Law Commons^™

Global Standards For National Administrative Procedure, Sabino Cassese

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Hollywood's Disappearing Act: International Trade Remedies To Bring Hollywood Home, Claire Wright

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

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

ExpressO

This paper addresses fundamental issues in the legal framework for international trade today, namely the proliferation of bilateralism under the multilateral framework of the GATT/WTO system. The GATT/WTO system requires non-discriminatory treatment in trade relations among all nations, but bilateral/regional trade arrangements that provide exclusive trade preferences have increased in recent years. This paper examines the consistency of these bilateral/regional arrangements with the requirements of WTO disciplines and explores the ways to achieve convergence between bilateralism and multilateralism in international trade today.

Is Diamond Smuggling Forever? The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme: The First Step Down The Long Road To Solving The Blood Diamond Trade Problem, Julie L. Fishman

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

From St. Ives To Cyberspace: The Modern Distortion Of The Medieval 'Law Merchant', Stephen E. Sachs

ExpressO

Modern advocates of corporate self-regulation have drawn unlikely inspiration from the Middle Ages. On the traditional view of history, medieval merchants who wandered from fair to fair were not governed by domestic laws, but by their own lex mercatoria, or "law merchant." This law, which uniformly regulated commerce across Europe, was supposedly produced by an autonomous merchant class, interpreted in private courts, and enforced through private sanctions rather than state coercion. Contemporary writers have treated global corporations as descendants of these itinerant traders, urging them to replace conflicting national laws with a law of their own creation. The standard history …

Convergence And The Implementation Of A Single Set Of Global Standards: The Real-Life Challenge, Mary Tokar

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper addresses the impact of convergence on auditing firms by focusing on the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). While the adoption of the IFRSs by companies around the globe is intended to achieve convergence in accounting by eliminating different national approaches to financial reporting, many challenges arise from the process of adoption of the IFRSs, as well as from the ongoing and still incomplete process of convergence of national standards with the IFRSs.

The Global Enforcement Of Human Rights: The Unintended Consequences Of Transnational Litigation, Andrea Boggio

History and Social Sciences Faculty Journal Articles

In the last few years, a growing number of individuals whose basic rights are violated have filed transnational human rights claims in foreign countries. By placing the individual as a holder of basic rights at the core of the process of development, the capability approach, as put forward by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, provides a fertile theoretical framework to assess translational human rights litigation.

The paper shows that transnational claims are problematic in two regards:

1) They undermine development by discouraging foreign companies from investing in countries that are sources of transnational claims and by weakening local governments and …

Against Sustainable Development Grand Theory: A Plea For Pragmatism In Resolving Disputes Involving International Trade And The Environment, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Intensified International Trade And Security Policies Can Present Challenges For Corporate Transactions, Harry L. Clark, Sanchitha Jayaram

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Doing Business In The Middle East: A Primer For U.S. Companies, John H. Donboli, Farnaz Kashefi

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Global Governance, Antitrust, And The Limits Of International Cooperation, Paul B. Stephan

Cornell International Law Journal

Argues that eliminating international institutions is the best way to solve the problem of inadequate national regulation. Private actions that frustrate competition are highlighted to show that the problem of government failure exists at the international level. The nature of competition policy & its potential for abuse are described to point out the inseparability of competition policy & trade policy, as well as difficulties that result from the less transparent nature of competition law. A review of proposals to develop international regimes to accommodate substantive competition law or allocate regulatory jurisdiction emphasizes why such regimes are likely to be unsatisfactory. …

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 …

Intellectual Property, Trade & Development: The State Of Play, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article considers, first, available economic, social, and cultural analyses of the impact of intellectual property protection in developing countries. Economics provides a useful set of analytical tools and are directly relevant, in particular since the successfully arranged marriage of IP and trade rules after which it became inevitable that IP rules would be measured using an economic yardstick. The Paper also considers the claim that making proper intellectual property policy is impossible or inherently unreliable because theoretical models are inadequate or valid empirical data unavailable. Against this backdrop, the Article then examines the emergence of the World Trade Organization …

A Dangerous Discretionary "Duty": U.S. Antidumping Policy Toward China, Patricia H. Piskorski

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Trade Agreements: Vehicle For Better Public Health?, David P. Fidler, Jason Sapsin, Ann Marie Kimball

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Japanese Issues And Perspective On The Convergence Of International Accounting Standards, Mitsuru Misawa

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Japan is negotiating diligently with the European Union and is asking for its approval of the Japanese accounting standard as an equivalent to the IFRSs. If the Japanese accounting standard fails to be recognized as an equivalent of the IFRSs, disclosure by Japanese companies based on the Japanese accounting standard currently in the European Union would not be allowed. This would severely affect the financing activities of Japanese companies seeking to raise funds in the European Union. Japanese corporations are also concerned about the possibility that Japanese accounting standards could be branded as inferior to the European or U.S. Accounting …

Linking The Rule Of Law And Trade Liberalization In Jamaica, Rachel J. Anderson

Scholarly Works

Jamaica is one of several smaller countries that hope to improve their position in the global market, raise living standards, and strengthen democracy through trade liberalization. Adapting David Dollar's cycles of good governance, this article argues that sustainable trade liberalization, rule of law, and democracy are linked and that sustainable success in one area requires contemporaneous progress in the other two. It concludes that improving the rule of law in Jamaica is necessary for sustainable trade liberalization.

