Law Commons^™

Protection Of Test Data Under Article 39.3 Of The Trips Agreement: Advancements And Challenges After 25+ Years Of Interpretation And Application, Eric M. Solovy

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Among the types of intellectual property rights covered by the TRIPS Agreement, WTO Members must, pursuant to Article 39.3, protect certain test and other data submitted “as a condition of approving the marketing of pharmaceutical or of agricultural chemical products.” Such protection provides the incentives necessary for the biopharmaceutical industry to conduct the lengthy, expensive multi-phased clinical testing that is required to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a new drug or vaccine.

Test data protection has become increasingly more important to the development of new medicines in the past several years. That is in significant part because biologics (i.e., …

Fundamentally Conflicting Views Of The Rule Of Law In China And The West & (And) Implications For Commercial Disputes, Benedict Sheehy

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper is an examination of the notions of law, the Rule of Law, and commercial practice in the West and China. The paper outlines the basic philosophical principles and legal concomitants of the Rule of Law, and the corollary Chinese principles and concomitants. It examines the traditions, differences, and similarities in thinking about the issues in each tradition. It then examines the implications of these differences in commercial dispute resolution. After this discussion of traditions, similarities, and differences and their impact on commercial dispute resolution, the paper turns to address how the discrepancies could be dealt with in the …

Bilateralism Under The World Trade Organization, Y.S. Lee

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The establishment of the World Trade Organization ("WTO"), which replaced the five decades of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") regime,' has significantly reinforced multilateral control over international trade on a global scale. As of October 2005, membership in the WTO has reached 148 nations, including the majority of former Soviet bloc and other communist countries,2 making the WTO the "United Nations of International Trade.",3 WTO disciplines have significant impact on world trade today; they have been enforced by the monitoring activities of various WTO bodies and by strengthened dispute resolution mechanisms. In addition, a significant number of …

Development Of Competition Law In Vietnam In The Face Of Economic Reforms And Global Integration, The Symposium On Competition Law And Policy In Developing Countries, Alice Pham

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article examines the development of a competition regime in Vietnam, with all of the existing difficulties and problems. In the context of this socialist country, we examine the economic reform and integration process and the challenges of liberalization and globalization. Finally, we provide some thoughts for the future. Specifically, Section II addresses the emergence of Vietnam's competition law since the 1980's. Section III describes some of the key legal provisions of the Competition Law of Vietnam. Section IV evaluates the current challenges in the implementation of the Vietnam competition regime, while Section V proposes some recommendations.

Political Economy Of Competition Law: The Case Of Thailand, The Symposium On Competition Law And Policy In Developing Countries, Deunden Nikomborirak

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper will address the political economy of competition law in Thailand. Section II will provide a historical perspective of Thai Competition Law. Section III will show what went wrong with the law's implementation since its promulgation in 1999. Section IV will assess the implications of the lack of competition law enforcement on business conduct and the establishment of a competition regime in Thailand. Section V will summarize major lessons learned in the Thai case that may be relevant to other developing countries considering adopting such a law or facing difficulties in its implementation. Finally, Section VI will draw conclusions …

The $4 Billion Question: An Analysis Of Congressional Responses To The Fsc/Eti Dispute Under Wto Export Subsidy Standards, William Chou

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

During the decade-long relationship between the United States and the World Trade Organization (WTO), perhaps no controversy has fomented as long and bitterly as the dispute over the U.S. tax benefits for exporters. This article analyzes two competing bills before the House of Representatives, both devised to bring the United States in compliance with the WTO's ruling against the U.S. Foreign Sale Corporation (FSC) and Exterritorial Income (ETI) tax regimes as prohibited export subsidies. Hit with a $4 billion retaliatory tariff by the European Union, the House sought new tax legislation that would preserve at least some of the tax …

