Law Commons^™

The Boundaries Of Most Favored Nation Treatment In International Investment Law, Tony Cole

Michigan Journal of International Law

Contemporary international investment law is characterized by fragmentation. Disputes are heard by a variety of tribunals, which often are constituted solely for the purpose of hearing a single claim. The law applicable in a dispute is usually found in a bilateral agreement, applicable only between the two states connected to the dispute, rather than in a multilateral treaty or customary international law. Moreover, the international investment community itself is profoundly divided on many issues of substantive law, meaning both that the interpretation given to international investment law by a tribunal will be determined largely by those who sit on it, …

The Inherent Jurisdiction Of Wto Tribunals: The Select Application Of Public International Law Required By The Judicial Function, Andrew D. Mitchell, David Heaton

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article explores whether World Trade Organization (WTO) panels and the Appellate Body (WTO Tribunals) have the power to apply certain rules of public international law by reason of their judicial character, and because the application of these rules is necessary for the proper exercise of their judicial function. In other words, it seeks to answer the following questions: Do WTO Tribunals have inherent jurisdiction? And, if so, what are some of the rules applicable under and limitations on this jurisdiction?

Transparency: An Analysis Of An Evolving Fundamental Principle In International Economic Law, Carl-Sebastian Zoellner

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will first sketch the theoretical underpinnings of transparency in an interdisciplinary overview of its possible meanings and advantages in the present context. It will then survey documents and instruments of international economic law in which language embracing the transparency principle is already present. The Note's main section proceeds to ask whether, in the actual application of those agreements, the transparency principle has had any notable impact on the interpretation of state obligations. Finally, in addressing transparency's future role in international economic law, this Note briefly discusses additional problems which might be resolved through a transparency-based approach.

Balancing Judicial Economy, State Opportunism, And Due Process Concerns In The Wto, Ana Frischtak

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will focus on an aspect of the dispute settlement proceeding that has not been officially proposed for reform: the withdrawal of and amendments to measures being challenged by a complaining Member during the course of the proceedings. This aspect raises issues of judicial economy, state opportunism, and due process. In particular, this practice, where the respondent country to a dispute withdraws or amends the measure being challenged during the course of proceedings, threatens to undermine the legitimacy of the dispute settlement system as a fair and transparent adjudicating body.

Assessing Clashes And Interplays Of Regines From A Distributive Perspective: Ip Rights Under The Strengthened Embargo Against Cuba And The Agreement On Trips, Robert Dufresne

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines the clash of the two regulatory frameworks from the angle of distributive justice. By doing so, I suggest that in addition to the important issues of legitimacy, substantive norms, and hierarchy of legal orders, clashes between potential regulatory frameworks should also be conceptualized in the way in which they allocate goods (here the rights associated with IP) or recognize claims to or interests in such goods. The reasons for being concerned with distributive justice are threefold.

Cross-Examining Expertise In The Wto Dispute Settlement Process, Christopher T. Timura

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this Note surveys some of the recent contributions that social theorists and social scientists have made to our understanding of the role of experts in society, and also the structure of expert communities. Experts are everywhere in modern life, and individuals are with increasing frequency asked to extend their trust to experts and bodies of knowledge that they have little or no opportunity to question. Part II highlights how the WTO Agreement deals with experts, using recent WTO panel reports to illustrate the ways in which the DSB has operationalized its various provisions. Part III suggests two …

The Precautionary Principle: Development Of An International Standard, Sonia Boutillon

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note characterizes and evaluates the current status of the precautionary principle in international law and suggests how it could be more effectively incorporated into bodies of law such as trade law. Much of the literature focuses on whether the principle is a legal rule. This Note shows that precaution need not necessarily fit into the traditional categories of international legal sources' but may derive its legal force from being interpreted as a standard. While the theme-and thesis-of this Note will strike some as provocative, it will appear as an understatement to others, thereby reflecting the ongoing controversy about the …

The Asbestos Case And Dispute Settlement In The World Trade Organization: The Uneasy Relationship Between Panels And The Appellate Body, Sydney M. Cone Iii

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article deals with the working-level dispute-settlement apparatus of the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). In particular, it discusses the work of the Appellate Body and, functioning below it, panels established by the WTO to conduct proceedings in individual cases. It focuses on the relationship between the Appellate Body and panels, and on the responsibilities of the Appellate Body in the context of that relationship.

