Law Commons^™

Access To Trade Secret Environmental Information: Are Trips And Trips Plus Obligations A Hidden Landmine?, Dalindyebo Shabalala

School of Law Faculty Publications

Freedom of Information Acts (FOIAs) have been fundamental to enabling access to environmental information. The effectiveness of domestic and international environmental regulatory standards has been dependent on ensuring strong information access regimes, especially for information submitted to governments by firms. However, there has been an ongoing tension between providing and accessing complete regulatory information on the one hand, and the interest in maintaining the economic value of trade secrets. Such tensions have historically been managed at the domestic level within constitutional structures balancing access to information, privacy interests, and economic interests. However, the almost simultaneous advent of international norms and …

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta): An Assessment, Dalindyebo Shabalala

School of Law Faculty Publications

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (‘ACTA’) is motivated by the perceived lack of progress of multilateral enforcement of intellectual property rights. Building on the equivalent provisions in EU and US bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs), the ACTA parties sought to establish best practice international standards to which other countries could aspire or adhere. Proponents stressed the need to combat the increase in global piracy and counterfeiting, drawing on estimates of the scale of the problem, such as those from the OECD that suggested international trade in counterfeit and pirated products amounted to some $200 billion in 2005 (excluding domestically …

The Case For Utilizing The World Trade Organization As A Forum For Global Environmental Regulation, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In his article "Environmental Policy in the New World Economy," Alan Miller discusses the environmental implications of globalization. Recognizing that the flow of international private capital to developing countries is far more significant than international development assistance, he questions how we can use public policy to maximize the positive environmental effects of private investment. Miller suggests the need to find strategies that utilize market forces to benefit the environment.

This article heeds Alan Miller's call by suggesting new approaches to thinking about the potential for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to play a positive environmental role.

In this article, my …