are Redefining Economic Statecraft, Professor Chris Brummer embraces the complexity of the global economic system and its regulation by exploring the emerging role and dominance of varying strands of economic collaboration and regulation that he collectively refers to as “minilateralism.” In describing the turn toward minilateralism, Brummer notes a number of key features of this new minilateral system, including a shift away from global cooperation to strategic alliances composed of the smallest group necessary to achieve a particular goal, a turn from formal treaties to informal non-binding accords and other …

An Assessment Of Recent Trade Law Developments From An Animal Law Perspective: Trade Law As The Sheep In Wolf's Clothing?, Charlotte Blattner

Animal Law Review

Further development within the field of animal law seems to be at an impasse, lost among the potential paths presented by its traditional influences: international treaty law, domestic animal welfare regulations, and trade law. First, classical elements of global animal treaty law are limited to preservationist aspirations, insusceptible to the questions of how animals are treated or how they cope with their environment. Second, animal welfare regulation is understood as a matter confined to national territories. In cross-border dialogue, animal matters have been reduced to allegations of imperialism, which is not conducive to furthering animal interests. Third, animals are regarded …

“Thinking Outside The (Tax) Treaty” Revisited, Adam H. Rosenzweig

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The rise and development of “Base Erosion and Profit Shifting” project by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (BEPS) provides an ideal opportunity to revisit the fundamental principles underlying the international tax regime and the bilateral tax treaty regime in particular. This is true because BEPS represents both an attempt to create a new, truly multinational consensus on international tax matters and a clear move away from the bilateral tax treaty as the primary form of international coordination. From this perspective, BEPS provides the perfect opportunity to revisit the role of a proposed dispute resolution mechanism for nontreaty member …

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em: Intellectual Property Rights In The Tobacco Industry Going Up In Smoke, Kristen Lease

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The Tobacco Plain Packaging Act (TPPA) was passed in Australia in 2011 and set restrictions on the appearance of tobacco packages. The restrictions limited the use of trademarks to only the brand name, and banned any use of distinctive colors or images. Tobacco growing nations believed this restriction on trade dress violated Article 20 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which guarantees that no restriction may unjustifiably encumber intellectual property. Article 8 of the TRIPS Agreement, however, allows for encumbrances when it is intended to promote the protection of public health and safety. The tobacco growing …

Contemporary Practice Of The United States Relating To International Law, Kristina Daugirdas, Julian Davis Mortenson

Articles

In this section: • U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Law Facilitating Compensation for Victims of Iranian Terrorism • Russia Argues Enhanced Military Presence in Europe Violates NATO-Russia Agreement; United States Criticizes Russian Military Maneuvers over the Baltic Sea as Inconsistent with Bilateral Treaty Governing Incidents at Sea • U.S. Secretary of State Determines ISIL Is Responsible for Genocide • United States Blocks Reappointment of WTO Appellate Body Member • U.S. Department of Defense Releases Report of Investigation Finding That October 2015 Air Strike on Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, Was Not a War Crime • United States Expands Air …