Injury Investigations In "Material Retardation" Antidumping Cases, Prakash Narayanan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Despite the criticisms of economists to antidumping measures, they continue to be the most often used trade remedy measure. A new trend that may be observed is the use of the "material retardation" standard of injury to demonstrate injury to domestic industry that is one of the requirements for imposing antidumping duty. It is essential to be wary of this trend as unlike the other two types of injury, the WTO lacks specific guidelines for the use of this standard. The general rules in the Antidumping Agreement are unsuitable for the situations where the material retardation standard is relevant, and …

Test Of Multilateralism In International Trade: U.S. Steel Safeguards, Y.S. Lee

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The highly publicized safeguard measures applied by the United States to an array of steel products in 2002 became one of the biggest and most controversial trade disputes in recent history. Virtually all major trading nations in the world, including the European Community, Japan , China , Brazil , Korea , New Zealand , Switzerland and Norway , were the direct parties to this dispute with the United States . The contentious legal grounds of the U.S. safeguard measures, as well as the lack of adequate consultations between the United States and its trading counterparts, have brought the international community …

Emerging Wto Competition Jurisprudence And Its Possibilities For Future Development , Alberto Alvarez-Jimenez

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

A new competition jurisprudence is emerging within the World Trade Organization ("WTO") and its Dispute Settlement Body ("DSB"). WTO competition jurisprudence comprises all WTO Panel and Appellate Body rulings in cases where what is debated is the existence of a private anti-competitive behavior, the absence of the private competitive conduct that WTO law orders, or certain subject matters that fall within the traditional scope of domestic antitrust legislation, regardless of whether or not the decision provides a WTO solution. Part II of this article presents the WTO self-restraint approach regarding competition and trade before the new millennium, as set out …

Changing Notions Of Sovereignty And Federalism In The International Economic System: A Reassessment Of Wto Regulation Of Federal States And The Regional And Local Governments Within Their Territories, Edward T. Hayes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

International trade liberalization increasingly addresses disciplines which fall within the constitutional competence of regional and local governments. Traditional notions of nation/state sovereignty are evolving to recognize the importance of regional and local actors on the international economic scene. The ongoing evolution of international trade and sovereignty incresasingly places regional and local governments in a unique position to influence world trade, positively and negatively.

This article explores the manner in which the World Trade Organization attempts to regulate regional and local behavior. Specifically, this Article explores the inherent constitutional tension and resulting ambiguities in the WTO's effort to regulate regional and …

Trips' Rebound: An Historical Analysis Of How The Trips Agreement Can Ricochet Back Against The United States, Donald P. Harris

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Recently, scholars and commentators around the world have reexamined the role intellectual property rights (IPRs) play in hindering or helping developing countries. These scholars have questioned the doctrine the IPRs help developing countries by promoting economic development, increasing foreign direct investment, stimulating domestic innovation, and improving access to new technologies, and have concluded that imposing "Western-styled" intellectual property regimes (e.g., the U.S. patent regime) on developing countries harms those countries. In particular, such regimes fail to bring any of the purported benefits, while they impose many costs, including preventing people from obtaining life-saving drugs. This Article argues that it is …

The Spirit Of Trips And The Importation Of Medicines Made Under Compulsory License After The August 2003 Trips Council Agreement, Jessica J. Fayerman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has changed prospects for access to necessary medications in the developing world. The use of compulsory licensing for pharmaceutical products embodied in Article 31 of TRIPS has been a contentious issue. Prior to 2003, countries with no manufacturing capacity of their own were not allowed to import medicines made under compulsory license, rendering the protections of Article 31 of little use to them. The 2003 Motta Agreement changed this. This expansion of the compulsory licensing power is both an impractical solution and it dilutes the premises upon which TRIPS was originally …

Judicial Activism At The World Trade Organizational: Development Principles Of Self-Restraint, J. Patrick Kelly

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In a number of recent decisions the AB has begun to grapple in a non-systematic way with both the incorporation and creative interpretation issues.14 These decisions raise serious concerns that the AB is exceeding its authority under the DSU and inappropriately incorporating non-WTO law or interpreting WTO agreements in a manner that diminishes the rights of members. This article explores both the incorporation and creative interpretation questions by assessing the relative merits of three different models of how social regulatory policy might be integrated into WTO decision-making: the Judicial Activist Model, the Contract Model, and the Legislative Model.