International Trade And Tax Agreements May Be Coordinated, But Not Reconciled, Yariv Brauner

UF Law Faculty Publications

A recent WTO case held the U.S.' export tax subsidies illegal. Despite strong political resistance, which fed a long and costly legislative process, the U.S. recently repealed these subsidies. This case and the U.S. reaction revealed that although the U.S. is the single super economic power, it is not as dominant a player as some portray it. The case also shed light on the tension between the present international trade and tax regimes and the difficulty of applying WTO law to income tax measures. This tension did not escalate earlier mainly because countries tended not to use their income tax …

Regional Economic Arrangements And The Rule Of Law In The Americas: The Human Rights Face Of Free Trade Agreements, Stephen J. Powell

UF Law Faculty Publications

We have addressed the widespread criticism that international trade rules are insensitive to basic human rights and that globalization has done little with its enormous power to preserve exhaustible natural resources and otherwise promote sustainable development, to alleviate the gap between rich and poor, to encourage states to grant their citizens basic human rights contained in the U.N. Covenant on Human Rights and other treaties, to resolve the often conflicting policies underlying essential human rights and trade goals, and, in general, to integrate trade and critical human rights law on the global front.

Our focus in this Essay is on …

Meaning, Ambiguity And Legitimacy: Judicial (Re-)Construction Of Nafta Chapter 11, Ari Afilalo

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) benignly named the "Investment Chapter," is a theater for some of the most advanced issues of 21st century international law and adjudication. The Chapter gives private parties the right to challenge national policies that burden their ability to do business freely. It empowers arbitral tribunals to assess damages against the governments of NAFTA parties. The adjudicators, as this Article illustrates, render opinions with a constitutional flavor in that they assess the validity of domestic norms against larger principles of international economic law. In a drastic move away from classical century …

A Dual Catastrophe Of Protectionism, Sungjoon Cho

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Suppose that a consortium of wealthy and powerful local industries, acting through lawmakers captured by these industries, managed to pass a statute, damaging to the larger public welfare, purely for a protectionist purpose. Suppose further that this statute victimizes exports from a small, poor country such as Vietnam, to a large, rich country such as the United States, because these imported products are cheaper and thus pose a competitive threat to rival domestic industries. Suppose also that courts in the importing country can do little to stop this chain of events. Rational individuals might find these events objectionable, if not …

General Exclusion Orders Under Section 337, Gary M. Hnath

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Your company, Widgets Unlimited, imports foreign-made widgets into the United States. One day, you're informed that U.S. Customs & Border Protection (Customs) has detained your goods and is determining whether they infringe a patent owned by The American Widget Corporation, based on an exclusion order issued by the International Trade Commission (ITC) after a recent ITC investigation, titled Certain Widgets with Extra Shiny Surfaces. Since you were never a party to any proceeding at the ITC, and indeed, you never even knew American Widget had patents on its widgets, you conclude that there must be some mistake and wait for …

Convergence: Challenges, Controversies And Collaboration, David Van Zandt

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In this Symposium issue, the Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business has brought together seven outstanding commentators on the possibilities, complexities and controversies of convergence.

Creation Of World Wide Accounting Standards: Convergence And Independence, David S. Ruder, Charles T. Canfield, Hudson T. Hollister

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

"Cross-border trading" in the stocks of multinational companies is the code word for the ability of all companies worldwide to be able to sell their securities in the markets of all countries. In a cross-border trading environment, the world's investment resources would be freely available to companies in all countries and capital would be allocated in an optimal fashion. One of the primary barriers to cross-border trading is the requirement that the financial statements of the companies being traded in the securities markets of a particular country be compatible. With comparable financial statements, multinational companies would be able to access …

The Use Of International Accounting Standards In The European Union, Alexander Schaub

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

2005 is a watershed year for the application of International Accounting Standards (1ASs) in the European Union. From the first of January this year, all listed European companies must prepare their consolidated accounts using IASs or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs). This requirement represents a quantum leap in the use of a single consistent set of accounting standards for capital markets in the European Union.

A Securities Regulator Looks At Onvergence, Donald T. Nicolaisen

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

For many years there has been a dedicated group of practitioners, standard setters, business leaders and others from around the world who have worked to establish a single set of globally accepted accounting standards for the benefit of the capital markets. These people clearly had their hearts in the right place but, absent a binding mandate to apply the standards, it seemed largely a labor of love. Now I expect those pioneering initiatives and the many years of effort to pay off because in 2005 a large number of companies are joining what up to now has been a limited …

Setting A Global Standard: The Case For Accounting Convergence, David Tweedie, Thomas R. Seidenstein

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

As capital markets play an increasingly central role in today's modern economies, policy-makers are confronted with the question of how to assure the continued effective functioning of these markets and, in particular, how to develop a sound financial reporting infrastructure. Recent experience suggests that such a reporting infrastructure must be built on accounting standards that are consistent, comprehensive, and based on clear principles to enable financial reports to reflect underlying economic reality.

International Convergence Of Accounting Standards-Perspectives From The Fasb On Challenges And Opportunities, Robert H. Herz, Kimberley R. Petrone

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Convergence of international accounting standards is not a new initiative at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB or Board); in fact, the FASB has pursued international "convergence" for almost half of its more than thirty year existence.' The FASB's international activities initially fell under the heading of harmonization, or internationalization, of accounting standards. Today those activities are referred to as convergence.Whatever the term, the Board has long held the view that a single set of high-quality international accounting standards is desirable because its use will improve international comparability of financial information; reduce costs to financial statement users, preparers, auditors, and …

Book Review, Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Labor Dimension Of The Emerging Free Trade Area Of The Americas, Steve Charnovitz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This study explores a potential labor dimension for the FTAA. The study is divided into four parts: Part 1 provides context by reviewing the history of Inter-American economic cooperation, especially on labor and trade. Part 2 examines how labor has been addressed in the major free trade agreements of the Americas. Part 3 looks at the normative basis for international labor cooperation. Part 4 makes specific recommendations for addressing labor issues in the FTAA. The ideas in Part 4 seek to stimulate practical, concerted action to address labor and employment problems of regional economic integration. My recommendations for the FTAA …