The Long Road Ahead: Dispute Settlement In The Gatt/Wto, Dukgeun Ahn

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of International Trade Law and the GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement System by Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann

Getting Along: The Evolution Of Dispute Resolution Regimes In International Trade Organizations, Andrea Kupfer Schneider

Michigan Journal of International Law

In the face of the remarkable growth of international organizations in the last fifty years, scholars in multiple disciplines have sought to explain why and how states cooperate. Dispute resolution is one of the most crucial components of international cooperation. Examining the dispute resolution regimes of international organizations in light of these theories can inform and help reform these evolving regimes.

Environmental Disputes In The Gatt/Wto: Before And After Us-Shrimp Case, Dukgeun Ahn

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper aims to present the legal analysis of the rulings by the Panel and, with more emphasis, the Appellate Body in US-Shrimp. Section I briefly reviews general dispute settlement mechanisms provided in international environmental conventions. Section II summarizes the practices regarding Article XX of the GATT in the GATTIWTO dispute settlement systems prior to US-Shrimp. Section III presents the factual background of US-Shrimp case and the legal analysis of several procedural and substantive issues specifically addressed in the Appellate Body report. Section IV examines the remaining issues to be addressed in trade disputes with environmental implication after …

The Role Of National Courts In International Trade Relations, Meinhard Hilf

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this article identifies and analyzes some modern trends in judicial review in the area of international relations. Section Part II then examines and briefly discusses the existence of judicial review for both national and international levels of protection and the possibilities for linking the two. A major part, Part III, is devoted to the specific role of national courts within the WTO system. Finally, Part IV draws conclusions and suggests some means for improving the judicial review offered by national courts and for linking them to the interstate dispute settlement on the international level.

Of Substantial Interest: Third Parties Under Gatt, Chi Carmody

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article's examination of the status of third parties under GATT is important for several reasons, one of which is the proliferation of third party participation as demonstrated by Bananas III. A second reason for its importance is that there has been little written about third parties under GATT. This neglect stands in sharp contrast to ample literature on the related subject of greater public participation in the WTO. The oversight could be a function of GATT dispute resolution, which did not always enjoy the level of public attention it garners today. Until recently the GATT system handled no …

Institutional Misfits: The Gatt, The Icj & Trade-Environment Disputes, Jeffrey L. Dunoff

Michigan Journal of International Law

The central thesis of this article is that neither trade bodies, like the GATT or NAFTA, nor adjudicatory bodies, like the ICJ or the proposed International Court for the Environment, ought to resolve these issues. Instead, trade-environment conflicts should be heard before an institution that recognizes the interdependent nature of global economic and environmental issues and that has a mandate to advance both economic development and environmental protection. This body should have ready access to the scientific and technical expertise that would enable it to resolve trade-environment disputes knowledgeably. It should possess tools to encourage nations to comply with its …

Commercial Treaties And Foreign Companies: The Mutually Reinforcing Principles Of Remedial Antitrust And National Treatment, Alan Van Kampen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that greater appreciation for the nature and importance of national treatment obligations will compel tribunals fashioning antitrust relief to provide more suitably for foreign firms, and thus avoid straining international trade relations. Moreover, because antitrust relief and national treatment objectives are mutually reinforcing, greater recognition of national treatment requirements should improve remedial orders from the standpoint of antitrust economics. Meeting national treatment requirements should place little added burden on the antitrust tribunal; it must merely extend impartial economic analysis to all market suppliers, not just domestic firms.

This Note explores methods to ensure that antitrust relief orders …

The Standard Of Injury In The Resolution Of Antidumping Disputes, Edward J. Krauland

Michigan Journal of International Law

When a private party files a dumping complaint, the Antidumping Act of 1921 provides a two-step procedure for examining an alleged infraction by a foreign exporter. First, the Department of the Treasury must determine if imports are being marketed within the United States at less than fair value (hereinafter LTFV). If Treasury makes an affirmative determination, the International Trade Commission (ITC) must then determine if a United States industry is being injured, is likely to be injured, or is prevented from being established by reason of the LTFV sales. If any of these forms of injury is found, an antidumping …