Knowledge, Legitimacy, Efficiency And The Institutionalization Of Dispute Settlement Procedures At The World Trade Organization And The World Intellectual Property Organization, Michael P. Ryan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

International legal research regarding international economic dispute settlement tends to be a-theoretical. A theoretically-grounded analytic framework is employed in this article which draws from scholarship from political science, sociology, and economics regarding institutions and international governmental organizations. The knowledge-legitimacy-efficiency analytic framework is applied in this article to studies of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GA TT)/World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement in order to relate this relevant scholarship to the economic field under primary study, Internet domain names. GA TT/WTO knowledge regarding international trade law has thickened through multi-lateral trade negotiations and dispute settlement decisions. The WTO's legitimacy is …

Investing In China's Telecommunications Market: Reflections On The Rule Of Law And Foreign Investment In China, Leontine D. Chuang

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The lack of clarity in China's investment laws has translated into an investment environment that is often uncertain, risky, and mired in red tape. In fact, there have been cases where foreign corporations have invested in joint ventures following what they thought to be all the requisite guidelines, only to find out after the money had exchanged hands that something was terribly wrong with the entire agreement. A perfect example of this is the birth, development, and eventual demise of the ill-fated China-China-Foreign (hereinafter "CCF") investment vehicles used for investment in China's telecommunications industry in the past few years. This …

A Role For The Wto In International Merger Control, Andre Fiebig

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Although this paper follows on those new proposals, and addresses many of the same problems, the international merger control regime proposed here fundamentally differs in its approach. Although there is certainly a beneficial role for an international institution in merger control, the current proposals are too ambitious. Instead of focussing on the allocation of cross-border transactions, this paper suggests that the focus should be on the cases which present no treat to competition, and yet are scrutinized by several different national competition law regulators. An international institution, probably within the framework of the World Trade Organization ("WTO"), should be created …

Foreword: The Rocky Road Toward The Rule Of Law In China: 1979-2000, James Hugo Friend

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This Twentieth Anniversary Issue of JILB again has a symposium on law in China entitled China Revisited: Examining the Rule of Law After Twenty Years." The impetus for the 2000 China Symposium is the unprecedented integration of China into the world economic community, evidenced by China's imminent entry into the World Trade Organization ("WTO").2 The road to China's integration into the WTO was paved by the U. S. Senate's recent vote, "the most significant advance in U.S.-China relations since President Nixon's 1972 visit,'13 which grants China permanent normalized trade relations without annual Congressional review. Although the Senate approval was expected, …

Chinese Law, Trade And The New Century, Robert C. Berring

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

China crammed a great deal of political activity into the 20th Century. In the year 1900 the Q'ing Dynasty still ruled the remnants of an ancient empire. The Q'ing conspired with rebels in the Boxer Rebellion in the hopes of expelling all foreigners from Chinese soil and returning to splendid isolation. In the year 2000 China is a superpower balancing communist theory and a capitalist market that is about to join the World Trade Organization. The intervening years saw warlords, democrats, fascists, Marxists and all stripes of communists leading the world's largest nation. As China enters the new millennium of …

Integration Of International Financial Regulatory Standards For The Chinese Economic Area: The Challenge For China, Hong Kong, And Taiwan, Lawrence L.C. Lee

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article initially reviews the current development of financial services that converge regulatory systems around the world. Along with focusing on banking and securities, this article assesses financial systems and regulators within China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan respectively. The evaluation of the CEA's financial system is based on recommendations issued by the Basle Committee. In addition, with respect to the principle of national treatment, this article evaluates the operations of foreign financial institutions in the CEA. In the future, participation in the WTO will enable the CEA to experience greater growth and increase its participation in the internationalization of financial …